A MACHINE TRIED TO TAKE THE WRONG MAN’S JOB

 

Episode Title:  The Ultimate Computer

Air Date: 3/8/1968

Written by Laurence N. Wolfe and Dorothy C. Fontana

Directed by John Meredyth Lucas

Cast: William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk    Leonard Nimoy as Commander Spock             DeForest Kelley as Dr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA “Bones”              James Doohan  as Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”        George Takei  as Lieutenant  Hikaru Sulu              Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura          Eddie Paskey as Lieutenant Leslie                 Bill Blackburn as Lieutenant Hadley Roger Holloway as Lieutenant Lemli                        Frank Da Vinci as Lieutenant Brent       Sean Morgan as Ensign Harper       Walter Koenig as Ensign Pavel Chekov                 William Marshall  as Dr. Richard Daystrom         Barry Russo as Commodore Robert Wesley        

Ships and Space Stations: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, USS Lexington NCC-1709, USS Excalibur NCC-1664, USS Hood NCC-1703, USS Potemkin NCC-1657, Starbase 6

Planets:  Alpha Carinae II

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The USS Enterprise is arriving at Starbase 6.  Kirk feels the orders he received were rather strange and wants an explanation but the only message he gets from the Starbase is telling him to head down to his own transporter room for instructions.   Kirk complies going to the transporter room with Mr. Spock accompanying him.  When they arrive they find that Commodore Bob Wesley has beamed aboard.  Wesley says that they are all here to participate in wargames.

Commodore arrives on the Enterprise 

Commodore Wesley explains that Richard Daystrom, the famed scientist who had invented the duotronic computers which became the foundation of modern computers systems throughout the Federation including the systems on board the Enterprise, has a new invention.  The new invention is called the M-5 computer.  This new system can carry out the functions of a starship more effectively than a crew can.  This will make Starfleet officers and enlisted personnel no longer needed.  In other words it is here to steal their jobs.  To prove its efficiency Starfleet has arranged wargames in which Commodore Wesley will lead a squadron of starships against the Enterprise run by only the M-5 computer with twenty crew members assisting it.  

This machine will replace you!

Kirk can’t believe that a Federation starship would be able to run with only twenty crew members but he is set to meet Dr. Daystrom himself in the ship’s engineering section.  After giving Scotty the approval to allow Daystrom to took hood up the M-5 to the main engine, the two discuss the future of Starfleet.  Daystrom tells Kirk the purpose is to steal his job, for he doesn’t believe men should have to die in space.  He thinks all of Kirk’s concerns are just based on his fear of losing the prestige of being a starship captain.   This comment shakes Kirk up a bit to the point he consults Dr. McCoy who tells him to get over it.

The first test is arranging an exploration of a planet.  They go over to the planet Alpha Carinae II that they were scheduled to visit.   Kirk makes a landing party list and compares to the list that the M-5 generated.  There some minor differences such as deciding which geologist to assign, but there was also a major difference in that Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy weren’t included in the landing party for they were “unessential personnel.”  Kirk’s pride is hurt but more concerning the M-5 seems to be shutting down areas of the ship for no apparent reason.   Daystrom claims the reason is M-5 knows that with only twenty people aboard life support on empty decks makes no sense.

Kirk has no time to think this over because it is now time for the battle simulation.  Commodore Wesley leads his squadron against the Enterprise. With the M-5 in charge the Enterprise makes short work her four sister ships.  Wesley, shocked at their clear and quick defeat, has the Lexington communicate with the Enterprise.  In his message he congratulates the M-5 and “Captain Dunsel.” With this Kirk looks very hurt and walks off the bridge.  When McCoy asks Mr. Spock what that means Spock responds by telling him it is the phrase Starfleet Academy Midshipmen use to describe something that was useless.  With that in mind the two both decide that the each to give Kirk a pep talk to get him out of his funk for losing his job to a computer.

 During McCoy’s pep talk to Kirk he points out something strange he found on Daystrom’s psyche profile.  Daystrom invented his award winning duotronic computers at the age of 24.  Since then he hasn’t had any award winning breakthroughs and now he is middle aged.  He attends conferences and is often a guest and honor due to his past success.  McCoy thinks he came up with the M-5 to relive his past glories.  Kirk doesn’t think this is very reasonable for brilliance doesn’t work on a schedule.  They don’t get to finish their conversation as the Enterprise comes across an automated cargo vessel.  The M-5 destroys it because it came to view that ship as a threat. 

More trouble than its worth!

