The Irony of Mr. Data
by S. M. Hutchens
I've been interested in the concept of artificial intelligence since I first ran into it in Isaac Asimov's novels—Asimov was fascinated with the subject—especially appreciating his philosophical, not just technical, approach to it. We find a continuation of the theme in Star Trek's Mr. Data. If I am not mistaken, in the end Asimov confirmed the materialism of his worldview and did not recognize any categorical difference between real and artificial intelligence, while interestingly, the writers of Star Trek posited in Data a never-satisfied intuition that he, despite his highest efforts, could never achieve true humanity.
I would be surprised if there was any recognition among those writers that this longing in Data for a human soul (like Pinocchio—but with no possible divine intervention, for while Star Trek had many gods, it was Godless) was at odds with the outspoken atheism of his captain that paradoxically made the machine with his unfulfilled striving the moral superior of the god-man Picard. I am, of course, with Mr. Data: even the best reproduction can be no more than an image of the reality, and only the souled reality can generate an image—a shared tenet of all the Abrahamic faiths.
S. M. Hutchens is a senior editor and longtime writer for Touchstone.
Get six issues (one year) of Touchstone PLUS full online access including pdf downloads for only $39.95. That's only $3.34 per month!
Get a one-year full-access subscription to the Touchstone online archives for only $19.95. That's only $1.66 per month!
bulk subscriptions
Order Touchstone subscriptions in bulk and save $10 per sub! Each subscription includes 6 issues of Touchstone plus full online access to touchstonemag.com—including archives, videos, and pdf downloads of recent issues for only $29.95 each! Great for churches or study groups.
Transactions will be processed on a secure server.
more from the online archives
19.8—October 2006
on the Good Father’s Quiet Desperation by Russell D. Moore
33.4—July/August 2020
Our Views on the President Are Not Crucial by S. M. Hutchens
32.1—January/February 2019
on Down Syndrome & the Lives That Matter by David F. Watson
calling all readers
Please Donate
"There are magazines worth reading but few worth saving . . . Touchstone is just such a magazine."
—Alice von Hildebrand
"Here we do not concede one square millimeter of territory to falsehood, folly, contemporary sentimentality, or fashion. We speak the truth, and let God be our judge. . . . Touchstone is the one committedly Christian conservative journal."
—Anthony Esolen, Touchstone senior editor
