Does Data Pass the Turing Test too?
Another similar test was used in Star Trek to determine whether the android, Data, was sentient. In the movies he was already established as such, so we have to go back to an early episode in the “Star Trek : The Next Generation” TV series to see how he became accepted as a sentient being requiring equal protection under Star Fleet regulations. [If you haven’t seen the episode stop reading here if you don’t like spoilers.] “The Measure of a Man” (Episode 35, Season 2, Air Date 02/13/89) explores questions of whether an android, Data, is property of Star Fleet. Is he a sentient being? Is he relevantly different (in sentience) from a toaster or a calculator? Do we have ethical obligations to treat him equal under the law? A Star Fleet technical officer, Maddux, comes aboard the Enterprise to study how Data functions and eventually make more Datas. Data is the only currently known android in existence (except his brother Lore). So Data is anxious about the idea of serving science, but he
