blod 27 measure

Okay, so in class today we watched "Measure of a Man" from Star Trek the Next Generation. I thought the episode was very interesting. This episode focuses on the problem of human rights and more significantly what decides who or what has a soul. This question interested me a lot because in my Philosophy class last quarter we discussed the issue of souls, but it was more so on the premise of do we, as humans, actually have souls and what a soul really is. What does it mean to have a soul? If our body dies does our soul live on? If not then what is a soul? If our soul lives on then does that mean there's a god? This is a very controversial topic that was brought to life by this episode. There are many philosophers that spend their entire career arguing this and writing countless papers and books on the subject. I really like how the episode attempts to take on this subject so bluntly. The episode seemed to conclude that consciousness, self awareness, and like feeling or something like that. I feel like that's a very bold statement made by the producers and writers of the show. This episode also discusses artificial intelligence and whether a man made thing can be considered human or have a "soul". This topic was also brought forth in my philosophy and is highly controversial. It was determined in the episode that this man-made robot, so to speak, was deserved the right to choose. Based on how Data was i guess that's a decent decision, but that is what the episode leans toward and wants the audience to agree with. This is a very wild episode in the way they take on such insane, unanswerable questions. I do like that about this episode. The people in charge of the show aren't afraid, and i'm sure a lot of criticism was placed upon these great controversy laiden episodes. It really makes me interested in what other topics of human interest this series takes on.