The First Church of Robotics

[Otto]

Lt. Cmdr. Data, an android and senior officer aboard the Enterprise,
works on an assignment with a scientist who has utilized artificial
intelligence in developing a new set of tools called the ExoCom’s, The
ExoCom, a small polyhedron object, is able to maneuver around and use
instruments to perform menial tasks, which may be fataly dangerous to
humans. Data soon realizes the ExoCom’s have become sentient and as
such, he fights for their right to be treated as living beings and not
just objects delegated to servitude.

When Capt. Picard and Lt. Cmdr. Jeordi become trapped in a situation
where only the ExoCom’s can perform any possible chance of a rescue,
Data stands alone in opposing the forced deployment of the ExoCom’s on
the suicidal mission. Eventually, Picard and Jeordi are rescued by the
ExoCom’s and in doing so the ExoCom’s prove themselves to be alive,
especially as one of the ExoCom’s sacrifices his life to save the
lives of its peers.

Afterwards, Data explains to Picard that it was very difficult for him
to sanction the usage of the ExoCom’s to rescue Picard and Jeordi,
even though he understood it meant possibly sacrificing both Picard’s
and Jeordi’s lives. Data reminds Picard, that in the past, Picard had
fought with Starfleet for the rights of Data to be recognized as
sentient when no one else would stand up for him and it was in the
same vein that Data stood alone in support of the ExoCom’s rights.

Lesson:
To fight for the rights of others who cannot stand up for themselves
is a most valiant cause. As these battles are usually going against
the established acceptable norms of society or culture, they can very
easily end up harming personally, professionally, and at times even
physically, the individual advocate for the cause. These hero
advocates are never in the fight for the selfish reasons of seeking
fame and fortune for themselves. Rather, they resolve themselves to
the fight because there was no other option. Their glory comes in the
satisfaction of righting a wrong, in spite of great risks to
themselves.

History is replete with such advocate heroes, from President Abraham
Lincoln, who eventually faced death in his struggle for the
Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves, to the fictional character
Atticus Finch in the novel To Kill A Mockingbird, defending the field
worker, Tom Robinson, a metaphoric ‘mockingbird’ who is wrongfully
accused of a crime, to Susan Brownell Anthony, prominent civil rights
leader and a key player in the Women’s Suffrage movement in the US,
who did not live to see the fruits of her labor by the ratification of
the 19th Amendment to the US Constitution in 1920 allowing women the
right to vote.

Henrik Ibsen, the 19th century playwright said “The strongest man in
the world is he who stands alone.” Within each of us is this strength,
willing to fight for the wronged, the down-trodden, the underdog, oft
forgotten and dismissed members of our society. What most of us lack
is the passion for the cause which would allow us to look beyond our
comfort zones of regular meals, nightly TV, air conditioned
environments and convenient shopping malls.

Isn’t it ironic that we humans can so easily decide to not step-up to
fight for the right cause, yet, as Picard noted to Data, the android,
Data’s decision to fight for the rights of the ExoCom’s was the most
human decision Data ever made.

http://www.trekacademy.com/viewMankind.asp

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2010/8/10 Jude Bloom <jude.bloom at gmail.com>:
> Right. As opposed to the last 200,000 years of existence?  When haven't people treated other people like disposable machines?
>
>
>
> On Aug 10, 2010, at 8:49 AM, David Morris <fqmorris at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/09/opinion/09lanier.html?_r=1
>>
>> What bothers me most about this trend, however, is that by allowing
>> artificial intelligence to reshape our concept of personhood, we are
>> leaving ourselves open to the flipside: we think of people more and
>> more as computers, just as we think of computers as people.
>