Humanity, Captain? Most illogical.

Watching old episodes of Star Trek, I've become aware of a recurring and endearing theme - the quest to become human. In three of the Star Trek series with which I am most familiar (The Next Generation; Voyager; Enterprise), there is at least one character who is trying to become more fully human.

In The Next Generation, that character is Data, a logical (though quirky) Android who is fascinated by humanity and strives to imitate them. In Voyager, that character is Seven of Nine*, a deassimilated Borg who has forgotten what it is like to live as an individual. In Enterprise, that character is T'Pol, a Vulcan science officer who has difficulty comprehending human irrationality.

Each of these characters, in their own way, is an unemotional logician, who cannot fathom the emotional and impetuous nature of humans. Indeed, they rightly critique this nature and its inconsistencies. Nevertheless, as the episodes wear on, these characters also learn the great value of human emotion, compassion, and intuition - so much so that they sometimes choose to imitate it.** This learning process becomes instructive for us as well, teaching us what it means to be truly human, with all its virtues and vices. I enjoy Star Trek, in spite of its many faults, and hope to write more about it.


*The Doctor, who is a hologram, is another character trying to become human, but his journey is somewhat less interesting because his surly and sarcastic attitude show that despite his holographic nature he is all too human.

** The characters imitate humanity in varying degrees, from Data who goes to great lengths to become human (even installing an emotion chip in his program) to T'Pol who appreciates humanity while maintaining her cool Vulcan demeanor.