For the most part, they stick to trying to make their way across the station amid crumbling infrastructure and lots of patrolling monsters, which is too bad. After an accident that leaves him no longer able to walk, Worf asks Riker to help him commit suicide. Violence in Star Trek: Lower Decks as a Perceived Reflection of Innate Impulses The most obvious candidate for #KindnessIsALiteracy: Elnor Tuvokian Urges and … However, Simon Jarrett (the main character in Soma) is an accidental time traveler. In fact, it is a fascinating use of popular culture to engender sophisticated discussions of ethical theory. Recklessness Intolerance Hypocrisy Criminal Demeanor Addendum: Bad Attitude. Coincidentally, many of these issues were tackled in various Star Trek episodes, oftentimes more than once. The course, taught by Professor Brian Maj, looks at “human ethics and social dilemmas that surface through the television series Star Trek: Voyager.” It’s called “Star Trek Voyager, Ethics, and the Enlightenment.” It sounds just like a holodeck program, but it is a class available on Earth at DePaul University in Chicago. And if some say you should, and some say you shouldn't, we may just have to admit that we don't know whether it is right or wrong. Steven Wong posted a new article, How Soma Echoes Star Trek's Ethical Dilemmas, Steam Game Festival 2021: Railgrade hands-on preview, Steam Game Festival 2021: Slender Threads hands-on preview, Steam Game Festival 2021: Beasts of Maravilla Island hands-on preview, How Soma Echoes Star Trek's Ethical Dilemmas. Moreover, Star Trek dramatizes ethical dilemmas in almost every episode, a fact I became aware of in 1966 when it first aired. If an action produces more happiness than pain, it is morally right; if it produces more pain than happiness, it is morally wrong. Summary Description Covering all four Star Trek series, the author approaches the ethical dilemmas faced by the Star Trek characters and uses the show as a perfect prism through which to view right and wrong from ancient times all the way through to the 24th century. One gets to move on, while other is stuck in whatever situation you leave them in. Kantian Duty Ethics: Kant argued that some things are morally obligatory regardless of circumstance. If ethical theories conflict, how are we to decide what we ought to do? As it turns out, there is no way to move a brain scan from one media to another. Besides drowning all of its modesty in lens flares, Beasty Boys songs, lingerie and a million other things, the characters of the new Star Trek films are just single-minded, caricatures of their previous portrayals. In the exchange, she begs you to kill her, but you have reservations. But things may not be so simple; mothers for example would gladly sacrifice two other lives to save their child, and I doubt many would morally question such an action. You can only copy it. Das Buch The Ethics of Star Trek beschäftigt sich mit ethischen Aspekten des 'Star-Trek-Universums.. Inhalt [Bearbeiten | Quelltext bearbeiten] Vom Umschlagtext: Covering all four Star Trek series, the author approaches the ethical dilemmas faced by the Star Trek characters and uses the show as a perfect prism through which to view right and wrong from ancient times all … On Star Trek, the characters eventually make the right decision, and are ready to face a new moral dilemma in the next episode – even the occasional bittersweet ending is forgotten about by next week. So it might come as a surprise that a course in Penn State's College of Engineering is using the series as a basis to teach ethics to students. The idea that … What’s the New Phenomenon Called “COVID Vaccine Arm”? We identify virtuous people and then try to behave as they would behave. We can approach ethics in a similar way. WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for Soma and certain Star Trek episodes. Vulcans, and Spock in particular, follow this rule by never lying. Overall Star Trek TNG is steeped in what social scientists call a culture of dignity. Especially when you involve transporters and holodecks. Apart from the ship's computer and most holodeck recreations, artificial life is generally treated the same as organic life. The feminist would applaud him for looking after the safety of his crew. When Kirk rescues Spock from the Nibiru volcano, he is doing just that. A truth that Catherine, a copy of the original PATHOS-II scientist, is surprisingly accepting of the issue. All the hypotheses that you are considering may fit one or more criteria, but the one that fits the most is clearly preferable. Ethical Dilemmas (457) Angst (74) Original Fiction (56) Friendship (52) Romance (51) Moral Dilemmas (51) Alternate Universe (45) Hurt/Comfort (42) Get the help you need from a therapist near you–a FREE service from Psychology Today. What's close enough? ... Dilemmas are integrated into Voyages. The thing Scotty did that this approach would likely vindicate is his refusal to sign for the advanced mystery torpedoes that the Admiral wants to put on The Enterprise. And when Kirk objects to Spock filing a report on the incident-- throwing him under the bus, so to speak, and getting