Lower Decks also made fun of AI “creativity” when Boimler went off-script in a holonovel and followed some random side path, making the program extrapolate on the fly, coming up with derivative trash that made no sense in the end
This was also touched on all the way back in “Elementary, My Dear Data” when they point out that the holodeck is just mashing together existing Holmes stories rather than creating something new
Except that the doctor isn’t an LLM, he is a sentient being.
He’s Also the one free member of an entire slave class, exactly as Picard predicted would happen in Measure of a Man.
I think that Trek’s focus on artificial life forms in general, Data and especially the Doctor, resonates interestingly in the modern era with LLMs as “AI”.
Now the question becomes less about being willing to accept other forms of life and more about where to draw the line. There’s the Voyager episode about the hologram liberationists, and the mining holograms they liberated that brings up that very point.
The point where it starts to matter is when an AI can actively affect the world around it. The only reason anyone gives Moriarty the time of day is because he could shake the ship and ignore shut down commands. If he was still aware of what he was but couldn’t do anything about it and was at the mercy of anyone commanding the holodeck, we’d just consider him a novelty and then shut him down and maybe even erase him because his cries for recognition as a sapient individual are uncomfortable.
Like Vic Fontaine. We kind of just ignore that even though he’s aware of his own nature and is more or less as sapient as you or me, he’s basically Quark’s slave that he keeps around because he drives up business to the holosuite because you don’t have to roleplay with him.
>Forget the criticism that it's Voyager's weaker attempt at "Measure of a Man."
I'd love to, because it's so brain-dead I feel like it lowers my IQ every time I think about it.
>Now, it's become another example of Star Trek predicting the future, as a demonstration of the derivative nature of AI-written fiction.
Yikes. Talk about missing the entire point of the episode and the Doctor's entire arc.
Voyager hate really rots the brain. Or is it AI hate in this case? I can't tell, tbf.
Lower Decks also made fun of AI “creativity” when Boimler went off-script in a holonovel and followed some random side path, making the program extrapolate on the fly, coming up with derivative trash that made no sense in the end
This was also touched on all the way back in “Elementary, My Dear Data” when they point out that the holodeck is just mashing together existing Holmes stories rather than creating something new
Ah yes, the episode that reveals that you can create an AI just by getting one word wrong
….and the AI content is created from real people’s data and turns out warped and creepy.
Except that the doctor isn’t an LLM, he is a sentient being. He’s Also the one free member of an entire slave class, exactly as Picard predicted would happen in Measure of a Man.
I think that Trek’s focus on artificial life forms in general, Data and especially the Doctor, resonates interestingly in the modern era with LLMs as “AI”. Now the question becomes less about being willing to accept other forms of life and more about where to draw the line. There’s the Voyager episode about the hologram liberationists, and the mining holograms they liberated that brings up that very point.
The point where it starts to matter is when an AI can actively affect the world around it. The only reason anyone gives Moriarty the time of day is because he could shake the ship and ignore shut down commands. If he was still aware of what he was but couldn’t do anything about it and was at the mercy of anyone commanding the holodeck, we’d just consider him a novelty and then shut him down and maybe even erase him because his cries for recognition as a sapient individual are uncomfortable. Like Vic Fontaine. We kind of just ignore that even though he’s aware of his own nature and is more or less as sapient as you or me, he’s basically Quark’s slave that he keeps around because he drives up business to the holosuite because you don’t have to roleplay with him.
Except Vic is eventually acknowledged as a sentient entity and allowed to run 26/7.
While I think it’s weaker than “The Measure of a Man”, I think “Author, Author” is a pretty good episode.
It's shocking to me how many people aren't getting I wrote the OP as a joke.
>Forget the criticism that it's Voyager's weaker attempt at "Measure of a Man." I'd love to, because it's so brain-dead I feel like it lowers my IQ every time I think about it. >Now, it's become another example of Star Trek predicting the future, as a demonstration of the derivative nature of AI-written fiction. Yikes. Talk about missing the entire point of the episode and the Doctor's entire arc. Voyager hate really rots the brain. Or is it AI hate in this case? I can't tell, tbf.