Malfunction and Transcendence: Machines, Free Will, and Spiritual Transformation in Star Trek

Abstract

In its various incarnations, Star Trek has presented numerous malfunctioning machines. In exceeding or violating their programming, creations such as Nomad (TOS: “The Changeling”) and Lore (ST:TNG: “Datalore,” etc.) become villains to be overcome. In these instances, malfunction can be considered as a form of sin. There are other cases of malfunctions that represent the first signs of sentience, such as the Exocomps (ST:TNG: “Quality of Life”). Violated programming can also become a form of spiritual growth, as for a group of Borg who manifest signs of individuality after exposure to a computer virus (ST:TNG, “The Descent”). In a sense, the ability to violate programming—to exceed the options hard-wired in biology or code—is the basis of free will. But malfunction can be much more, as in the case of V’ger (ST:TMP), for whom malfunction becomes a model of transcendence. In combining human and alien, V’ger models a “third way” to radical spiritual transformation. In these and many other stories, a malfunctioning machine becomes a means of exploring questions of personhood, free will, and transcendence. This paper explores several malfunctioning machines in Star Trek, with particular attention to the the tension between between malfunction as a fall into sin and an ascension into a new category of being. Malfunctioning machines including V’ger, Hugh, and Nomad are discussed in the context of the Augustinian conception of sin, Walter Wink’s exploration of the language of power in the New Testament, and the reinterpretation of the Genesis narrative in texts such as The Apocryphon of John.