Star Trek: The Next Generation Essay

The phrase "more human than human" from the film Bladerunner comes to mind. Turning off Data, with the knowledge that he can be turned back on at any time does not constitute murder, however it does make the tool analogy more applicable. Picard believes that Data is self-aware and has the mind/body view that supports that while Maddox believes that this is merely programming and his self-awareness is only data processing. But it is the fact that Picard, as does the crew and audience, feels something for Data that does seem to add that anthropomorphic quality to him, which Maddox infers to be a misperception. Slavery is unfortunately imposed on beings that cannot defend themselves from it, whether it is people or horses or cows. A race of Datas would not be "slaveable" if their sentience were true since part of Data's existence is to grow and evolve and a robot would certainly have the strength and means to revolt.There is the crux however that they could be programmed not to, but then would they still be considered human? The JAG officers final ruling is quite ambiguous, listing Data as a machine like a warp drive or a hammer, but then not as property. In the final analysis perhaps it is our perception of Data that creates the ethical dilemma and not necessarily the android himself.

Asimov, I. (1942, March). Runaround. Astounding Science….....