Enterprise - Stigma

[McAvoy]

It's possible for a machine to make poetry, paint, perform music, etc without emotions. Analyze all the work done before and choose the style to perform/use/create from.

Since he is fully sentient, it wouldn't sound like a modern day bot doing Mashup ripoff either. It would be on something he saw or did of note. Like Spot.

[Riedquat]

It's possible for a machine to make poetry, paint, perform music, etc without emotions. Analyze all the work done before and choose the style to perform/use/create from.

Since he is fully sentient, it wouldn't sound like a modern day bot doing Mashup ripoff either. It would be on something he saw or did of note. Like Spot.

It wouldn't sound like that but that's what it would be.

[Frustration]

No emotion and you've no reason to put more weight on living over dying.

Amoebas have no emotional states as we'd consider the term to apply, but they have very clear preferences and will seek out food and mates and flee toxins and predators.

There's a straightforward sense in which it is perfectly logical to prefer survival, in addition to a sense in which logic indicates survival is meaningless.

[Riedquat]

No emotion and you've no reason to put more weight on living over dying.

Amoebas have no emotional states as we'd consider the term to apply, but they have very clear preferences and will seek out food and mates and flee toxins and predators.

There's a straightforward sense in which it is perfectly logical to prefer survival, in addition to a sense in which logic indicates survival is meaningless.

I'd argue that an amoeba is no different from a robot in that sense. You could supply a robot with various sensors and programming to remove itself from situations that might damage it, and to go and recharge when needs be, but that doesn't mean it's got a preference for living, any more than a waterwheel has for turning.

We have various built-in responses and reactions which are more machine-like; their existence does not carry the notion of a preference IMO. They're not the ones that say "If I make this decision something in the future will kill me, if I make that one I'll live."

[Fianna]

There isn't really a fundamental difference between those instinctual preferences and human emotions/desires; only difference is degree of complexity. It's all just neurons and synapses, after all.

[TGLS]

There isn't really a fundamental difference between those instinctual preferences and human emotions/desires; only difference is degree of complexity. It's all just neurons and synapses, after all.

Maybe not for an amoeba, but I take your point.

[Riedquat]

There isn't really a fundamental difference between those instinctual preferences and human emotions/desires; only difference is degree of complexity. It's all just neurons and synapses, after all.

I disagree. "It's all just neurons and synapses" is merely the method. I don't think many will agree that a human and a robot are fundamentally the same because both can be capable of moving a hand away from fire (and I'm talking about robots we could build now, not science fiction ones).

[Dragon Ball Fan]

I'm not sure that the storyline later on in the series doesn't justifies the Vulcan's portrayal in this episode. The Vulcan culture was warped by a Vulcan traitor or, if you guy by the books, a Vulcan passing Romulan infiltrator.

There were underlying prejudice that he worked with but it took just one guy to turn Germany into a genocide machine in the 30s and 40s. Even the Nazi Party itself was benign before Hitler came in and corrupted it like a virus.

[Frustration]

It's not quite true that it took only one man to turn Germany into a genocidal empire-wannabe. Hitler was the spark that set off a conflagration, but there were other potential sparks - and the fuel had been piling up for a long, long time.

It wasn't just a problem with Germany, too - the Germans were very fond of portrayals of American colonization, and the treatment of the natives made a big impression on them.

[Dragon Ball Fan]

It's not quite true that it took only one man to turn Germany into a genocidal empire-wannabe. Hitler was the spark that set off a conflagration, but there were other potential sparks - and the fuel had been piling up for a long, long time.

It wasn't just a problem with Germany, too - the Germans were very fond of portrayals of American colonization, and the treatment of the natives made a big impression on them.

But Hitler still is the only reason the Nazi Party itself went from a relatively benign political party to a death cult, so, my point could still stand.