Robots Can be Identical to Humans

Picard takes the stance that a robot who is his friend (Data) is a person and the robot should thus be able to make decisions as a real person does. Picard’s apparent view of the mind and body problem is that the mind and the body are joined meaning they are not separate. Picard considers Data to be a person because of the way he thinks. Picard also thinks that Data is a thought process that resembles that of humans since humans have the same mental process. Like humans, Data also has a brain that is responsible for making mental thoughts. And finally, just like every other human, Data’s brain has a self-operating computer (Hasker, p.70).

Maddox’s apparent view of the mind/body problem is different from that of Picard, and perhaps this is the reason as to why the two have a clash. Maddox’s view is that the body and the mind have a nature that is dualistic. That is, humans have the mind and the brain (Hasker, 66). According to Maddox, this is how humans are made and formed. Maddox ultimate stance is that humans have a dualistic nature while Data being a machine has only the brain but lacks the mind “Dualism begins by taking quite seriously the fact that human beings have both physical properties and mental properties” (Hasker, p.65). Scientific discoveries have come a long way, and some people think that tech experts have the potential to transform the world. When it comes to Artificial Intelligence, even though the change and progress are small and slow, there seem to be positive changes. However, what seems to be less plausible about Artificial Intelligence is the moral and emotional lives of robots. For instance, Data in Star Trek seems to be emotionally empty, and thus it is unrealistic that robots can be identical to humans.

In humans the three that is, emotion, ethics and intelligence travel together meaning they are not genuinely possible without the others. Even though fictional writers portray them and treat them as separate. As a result, the Artificial Intelligence portrayed in this story sounds less plausible considering the progress of major Artificial Intelligence progress had been slow in recent days. Maddox claims are right since a machine can have a brain like that of humans, but then again it cannot have a mind like that of humans. This, therefore, means that a machine cannot have emotions and feelings thus it must to be devoid. According to Maddox, Picard was irrational and emotional. But when one analyses this view from a different perspective one is able to see although Picard was emotional, he was not irrational. This is because Picard made a rational argument concerning Data’s right as a person. In fact, Maddox can be considered irrational as he failed to recognize the possibility that Data might have been a person immediately he met Data. Just as Maddox claims that robots do not have souls and hence they cannot be murdered, there will be no obligation to treat machines ethically. To answer the Judge’s question, one might consider the creation process and determine what constitutes a soul. Since robots do not have souls and human beings will not be obligated to treat machines ethically, based on these claims I do not agree with the Judge’s decision.

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