Comments on: Star Trek’s Error: Spock’s lack of emotion would have made him irrational http://dangerousintersection.org/2006/05/04/star-trek%e2%80%99s-error-spock%e2%80%99s-lack-of-emotion-would-have-made-him-irrational/ Human Animals at the Crossroads of Culture, Science, Religion and Media Tue, 06 Jan 2009 23:09:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.5 By: Erika Price http://dangerousintersection.org/2006/05/04/star-trek%e2%80%99s-error-spock%e2%80%99s-lack-of-emotion-would-have-made-him-irrational/#comment-121 Erika Price Thu, 11 May 2006 00:58:00 +0000 http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=146#comment-121 I'd like introduce another real-life example that supports this point. Every year, NASA sponsors an artificial intelligence competition pitting the top engineers and technological innovators against eachother to complete one task: build a fully mobile, artificially intelligent robot that can make its own way against the Nevada desert. In the years of this competition, no robot has ever made it more than a few dozen yards, and not because of the terrain. The robots conk out and fail because they lose their tracking on the target. Lost without the certaint of the proper direction, the bots simply sit still, though fully functioning. Though perfectly logical, a purely rational mind CANNOT function on uncertainty. Humans thrive on making quick, value-based decisions that rely on our emotional state and subjective opinions of what seems "best". For now, this makes us better than AI or pure rationality. I’d like introduce another real-life example that supports this point.

Every year, NASA sponsors an artificial intelligence competition pitting the top engineers and technological innovators against eachother to complete one task: build a fully mobile, artificially intelligent robot that can make its own way against the Nevada desert. In the years of this competition, no robot has ever made it more than a few dozen yards, and not because of the terrain.

The robots conk out and fail because they lose their tracking on the target. Lost without the certaint of the proper direction, the bots simply sit still, though fully functioning.

Though perfectly logical, a purely rational mind CANNOT function on uncertainty. Humans thrive on making quick, value-based decisions that rely on our emotional state and subjective opinions of what seems “best”. For now, this makes us better than AI or pure rationality.

]]> By: JV http://dangerousintersection.org/2006/05/04/star-trek%e2%80%99s-error-spock%e2%80%99s-lack-of-emotion-would-have-made-him-irrational/#comment-96 JV Sat, 06 May 2006 18:07:17 +0000 http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=146#comment-96 if you really wished to use a 'star trek' example, the android, Data, from The Next Generation, would have sufficed if you really wished to use a ’star trek’ example, the android, Data, from The Next Generation, would have sufficed

]]> By: Erich Vieth http://dangerousintersection.org/2006/05/04/star-trek%e2%80%99s-error-spock%e2%80%99s-lack-of-emotion-would-have-made-him-irrational/#comment-91 Erich Vieth Fri, 05 May 2006 14:52:06 +0000 http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=146#comment-91 It had slipped my mind that Spock's mother was human. Therefore, grumpypilgrim is on target. It had slipped my mind that Spock’s mother was human. Therefore, grumpypilgrim is on target.

]]> By: grumpypilgrim http://dangerousintersection.org/2006/05/04/star-trek%e2%80%99s-error-spock%e2%80%99s-lack-of-emotion-would-have-made-him-irrational/#comment-90 grumpypilgrim Fri, 05 May 2006 14:43:27 +0000 http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=146#comment-90 Ah, but there is an important difference between Spock and the people who have lost their ability to feel emotion: Spock did not lose his emotions, he consciously supressed them. Indeed, more than one Star Trek story made clear that Spock's emotional landscape was anything but flat. In fact, he is repeatedly described as having very intense emotions, even more intense than those felt by humans. Accordingly, the analogy to people who feel no emotions at all would be invalid. Ironically, this actually supports your conclusion. Spock had little difficulty making decisions, and certainly nothing like the difficulties faced by people without emotions. Thus, the conclusion that emotion is an integral part of cognition would remain intact. Ah, but there is an important difference between Spock and the people who have lost their ability to feel emotion: Spock did not lose his emotions, he consciously supressed them. Indeed, more than one Star Trek story made clear that Spock’s emotional landscape was anything but flat. In fact, he is repeatedly described as having very intense emotions, even more intense than those felt by humans. Accordingly, the analogy to people who feel no emotions at all would be invalid.

Ironically, this actually supports your conclusion. Spock had little difficulty making decisions, and certainly nothing like the difficulties faced by people without emotions. Thus, the conclusion that emotion is an integral part of cognition would remain intact.

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