Kirk stripped of his command – Kirk does so based on feminist ethic ideals. Behaving correctly is more important than understanding what makes your behavior correct. Kant’s categorical imperative defined this set of rules as: Act in such a way that such actions would be … It appears, some people are just better suited to being artificial life than others. Besides, Earth is in ruins, PATHOS-II is falling apart, and there's an insane AI trying to turn the last remnants of humanity into mutants. The alternative is to leave him behind so that old Simon will wake up, alone and confused in the station, with no knowledge of what happened or why he was abandoned. How did he define what was obligatory? Although Star Trek generally finds ways to be comfortable with how it deals with transporter clones, Soma players are left with either killing old Simon (which is actually more of an indefinite dormancy) or leaving him to a fate that's worse than death until the battery runs out naturally. The Part of the Brain That Stops Anxiety and How to Use It, Psychology Today © 2021 Sussex Publishers, LLC, How Brain Efficiency, Dopamine, and Fitness Are Intertwined. When Simon is copied over the a deep sea diving suit, he has the option to drain the battery from his old suit, shutting down his copy. "Human" and "alive" are loose terms. For example, utilitarianism is overtly individualistic and treats every life equally. Even people with a vague, passing, knowledge of Star Trek know the phrase, "Beam me up, Scotty," and what it references. Each Star Trek series has treated artificial life differently, which include giving both androids and holograms individual freedoms and ranks, often with the conceit that they cannot be copied, except when it's convenient to the plot. The Star Trek reference that immediately comes to mind is Neutral Zone, from Next Generation's first season. Ethical Alternatives is the fifth episode (series of missions) in Star Trek Timelines.It consists of 18 missions, with eleven away team missions and seven ship battle missions. It's practically by chance that his template was downloaded into a fully functional and self aware body, one of the WAU's (an artificial intelligence running the PATHOS-II station) only successes at creating a biomechanical hybrid human. In it, the holodeck character, Professor James Moriarty, attains self awareness and demands to be freed into the real world. Lt. Barclay, who famously suffered from holo-addiction, had it right all along. The original (human) Simon died over a century before the game occurs due to issues stemming from a traumatic brain injury, but his brain scan is data, so it is effectively immortal and frozen in time until it is brought back online. And, after all, franchise reboots always contain elements from their predecessors; no one complained when Batman had to fight The Joker, just like he always does, in Christopher Nolan's Batman reboot. Practically the entire crew of PATHOS-II is ready to jump aboard their own ship in a bottle, where they can live thousands of years in a virtual paradise, running on a pod floating in space. (I should have figured it out when Kirk was pummeling him to no avail.). Over the past thirty years, the Star Trek series of movies and television shows have brought the ethical dilemmas of modern science and technology, and the ethical … Obviously, The Ethics of Star Trek will be most interesting and accessible Why Do Children Prefer to Save Dogs Over People? If all or most of them say you should, then it is most likely morally right. Andrew Lau, associate … When people think about the "Star Trek" television series, they might recall the cheesy special effects, William Shatner's hammy performances, or the 1960s-style take on futuristic fashions. Would we really think a mother was a good mother if she sacrificed her child to save two others that weren’t her own? A "Khan" is a Turkish/Mongolian ruler. Since "Star Trek" first hit the airwaves in 1966, the show has worked as part of this tradition, using extraterrestrial settings to ask ethical and philosophical questions about the way people behave. Star Trek is renowned for discussing ethical subjects more profoundly, and its main characters for acting with more deliberation and less preconception than in most other TV shows, and especially than in almost all other science fiction. Considering one of the driving themes is trying to get through the end of the world, it would have been nice to a better idea of how far humanity progressed before it got wiped out. There's a Star Trek Voyager episode that presented a highly contentious ethical dilemma. This approach would likely vindicate the actions of who arguably is the biggest hero in the film, Scotty, who saves The Enterprise from a bigger and better ship in much the same way that he did in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock-- by sabotaging the other ship. "The Ethics of Star Trek" came out in 2001, just after the conclusion of the run of "Star Trek: Voyager." At first glance, this blend of philosophical ethics and Star Trek may look like an outlandish Trekkie fantasy. WAU can't tell the difference between life and