Measure of a Man

   In class we watched the Star Trek Next Generation episode: Measure of a Man. It is about when Data is put on trial to decide if he should be decommissioned. The conflict is: Is he too human or not? Does he have rights? Is he self-aware, etc... Data is a robot but can think and feel just like a human can. They also brought up the point that if they created a race just like Data so they can serve us, is that slavery? And when do we draw the line where we have to give them rights? In history we did enslave the blacks, but they were there own people before. So if we create a race to serve us, is it really slavery or not? I think if they are self-aware, and have human emotion then yes, it is wrong. I think the line is when they become self-aware, and have a conscience and can tell what is right from what is wrong even if it is not the most logical choice. To compare this to I-Robot, the robots in there didn't save the girl in the car crash because she had a less likely chance of living but any human would still try to save the girl no matter what the odds are.
   I think we will get to this point in our near future where this imagined problem will become reality. We will build robots who will think freely and dream. Could it take a long time? Yes. But is it possible, yes. It is possible because we have yet to prove that we can't do it.
   So back to Data. He is way too human to make choices for him, he is self-aware and portrays human emotion, therefore should have rights.