Evil Doctor, Ethical Android: Star Trek’s Instantiation of Consciousness in Subroutines Abstract Machine intelligence, whether it constitutes Strong Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Weak AI, may have varying degrees of independence. Both Strong and Weak AI are often depicted as being programmed with safeguards that prevent harm to humanity, precepts which are informed by Isaac Asimov’s Laws of Robotics. This study will review these programs through a reading of instances of machine intelligence in Star Trek, and will attempt to show that these “ethical subroutines” may well be vital to our continued existence, irrespective of whether machine intelligences constitute Strong or Weak AI. In effect, this paper will analyse the machine analogues of conscience in several Star Trek series, and will do so through an analysis of the android Data and the Emergency Medical Hologram. We will argue that AI should be treated with caution, lest we create powerful intelligences that may not only ignore us but also find us threatening, with unknown and inconceivable consequences. Over the past half century, the relationship of philosophers with Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been mixed, ranging from enthusiastic advocacy to reluctance to accept optimistic scenarios prophesied by those who believe a strongly-developed AI will emerge in the near future. There are two major ways to consider the current utilization and power of artificial intelligence. The Weak AI hypothesis states that a machine running a program is, at most, only capable of simulating real human behaviour and consciousness (Russell and Norvig, 2003). Artificial intelligence such as that currently used in medical diagnosis and other, more mundane, interventions are examples of Weak AI, since these machines focus on one narrow task. Weak AI justifies the claims made by scientists that a running AI program is, at most, a simulation of a cognitive process but is not itself a cognitive process. Strong AI, on the other hand, purports that a (yet to be written) program running on a (yet to be designed) machine is actually a mind—that there is no essential difference between a piece of software emulating a human brain’s processes and actions and the consciousness and actions of a human being. JOURNAL OF SCIENCE FICTION Volume 1, Issue 3; January 2017 ISSN 2472-0837