yes, picard against the adjudicator is great to see, and one of the highlights of the character. but the main problem with this episode is based on the fact that star trek is shit at lecturing about philosophy. when it is implicit, it is one of the most sophisticated television shows, but in an episode such at this when characters try to explicitly answer philosophical questions, it falls flat. as an example, in 'elementary, dear data' the moriarty character quotes 'cogito ergo sum', which has not been considered a valid account of subjectivity for centuries - even less so in the 22nd century. furthermore, the episode promises to address ideas about consciousness in machines. instead we are given a half-arsed throwback to american slavery, which just affirms that the show is and always will be a product of the US, and not a pure utopian vision. overall i'm rather disappointed that this is often regarded as 'top 10 TNG' material. even 'conspiracy' and 'where no one has gone before' from S1 greatly outmatch this.
Shout by DeletedBlockedParent2016-01-09T00:59:26Z
yes, picard against the adjudicator is great to see, and one of the highlights of the character. but the main problem with this episode is based on the fact that star trek is shit at lecturing about philosophy. when it is implicit, it is one of the most sophisticated television shows, but in an episode such at this when characters try to explicitly answer philosophical questions, it falls flat. as an example, in 'elementary, dear data' the moriarty character quotes 'cogito ergo sum', which has not been considered a valid account of subjectivity for centuries - even less so in the 22nd century. furthermore, the episode promises to address ideas about consciousness in machines. instead we are given a half-arsed throwback to american slavery, which just affirms that the show is and always will be a product of the US, and not a pure utopian vision. overall i'm rather disappointed that this is often regarded as 'top 10 TNG' material. even 'conspiracy' and 'where no one has gone before' from S1 greatly outmatch this.