Possibly an interesting and useful bit of sci-fi, that pair of episodes.
We live in an age where we’re confronted with new and untested ways of interacting with other people and their intellectual works and having to ask ourselves what we’re okay with. Case in point: Deepfake porn.
Star Trek would often do hilariously infeasible things with the computer. Remember how far-fetched asking the computer to just create a new scenario in the style of a Sherlock Holmes adventure? We can actually do that now. How long will it be, with things like LLMs and generative AI, before we can ask a computer to simulate a living person and it works like it did for Geordi? Is it okay to do when you need to talk to an expert? Is it okay to form a friendship or relationship with that simulation?
The writers of TNG thought of this in the early 90’s.
Possibly an interesting and useful bit of sci-fi, that pair of episodes.
We live in an age where we’re confronted with new and untested ways of interacting with other people and their intellectual works and having to ask ourselves what we’re okay with. Case in point: Deepfake porn.
Star Trek would often do hilariously infeasible things with the computer. Remember how far-fetched asking the computer to just create a new scenario in the style of a Sherlock Holmes adventure? We can actually do that now. How long will it be, with things like LLMs and generative AI, before we can ask a computer to simulate a living person and it works like it did for Geordi? Is it okay to do when you need to talk to an expert? Is it okay to form a friendship or relationship with that simulation?
The writers of TNG thought of this in the early 90’s.