making a mockery of it, which is a situation that makes the Borg look like a better alternative. Nearly every ethical theory would suggest he did the right thing. It's just too bad the originals are left to die painful deaths on Earth while their digital copies are sent up to paradise. At one point, Simon wonders if each of those copies has a soul, and if there is a heaven now filled with millions of his versions, which leads to the next logical issue. Either it breaks people and objects down to atomic components and fires them at the speed of light to be rebuilt at a destination point, or it makes a perfect scan of those things, destroys the original, and creates a replica using available resources at the destination point. In Abram’s first Star Trek movie, the villain Nero changed the past, creating an alternate timeline – one where Kirk was born in space, not Iowa, and Vulcan was destroyed. But the plausibility of it isn't so much an issue as what the technology represents. Star Trek has always been about seeking out new worlds and civilizations, but a new traveling museum exhibit could also help children better understand our own. We should judge acts based on their adherence to a set of rules, as well a the motives of the actor. With the script for Star Trek 3 currently being written for a probable release in 2016, the writers would be wise to tackle these moral dilemmas once again... 10. J.J. Abrams has done it again! In Soma, you meet the last living human being on Earth, who is ironically hooked up to a life support system. From Star Trek Timelines Wiki. And if there is a tie, we may have to say that we simply don't know which one is true. By Victor Grech — Star Trek is a popular cultural phenomenon and each series reinvents cast and plot, providing a unique backdrop with which to study the evolution of philosophy as a curricular subject. I'm sure some reviewers will be critical, thinking that incorporating elements from the old movies is unoriginal. "Ethics" is the 116th episode of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: The Next Generation. As Soma observes, one version always has to end up with the wrong side of the coin flip. Utilitarianism: This is the ethical theory that suggests the rightness or wrongness of an action is determined by how much happiness or pain it produces. The reviewer discredits their opinions by making such a basic error. What I found most fascinating – if you'll excuse the term – is how Abrams was able to incorporate elements of previous Star Trek movies into this one, and yet still keep it fresh. But, as stated before, one version always gets the wrong side of the coin flip. People need to stop selling themselves short by endorsing these abominations. There are a plethora of ethical theories on display, and even argued for, in Star Trek: Into Darkness. It was and still is, to the best of my knowledge, the only prime-time popular series designed to motivate people to think about ethical … Virtue Ethics: The virtue ethicist doesn't so much offer up a definition of what is right and wrong, but is more concerned with figuring out how to behave virtuously. Singular, original, and alive. Feminists have criticized traditional ethics by suggesting that they usually rely on masculine assumptions. Regardless, he seems to be behaving as a good engineer should, and thus would be vindicated by virtue ethics. Forcefully hooking a person up to life support and never letting them die? Having Data revert to his almost Asimov-like robot code of ethics is a great touch, and a nice way to open up a Star Trek story. It provides plenty of meat for the current film cast, especially Zachary Quinto as Spock, to really take a deep dive into their roles. So, without further ado, here are 10 Star Trek novels that might make good movies: ... Troublesome Minds is a great character piece filled to overflowing with moral and ethical dilemmas with no easy answers. If none of them do, or most don't, then it is probably wrong. The new Star Trek movie can also be used to point out where these theories conflict. That means, if you copy a scanned mind out of one vessel, you essentially have two of the same person. Comparing competing scientific hypotheses is not an all or nothing ordeal. How can you tell what the morally right thing to do is? With Patrick Stewart, Jonathan Frakes, LeVar Burton, Michael Dorn. And I also conclude that Star Trek: Into Darkness was a great Star Trek movie. It's not surviving the end of the world, but it's the next best thing. It is a really good summary of the ethical philosophies embodied by the captains and other main characters in the first four "Star Trek" series. It's tough to contend with a franchise that has touched on just about every sci-fi issue ever imagined thus far, but the independently developed survival horror game Soma manages to hit some the big issues involving the life, the afterlife, and the dark side of technology without pesky Starfleet rules to get in the way. Spoiler Alert: I'm about to reveal details of the new Star Trek movie Into Darkness. It is almost cliché – at least it has become cliché in my classroom – to use the Vulcan adage "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one" to summarize utilitarianism. And the ethical dilemmas and lessons of the series tell us a lot about the moral culture of the people who made it – and of the people who watch it. Similarly, Soma only touches lightly on the issue of being left out of time, because let's face it, being trapped in a crumbling deep sea facility - even when it's a space gun - isn't really representative of 22nd Century living. But with her health failing, and the rest of humanity supposedly wiped out by a comet, she states, "we have to go with second best.". The purpose of this book is not to examine the treatment of ethical dilemmas in the Star Trek oeuvre, nor indeed to use various Trek episodes to exemplify ethical theories. How Soma Echoes Star Trek's Ethical Dilemmas. Left-Handedness and Hormones: Is There a Link? Then again, he may have a duty as an engineer to always know what is on his ship; universalizing a lack of such concern could be equally contradictory. Coincidentally, that is exactly what the Ark program is supposed to do in Soma, except that the volunteers are aware that their brains are being scanned. I liked your analysis, but no... just no. But despite the changes, it might be that certain things are fated to happen. Because the torpedoes could have something on them that could interfere with the operation of the ship, and even destroy it, utility would applaud him for looking after the needs of the many. The Star Trek franchise is approaching its 50th anniversary. But Star Trek is notoriously more philosophical than most other sci-fi, and Abrams also managed to incorporate philosophical issues into this movie as well. The new Spock engages in the same reasoning in Into Darkness when he is willing to sacrifice his life to ensure that the prime directive is not violated. In that sense, the ethics of Star Trek is the ethics of multiculturalism.4 Star Trek scripts have often grappled with dilemmas of medical ethics. Just given the basic premises of nanotechnology, you can imagine the vast potential of this technology. In Abram’s first Star Trek movie, the villain Nero changed the past, creating an alternate timeline – one where Kirk was born in space, not Iowa, and Vulcan was destroyed. For example, Kirk and Spock seem to be fated to battle Kahn and defeat him only at the cost of one of their lives (and shouting Kahn’s name), no matter what timeline they are in. It was visually stunning, had a surprising and exciting story, and had many classic Star Trek elements that made it a genuine Star Trek movie. Feminist ethics suggests, because of the importance of community, family and friends, it is morally acceptable to favor your own at the expense of others, if necessary. As video games often demonstrate, death becomes less of an issue if you can revert to a backup copy. All in all, I conclude that Scotty clearly did the morally right thing. A kahn is a Turkish/Mongolian ruler, as in Genghis Khan. The scientific criteria themselves will not be useful, but we can replace them with the ethical theories we have considered. What do you do with the obsolete copy? Since if everyone lied all the time, communication would be impossible (and thus lying would be impossible) Kant thought that we were always morally obligated not to lie, regardless of the circumstance. Having Kirk, instead of Spock, enter the engine core to save The Enterprise, and be on the other side of the glass as he died, was brilliant. Instead, it's to determine the ethical framework upon which Trek is based, and even to apply that framework as the basis for an ideal human society. Bad Ethics in Star Trek. Quite obviously I don't own Star Trek.This was put together for an undergraduate class on research ethics. In Soma, players can choose whether or not to recognize virtual life as something worth preserving. The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly. Shouldn't Spock realize that sometimes his need not to lie can be outweighed by the needs of the many? The purpose of this book is not to examine the treatment of ethical dilemmas in the Star Trek oeuvre, nor indeed to use various Trek episodes to exemplify ethical theories. Stretching this vision a bit, you can imagine a Star Trek type replicator which could reassemble matter in the form of a juicy steak, given the correct blueprints and organization of these nanomachines. Accurate and interesting analysis using each theory. Kirk is acting in line with virtue ethics when he saves The Enterprise at the cost of his own life. So, it seems no matter how far you go into the future, questions about human existence remain a conundrum. Although the previous is the accepted process of beaming, there are episodes - like when there are transporter clones - that can only happen if the latter is true. A new theory aims to make sense of it all. They don't compare their worlds experiences. You make your review look bad by such a basic error. Altogether, it seems the frozen travelers take pretty well to discovering that extraterrestrials exist, and they're stuck in a world where everyone they knew is dead, everything they had is gone, and all their social