A Vulcan Salute To Emotional Intelligence

Flying high where machines with ‘a mind of their own’ can only sputter on

- Prince Frederick

Spock appeals to us “earthlings” because he is not fully human. He is half-Vulcan and Vulcans are incapable of emotion. Logic is integral to how they live every aspect of their extraterrestrial lives. So, our abiding love for this sci-fihalf-human half-Vulcan character is actually rooted in our mistrust of “emotion”, our belief that it is an inconvenient roadblock in an otherwise clear course paved with reason.

Today, the obsession with the concept of emotionless and super-efficient ETs seems to have ebbed a bit. For, our own “creations” are as baffling and fascinating as any ETs we may have ever thought up — presenting us with scenarios that were unimaginable not too long ago. Artificial Intelligence (AI) and automation are the Vulcans in our midst, hardly scifi, and growing very real with every passing day.

As they are making their presence felt in most aspects of our life, and doing many of the things we have been doing, a trillion times more quickly and with clinical efficiency, we are now forced to assess our position in relation to these “machines with a mind”.