Kirk orders the M-5 shut down.  However the controls are not responding.  Now with a real emergency on their hands Kirk demands an explanation from Daystrom.  Daystrom tries to explain that the M-5 viewed the other ship as a threat that and it was just a minor malfunction.  Kirk demands that he shut the machine down.   They head to engineering with Mr. Scott and Ensign Harper try to disconnect it manually.  The M-5 responds by killing Ensign Harper.  Daystrom is still making excuses for the machine.  Spock and Scotty try another way to disengage it only to find out the M-5 had already rerouted and had tricked them into thinking their disconnection method would be effective.

Daystrom tries to reason with the M-5 talking to it like one would a child.  The bridge crew then learns the secret of the M-5.  One critique of computers is they have no humanity so Daystrom decided to scan a human mind into the M-5’s system and he confesses to have used his own mind.  Daystrom keeps trying to appeal to their shared values to no avail.  As the Starfleet Squadron returns M-5 has the Enterprise attack with full force.  The Excalibur is severally damaged with life support failing.  The life support completes its failure resulting in the death of the entire crew.  

With Daystrom not being helpful and still protective of the M-5 Spock is forced to nerve pinch him to get the scientist of the bridge.  Then Kirk, the Bane of All Artificial Intelligence, shows the universe that M-5 chose the wrong Captain to try to put out of work.   Appealing to the Daystrom-programed morals Kirk convinces the M-5 that it is a murder and deserves to be executed.  The M-5 is successfully talked into suicide and shuts itself down.  Kirk has Scotty disconnect the system but he is informed that communications is not yet up.  They do have shields but instead of raising them Kirk orders them to cut all power and be dead in the water.  This is the space ship equivalent to an animal lying on its back and exposing its belly.  However there is a danger that the squadron might see this as a trick, like Kirk did to the Romulans in The Balance of Terror, and attack on full.  Kirk decides it is a worthy sacrifice to make in order to save the life of the squadron.    Commodore Wesley gambles that this isn’t a tick and calls off the attack.

That poor redshirt didn't even get to leave the ship!

The end of the episode has Kirk and Spock reflecting that Wesley, following conventional tactics, should have destroyed them.  Kirk pointed out that he know what type of man Bob Wesley is and choose to have faith in his humanity.  In the end that is something that you cannot do with a machine. 

When your ship's destroying everything and there is nothing you can do!

Additional thoughts: Although outsourcing and immigration have often been convenient political targets to explain the loss of jobs, the truth of the matter is the number one killer of human jobs is automation.  Every year more and more jobs disappear due to machines taking over.  Bank teller jobs have never reached what they were once the ATM was invented, the E-Z pass system has eliminated the need for toll booth operators, and many more examples can be seen through society.  One can only imagine what will happen once automated cars and trucks become a thing of the future.  It has gotten to the point that industrialists such as Bill Gates and Warren Buffett have even suggested that in the future it may be necessary for the U.S. government to actually provide direct income to American citizens.  That thought goes against our American nature but maybe where we are heading.

In our literature and other fiction we have had man vs. machine stories aimed with humans prevailing as the heroes.   Some examples include John Henry vs. the steam powered steel driving machine, the horse that raced the train, and in Star Trek James T. Kirk vs. the M-5.   The movie War Games taught us that we always want a human hand at the control of any doomsday device, no matter how inefficient.  

The Enterprise vs. the Squadron 

When talking the M-5 into killing itself Kirk asks it “what is the penalty for murder?”  Kirk is lucky the M-5 didn’t take that too literally.  Last I checked violating General Order 4 was the only death penalty left on the books. If the M-5 thought hard enough it wouldn’t have committed suicide. 

Also someone needs to explain to Dr. Daystrom if we wanted to live our lives ruled by intelligent and benevolent machines then Kirk and crew would have just allowed the androids from planet Mudd to take over earlier this year.  Not only could they think at the same level as the M-5 and provide the same protection, they also had the added benefit of being beautiful and you could fornicate with them.  Just ask Ensign Chekov.    

It is all about finding the right type of A.I.

Since the series is about a single Starfleet vessel it always a treat when we get to see other Starfleet ships.  This episode spoils us with a squadron of starships.  All of them are Constitution-class.  It would have been nice I think if they had included some other classes of starship, but it was a sixties TV budget.  However, I will add the modern remastered effects make the whole thing look rather beautiful. 

I really liked the character of Commodore Wesley, and I wish they explored his relationship with Captain Kirk a little more.  They seem to know each other well.  Did Kirk once serve under him?  He has a higher rank and he is older than Kirk so it’s very possible they once served on ship together when Wesley was one of the ship senior officer’s and Kirk one of the junior officers.  I would have liked it better if they said that Kirk had once been Wesley’s first officer.  That would explain why the two men seemed to know how the others mind worked.  Also why does he have such a big Captain’s chair? I know the real reason, but what is the story reason?  Is because he is a commodore or is it that standard chair for those Constitution-classes built after the Enterprise?  

FINAL GRADE  5 of 5