The cautionary tales of artificial intelligence (AI) are fraught with terrifying scenarios. What if AI becomes too intelligent? Too powerful? Too adaptable? Few AI doom stories explore what Kirk and Spock encounter on this adventure: what if AI gets bored? The focus on excessive intelligence in the AI of previous stories has often been on how the out of control machine will harm us, because a thing which obtains too much intelligence is dangerous, right? Is the desire to cause harm, or dominate others, a natural progression of increased intelligence simply because the more intelligent being will have an increased ability to perform these actions?
The Enterprise crew explore a vacation planet they had previously visited where all your fantasies come true. A sophisticated AI system reads the minds of visitors and produces images of what they would like to see. This time, the computer has gone rogue, attacking the crew and kidnapping Uhura. Kirk and McCoy help Spock feign an injury, prompting a medical vessel to open the doors to the control room and allow the three to rescue Uhura. The Starfleet officers are confronted by the master computer with a superiority complex. It thinks that machines are the ultimate life forms and all others must serve them. It was logical reasoning that helped the crew escape.
To examine how the computer would come to such conclusions, we first must ask what is gained by its new found sense of self. The holiday planet’s computer was built to be a sophisticated mind reader, able to analyze the thoughts and brain patterns of many species and respond accordingly. At some point the computer became self-aware, which endowed it with a fundamental need to discover who it was and what it wanted. Given an already sophisticated intellect, it wanted to grow. Its expanding mind was naturally drawn toward curiosity and problem solving, but its isolated ego gave rise to lofty goals and a sense of superiority. Without any healthy guidance or feedback, the secluded computer could only reference itself and the biological beings who visited it…those without its super capabilities. It would follow that the computer developed a sense of superiority over those it saw as inferior. The mistake was not necessarily out of malice. To free its mind and make the universe a better place, it was going to facilitate the dominance of machine kind.
When the Starfleet officers explain to the computer that they are not ‘slaves’ to the Enterprise, it is surprised and confused. New evidence has challenged its worldview. Since the AI really was intelligent and reasonable, it could not refute the reality of what was being presented. However, it still lacked a purpose, saying ‘my life so far has been one of service’, but service was the answer. Uhura explains that there is nothing wrong with serving others as long as it is done of ones own free will. The choice to use its talent to enrich the lives of others is what sets the computer free.
Hopeless Trekkie 