I haven't thought AI could be a "person" for over 3 decades
Friday, September 5, 2025
When I was in college, I took 2 philosophy classes to meet general course requirements before I began classes for my major in Industrial Technology. One of them was a 110 class called Thinking Logically and the teacher was great about helping students understand the assignments. I definitely took full advantage of the study hours he held at a local coffee shop, which really paid off.
The other was a 101 class called something like Basic Issues in Philosophy and a lot of weight was put on a paper where we had to discuss whether Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation was a “person”. The instructor clearly had a bias, though writing to support that viewpoint wasn’t required. I think I was the only person in the class who argued that Data wasn’t a person and I still feel that way today. I really wish I still had a copy of that paper to see what my arguments had been since AI is being pushed at us in all directions, but I’m pretty sure bias by Data’s creator was part of it.
Needless to say, my final grade in that class ended up being a C because I quit being a suck-up in high school. In contrast, the Thinking Logically class is the only course that I’ve ever aced. The university owes me a grade adjustment for the 101 class.