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Title: Is Data Human?: The Metaphysics of Star Trek by Richard Hanley ISBN: 0-465-04548-0 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: March, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.50 |
Average Customer Rating: 3 (7 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A mixed bag.
Comment: First of all, I agree with Murray Moffat that the first part of this book, which dicusses the criteria of personhood (a moral concept) is boring. This is because it is too loosely written. Hanley's discussion seems unfocused; sometimes one paragraph does not seem to follow from another. I still have not figured out what precisely the author concludes about organisms that display linguistic behavior, for instance. His comments on this issue are scattered, and, I believe, are never satisfactorily brought together. Chapters 4 and 5 of Part II constitute by far the best part of the work. In these chapters, Hanley discusses personal identity over time, i.e. synchronic identity, in opposition to diachronic identity, or identity at an instant, discussed in the first part. The first part of the book asks, "How can we identify a person?" and the first two chapters of the second part ask, "How can we identify the SAME person at two different times?" Hanley makes a compelling case (though, ultimately, I cannot agree) in the second part that continuity of psychology or pscychological states must be our guide in determining who is the same person as whom. The final chapter, chapter 6, seems somewhat disconnected from the rest of the book in discussing time travel, though this topic obviously fits with the general theme of the book. It is a satisfying discussion, though not as lively as that in the preceding two chapters. The epilogue seems preachy and entirely out of place, but only comprises a few pages. So, the rating for this book breaks down as follows:
Part I (chapters 1-3): 3 stars
Chapters 4 and 5: 5 stars
Chapter 6: 4 stars
Epilogue: 1 star
Averaging, but discounting the epilogue (since it is so short), we arrive at the rating of 4 stars for the book overall.
Rating: 5
Summary: excellent thought exprmnts on a wide variety of phil. issues
Comment: Thought-experiments that spring from the plots of several Star Trek episodes and films (all series) afford Hanley a variety of opportunities to lucidly and humourously explore contemporary issues in epistemology, metaphysics, ethics and physics (mainly time-travel stuff). Just a fantastic book.
Rating: 3
Summary: Interesting in parts...
Comment: If you're interested in Star Trek _and_ philosophy then this is the book for you! However if you like Star Trek but aren't too fussed about philosophy then you might want to give this one a miss.
I found the first half of this book, discussing what constitutes intelligence and what is "a person", fairly boring. Things picked up a bit when the author moved on to transporters and time travel, but I've got to question some of the authors technical knowledge. He may know lots about philosophy but his physics is a bit shaky at times.
Of course philosophy being such a "hairy-fairy" science (some people don't even class it as a "real" science) it's very hard to argue with the authors conclusions. It's not like you can _prove_ anything, is it?
A much better read are Lawrence Krauss' books "The Physics of Star Trek" and "Beyond Star Trek".
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Title: The Ethics of Star Trek by Judith Barad, Ed Robertson ISBN: 0060933267 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 27 November, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The Physics of Star Trek by Lawrence M. Krauss ISBN: 0060977108 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 25 September, 1996 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: Religions of Star Trek by Ross Shepard Kraemer, William Cassidy, Susan Schwartz ISBN: 0813367085 Publisher: Westview Press Pub. Date: 24 December, 2001 List Price(USD): $22.00 |
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Title: The Computers of Star Trek by Lois H. Gresh, Robert E. Weinberg ISBN: 046501299X Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: 05 June, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: All I really need to know I learned from watching Star Trek by Dave Marinaccio ISBN: 0517883864 Publisher: Three Rivers Press Pub. Date: 10 May, 1995 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
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