![]() ![]() Do they count? They aren’t human, or even organic, but are they persons? To my mind, the question becomes the most interesting in Star Trek when it relates to the status of artificially intelligent beings such as Data, or the Doctor in Voyager. It must be something about us, but what? Life? What is life? No, what seems to make the most sense is to appeal to something like sentience, self-consciousness, or the capacity for self-determination (autonomy). ![]() The question is why? Is it our biological humanity? Star Trek dispenses with that possibility out of the gate. Conversely, most everyone will agree that human beings do have a moral status. I could harm or destroy this desk, but it wouldn’t make sense to say I’ve wronged it. That is, what beings deserve moral consideration? Most everyone will agree that inanimate objects do not have such a standing. Star Trek, in its various iterations, has frequently grappled with the question of moral status, and does so perhaps most directly in “The Measure of a Man.” Broadly speaking, this is the question of who counts, morally. ![]()
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