Is Data human?
All questions a scientist has ever asked himself are in this book. Using a
scientific and hopefull way, all those beautifull techniques used in
StarTrek are explored for the possibilities.
Artificial intelligence which even leads to artificial humans; would it be
possible? What would be a goof test to call something intelligent? This book
takes the most interesting topics from Star
Trek's futuristic techniques and writes (in an absorbing manner) about
it. It's like the author is sitting right across you and explains it all
nice and easy to you. Sometimes small illustrations will enhance the
explanations. The book is very readable and every page is worth a discussion
with friends. As the booktitle suggests, it also takes a look at Data. The author explains what artificial intelligence
is or could be and also takes in account mankind's most important traits:
emotions. What exactly are emotions, and how could they be simulated? How
does a human mind work, what leads to mankind's actions? But besides Data, the author also takes a look at the transporter.
How does it work, is it's use consistent everytime or does it work diferent
from time to time? Interesting problems like splicing people and their
minds, or copying people using a faulty confinementbeam, are taken a look at
together with the episodes in which these problems occured. The author takes
the technique's essentions, mixes in some philosophy and current science and
tries to mold those to a reasonable analysis. Even religion is taken into
account every once-and-a-while to clear up the explanations. "Is Data human?" is a book which explains about every aspect of
Star Trek in an almost scientific way. It's a
good read and gives you a lot to think about.