values are completely antiquated. Kant may suggest that he did something wrong because he disobeyed an order (and if you universalize disobeying orders they become meaningless). For 35 years, Star Trek has been a popular vehicle for exploring social issues. To be generous, these new films barely reflect the same philosophical/ethical and scientific depth used by Roddenberry, Nick Sagan, or even an intern from UPN's Enterprise series. Its humanistic values and optimistic view of the future have inspired many young people, and the ethical dilemmas that drive much of its drama have provoked debate among generations of fans. T he Deontological perspective holds that actions are intrinsically right or wrong; ethical judgements should not depend on the consequences of those actions. If your crew has survived enough hazards lasting two hours, your crew will be presented with a Dilemma - a stop point during your voyage that presents a situation that requires interaction. There are moments when Simon reminisces to Catherine about his life as a living person, and she reveals a little bit about herself too, but these sequences are brief. Actions include deleting brain scans (including your own), destroying a semi-aware robot that thinks it's human, and whether or not to destroy WAU and all the monstrosities attached to it. No one complained about Batman because they are stand-alone films and followed the mythology used in DC accurately. Ted Schick suggests that we might approach ethnical questions like scientists approach scientific questions. The 16th episode of the fifth season. They suggest that we can do this by emulating moral exemplars. The episode is famously resolved by convincing Moriarty that he has been given a living body and his own small spacecraft, when in truth, he was transferred to portable computer system with enough memory to provide a lifetime's worth of new experiences. The experiences of that individual are no longer unique if you can create perfect copies of them infinitely. A cult following on PATHOS-II determines that the best way to resolve that issue is to commit suicide right after the scanning process is complete. But Abrams is playing with the fascinating idea of an alternate time line, and the concept of fate. Not bad for something that the book "The Physics of Star Trek" describes as utterly implausible given what we know currently know about matter. According to "The Physics of Star Trek," a transporter can only work one of two ways. Signup for a Free Account. Violence is now inextricably fused with Star Trek and balances, somewhat uncomfortably, against the franchise's core values of scientific exploration and solving moral and ethical dilemmas. Star Trek is an American media franchise originating from the 1960s science fiction television series Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry.That series, now often known as "The Original Series ", debuted on September 8, 1966, and aired for three seasons on NBC.It followed the voyages of the starship USS Enterprise, a space exploration vessel built by the United … Feminist Ethics: When Kirk rescues Spock, prime directive be damned, he is actually acting on something very similar to feminist ethics. Suppose you are considering doing a particular kind of action – like lying. Dec 29, 2015 - Description Covering all four Star Trek series, the author approaches the ethical dilemmas faced by the Star Trek characters and uses the show as a perfect prism through which to view right and wrong from ancient times all the way through to the 24th century. Instead, it's to determine the ethical framework upon which Trek is based, and even to apply that framework as the basis for an ideal human society. For 35 years, Star Trek has been a popular vehicle for exploring social issues. The logical fallacy is fully demonstrated the WAU's efforts to try to save the remnants of the human race, often with monstrous results. Kant argued that if universalizing that action (if everyone doing it) would lead to a contradiction, we are morally obligated to not perform that action. Apart from the warp drive, the transporter has to be the single most impactful piece of fictional technology ever introduced into pop culture. Although the Star Trek episode was hastily written, and everyone's Rip Van Winkle syndrome was more or less resolved by being dumped on Earth, the spirit of the episode was meant to highlight how different the 24th Century is from the 20th. And the reveal that John Harrison was actually Kahn was really enjoyable -- even though I had heard the Internet rumors, and figured it out when they started talking about 300 year old cryogenic capsules. Psychology's Final Frontier: Understanding Heroism, Let's Honor Leonard Nimoy and End Smoking in Rehab, Why We are all More Rational than Mr. Spock. Scientists use the criteria of adequacy: testability, fruitfulness, scope, simplicity and conservativism. Soma is a survival horror game that has both monsters and a main character that's forced to deal with deep existential issues. And off I go to see it in the theater again. Directed by Chip Chalmers. 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