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Article 6995 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: exukjb@exu.ericsson.se (ken bell)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: What do I do with it?
Message-ID: <exukjb.198.717032652@exu.ericsson.se>
Date: 20 Sep 92 23:44:12 GMT
References: <1992Sep3.194253.12195@access.usask.ca> <1992Sep9.031428.18121@uwm.edu> <1992Sep15.134845.11274@mercury.unt.edu>
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In article <1992Sep15.134845.11274@mercury.unt.edu> danny@ponder.csci.unt.edu (Danny Faught) writes:
>From: danny@ponder.csci.unt.edu (Danny Faught)
>Subject: Re: What do I do with it?
>Date: 15 Sep 92 13:48:45 GMT

>In article <1992Sep3.194253.12195@access.usask.ca> choy@skorpio.usask.ca writes:
>>
>>Let's say I want to build an intelligent machine. What's it to be
>>used for? Can this machine out [?] its role in the universe?

>If you believe Star Trek doctrine, your intelligent machine has
>unalienable rights and should be set free upon society so it
>can exercise those rights.  What's amazing is that people actually
>believe in this doctrine.

>Trekkie-Disclaimer: Well, the Star Trek guys wouldn't talk philosophy,
>so maybe the philosophy guys will talk Star Trek.

>-- 
>Danny Faught    danny@ponder.csci.unt.edu
>Save this sig - I'll be famous someday

Well, not really.  Data isn't exactly your r2-b2 type robot or andriod. He 
is supposed to be in some sense "alive", some form of life, synthetic life, 
isn't he?  He isn't suppose to be "just a machine."  He's got some strange 
fluid analogous to blood flowing in his "veins", etc.  He's sort of like 
half alive, half organism, half computer with a central control "program", 
but Data himself [it sounds like from statements he makes about himself] 
seems to be a "subject" that can direct his positronic brain [computer] 
to load resident or stored routines on command from the main program always 
presumably "running" in the backround, but he isn't supposed to be reducible 
to that program.  Not the way I read it anyway.  I am thinking of that scene 
in which the Captain has to defend Data's right to choose a life for 
himself, arguably the most thought provoking of all the new generation 
episodes so far.  In that scene, it seemed to me, that it came out that Data
was some form of organic life.
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