Star Trek & Citizens United

[canuckledragger]

I'm not a huge Star Trek fan.. repetitive plots, techno-babble dues ex machina saves (and the Enterprise is saved by yet ANOTHER particle beam, Scotty engineering trick, Q, etc.) but occasionally while channel surfing I catch part of an episode of one of the many spin-offs & some gold shines through, thanks to some thought provoking ideas & excellent delivery by the actors.

Can't remember the exact name of this ST-TNG episode, but it involves an issue with a federation scientist wanting to dismantle Data (played by Brent Spiner) & study him so he can build more (leading to his possible 'death') & the question comes up 'is Data a sentient being or machine? Does he have the right to choose his destiny?' with Jean-Luc Picard ( played by Patrick Stewart)

I love science fiction stories that take real world issues & try to flesh them out, & get the rest of us thinking.

Although this episode was written years before the Citizens United case, could some of the initial talking points be applied to some of our creations?

Possibly. ignore the sci-fi aspect for a few moments & replace 'android' with 'corporation' for Jean-Luc's initial arguement within the first few minutes of the video.

Could the same criteria be used against a corporation claiming the rights of a person? would the argument hold?

This is why I love science fiction!

http://www.wimp.com/finesttrek/

[FiveGoodMen]

1. Data had a mind

Does a corporation?

[Drale]

2. The episode you are thinking of is called

The Measure of a Man. \\//

[bluerum]

3. The episode is called "The Measure of a Man" - one of the TNG's best.

The episode hinges upon whether or not data was a life form.

Intelligent. Self aware. Has a "soul".

[baldguy]

6. "Star Fleet was founded to seek out new life. Well THERE IT IS!"

[bluerum]

9. I think it was "Well there it sits". I have it on dvd - will have to watch soon!

[Tikki]

4. I believe ronnie raygun should have been....

dismantled to find out what makes a human being turn into such an ass-kissing corporate lackey.


The sci-fi part would be putting him back together.


Tikki

[htuttle]

5. Data was a single 'person' on the series

A corporation is supposedly a 'person' that is itself made up of 'persons'. That gives those persons 'two votes', so to speak. It amplifies the political power of the persons controlling the corporation, especially when they can draw upon the political speech power, ie, the money (defined by the supreme court as equivalent to 'speech'), of all of their customers, who may or may not even be aware of where their money/speech power is going after they spend it.

Data's individual transistors and servos weren't considered persons, just the aggregate sum of them was.

It taint fair.

[guyton]

7. check out Bladerunner

if you liked that episode chances are you'd like the old Bladerunner movie with Harrison Ford.

[canuckledragger]

8. I loved Blade Runner too

..& the new Battlestar Galactica series. (and for non-sci-fi, Red Dawn)

BSG in particular was a subtle commentary on the Iraq war. (or take your pick on any of the middle east wars)

Think about it. the Cylons with their faith in their 'one true god' take it upon themselves to wipe out humanity (the unbelievers) so they could have true freedom from their perceived oppressors.

With one season opener showing the Cylons on an occupied New Caprica (which humanity found & hid on only to be discovered later) trying to apply their idea of 'peace' on a population that doesn't want them there, using methods like mass murder, executions, torture & a corrupt government looking only to save its' own ass, and with limited resources one of the only ways for humanity to fight back was with suicide bombers..

Again..I love the way science-fiction has a way of sliding things under the radar!

[FiveGoodMen]

10. And you should see that on Blu-ray!

Demo quality and then some.