Summary of

Using Science fiction to teach science – Researchers explore the human brain through Star Trek

Released 3/31/1998 from Vanderbilt University – Jamie Lawson Reeves

Randolph Blake, Professor of Psychology at Vanderbilt University, and Robert Sekuler, psychologist at Brandeis University and Blake’s former colleague, wrote “Star Trek On the Brain: Alien Minds, Human Minds”.

They used episodes and movies as case studies to teach students about the science and explain the psychological and neurological bases of “emotions, perception, aggression, memory and sex”.  In the book Blake and Sekular compare characters and case studies with brain damage. “For example there is a clinical condition resulting from damage to a part of the brain called the prefrontal cortex. People who suffer this condition are stripped of their ability to exhibit emotions,” Says Blake.

Blake says that science fiction is a good genre to draw from for his case studies in class because series like Star Trek have “enduring qualities” and some have “sophisticated treatment of scientific issues”.

Blake also says the Data is his favorite character because the android is constantly trying to understand what it means to be human from the viewpoint of and AI.