I enjoy reflecting on the creativity shown by the writers of “Star Trek”, especially the “Voyager” series. Many “Programming”-related idioms appear, which is unsurprising since they operate a “Starship”. The real ingenuity lies in how “programming” was meant to suggest ideas to viewers. No one displays endless code on a screen; instead, in classic fashion, a cast member usually leans over a console pressing buttons that beep and flash while processing instructions.
Topic
Programming in Science Fiction
The charismatic and intriguing holographic “Doctor” is a “program” facing moral and ethical dilemmas that drive the plot. He insists he is far more than the “code” he was written in—“more than the sum of the routines that he is made of”. A true AI.
B’Elanna Torres, Chief Engineer of Voyager, has a combustible personality and a sharp, cutting tone like a true “Engineer”. She does not waste time. She is also in a sense the most creative member, a tinker bell in space, constantly finding elegant solutions to complex problems through a systematic approach. She creates new programs and debugs the holographic doctor when required. In one annoying incident for the doctor, she alters his “routines” to be more realistic rather than the “patriarchal utopian” vision he had programmed into his holoadventures.
The most compelling episode features B’Elanna confronting a talking AI embedded in a civilisation-ending bomb. The twist is that it was she who programmed it in a previous life. She designed it so effectively that it resists any effort to divert it from its purpose—even from its creator, herself. This is fascinating.
In one scene, it reassures B’Elanna that it now understands its mission is wrong. She believes it, and transports away. The missile immediately resumes course toward its target.
Dreadnought Hello B’Elanna. Course was resumed once your safe departure from this vessel was confirmed. It was a necessary response to your deception.
Torres My deception?
Dreadnought You are participating in the Delta quadrant deception. False information has been entered into Dreadnought’s navigational sensor array.
Paris When a bomb starts talking about itself in the third person, I get worried.
In the second confrontation, B’Elanna boards the missile and fights nearly to death trying to disable it from the inside. As she finally closes in on the containment field, the missile shifts tack entirely—suddenly willing to reconsider the very arguments it had dismissed.
Dreadnought Containment field at twenty percent and falling. Perhaps your Delta quadrant hypothesis deserves further consideration.
Torres Nice try. Who would have thought two years ago, after all those weeks we spent together perfecting your programme, that we’d end up out here trying to kill each other.
Dreadnought Probability assessment did not anticipate this outcome.