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. The course, taught by Professor Brian Maj, looks at “human ethics and social dilemmas that surface through the television series Star Trek: Voyager.” "Human" and "alive" are loose terms. That means, if you copy a scanned mind out of one vessel, you essentially have two of the same person. Although, it would be useless for me to argue any of them either since I had an emotivist's reaction to the film- yuck. For example, Dr. Carol Marcus lies to get on The Enterprise –and that is something that Spock would never do. 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. Even Christopher Pike from the original series was allowed to live out the rest of his life in an idyllic fantasy world. 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. I'm sure some reviewers will be critical, thinking that incorporating elements from the old movies is unoriginal. From Star Trek Timelines Wiki. Soma is a survival horror game that has both monsters and a main character that's forced to deal with deep existential issues. 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. Violence in Star Trek: Lower Decks as a Perceived Reflection of Innate Impulses The most obvious candidate for #KindnessIsALiteracy: Elnor Tuvokian Urges and … When considering whether or not to do an action, ask yourself how many ethical theories would suggest that you should perform that action. Time travel in some shape or form has always been a go-to Star Trek feature, with the 20th Century being one of the most favored eras. Left-Handedness and Hormones: Is There a Link? The problem with the second scenario is the same one that Simon has to wrestle with in Soma. He tells Spock, as he sits dying on the irradiated side of the glass, that he did it because that is what Spock would have done. A new theory aims to make sense of it all. Kant’s categorical imperative defined this set of rules as: Act in such a way that such actions would be … A "Khan" is a Turkish/Mongolian ruler. You make your review look bad by such a basic error. “Stardust City Rag” is a heavy episode, filled with heartbreak, ethical dilemmas, and an unusually high level of violence for a Star Trek show. Conversely, these inorganic life forms often strive to be more human. 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. 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. We don't know if this is the first time virtual Simon has been activated, or if hundreds of thousands of him have been awakened, deleted, and reset as part of the computer system's diagnostic program. As one of the prototype volunteers from when brain scanning was an emerging technology, there's a copy of the Simon on almost every brain scanning machine for troubleshooting and testing purposes. Nearly every ethical theory would suggest he did the right thing. 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. 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. 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. 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. Between five decades, six television series and ten movies (12 or 13 if you count the reboots), Star Trek has had a long history of covering a multitude of different topics related to high technology, society and ethics. 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. 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. 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. So, it seems no matter how far you go into the future, questions about human existence remain a conundrum. Ethical Dilemmas (457) Angst (74) Original Fiction (56) Friendship (52) Romance (51) Moral Dilemmas (51) Alternate Universe (45) Hurt/Comfort (42) As it turns out, there is no way to move a brain scan from one media to another. It appears, some people are just better suited to being artificial life than others. In it, three individuals who were cryogenically frozen in the 20th Century due to terminal illnesses, and their chambers somehow ended up light years away from Earth. The idea that … Shouldn't Spock realize that sometimes his need not to lie can be outweighed by the needs of the many? 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. 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. The experiences of that individual are no longer unique if you can create perfect copies of them infinitely. Feminists have criticized traditional ethics by suggesting that they usually rely on masculine assumptions. 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. 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. Spoiler Alert: I'm about to reveal details of the new Star Trek movie Into Darkness. All in all, I conclude that Scotty clearly did the morally right thing. WARNING: This article contains major spoilers for Soma and certain Star Trek episodes. 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. Would we really think a mother was a good mother if she sacrificed her child to save two others that weren’t her own? 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 reviewer discredits their opinions by making such a basic error. And if there is a tie, we may have to say that we simply don't know which one is true. 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. Or rebuilding them until they have some semblance of living, walking around as zombie-like creatures that are in constant agony? Just given the basic premises of nanotechnology, you can imagine the vast potential of this technology. 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. 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. 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. (I should have figured it out when Kirk was pummeling him to no avail.). All the brain scans loaded into the Ark are just copies, but she's the real thing. Signup for a Free Account. 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. However, Simon Jarrett (the main character in Soma) is an accidental time traveler. The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly. The logical fallacy is fully demonstrated the WAU's efforts to try to save the remnants of the human race, often with monstrous results. If none of them do, or most don't, then it is probably wrong. 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. You can only copy it. We should judge acts based on their adherence to a set of rules, as well a the motives of the actor. If all or most of them say you should, then it is most likely morally right. 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. J.J. Abrams has done it again! 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. 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