Living Starship.

[Brell]

Would you serve aboard a ship that was alive? One that was a sentient biological life form that traveled through space with the aid of it’s humanoid crew inside of it.

 

We have seen vessels like this on screen a few times such as the Tin man which was telepathically connected to its crew. Another is the bioships used by Species 8472 though we don't know if their ships were sentient as well as being biological. The idea raises a lot of questions. Does the ship have the same rights as a member of the crew? Can it make decisions to protect itself or others at the cost of those on board? Can it refuse a given command? Is it a form of indentured servitude or slavery to use a living thing in this manner?

 

Living starships are not as alien of a concept as you might think either. Just look at many of the Starfleet vessels that integrate biological components in the form of Bio-Neural gel packs. They allow the computer to think out problems like a living brain would and are even susceptible to infection. Of course a ship where the hallways pulse with a heart beat is a bit different than a computer that thinks. Here in the real world even organic computing is a technology we are striving to make into a reality.

 

So would you serve or even feel comfortable on a living starship? Tell us below in the comments!

 

This question is from our Trek Technology and Science category. Where we ask questions relating to the various technologies as well as scientific phenomena and principles seen in the universe of Star Trek.

[+ Alexander Williams]

Hmmm its a very interesting topic, one worthy of exploration for a new ship. Someone could sim the ship itself. 

As for Alex.. he is always into adventure so this one sounds like a good one to try.

 

[Evan Delano]

Is the ship sentient, or just alive? 

If sentient, I'd be fine as long as it was treated as such. If not sentient, then I'd just require a certain level of respect akin to the way most people expect pets or livestock to be treated. The gross factor comes down to specifics. The 8472 Bioships were pretty nasty looking, but something like Tin Man looked like it could be nice. 

[+ Salkath]

6 hours ago, Alexander Williams (Roel) said:

Someone could sim the ship itself. 

Yeah, one could have fun with that...

 

[Kendra Eberhart]

Interesting topic indeed and answers depend deeply on specifics as previously mentioned. 

Personally I really love the idea of organic ships but it takes a certain type of people/setting to make them work. 

The idea of sentience is always a problem be it with holograms or bio-ships. Perhaps it could be said that if the ship is fully sentient some sort of service contract could be barted into just like contracts star fleet personnel agree to when they sign onto star fleet therefore negating any potential ethical concerns.

[Torak]

I think the only biological ship I've ever really liked was Moya, from Farscape, but honestly, I think just liked the idea of Pilot. But as to serving on one, I think it could certainly be an interesting experience, with all kinds of various avenues for character development in ways that the normal, technological ship might not have. Especially for someone in engineering.