Picard's Model Ships — A Human Touch Against Machines
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Picard reflects nostalgically on simpler times with model ships, contrasting them with the current reliance on machines, underscoring the theme of human versus technological control.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Contemplative and conflicted; outwardly measured but inwardly distressed at the moral consequences of a decision that could cost lives.
Seated in the ready room, Picard receives Riker, relays La Forge's proposal, and launches into a tactile, nostalgic monologue about model ships that frames the moral dilemma of ceding control to the computer.
- • Understand the practical implications of La Forge's proposal before committing.
- • Reconcile his duty to protect the crew with his moral discomfort about delegating command to a machine.
- • Human judgment carries moral weight that machines cannot replicate.
- • Command decisions are not just technical choices but ethical responsibilities tied to human experience and memory.
Cautiously skeptical with an undercurrent of professional concern — attempting to test the proposal's reliability without escalating fear.
Enters on summons, asks about La Forge's plan, voices pragmatic skepticism about computers' ability to originate orders rather than simply follow them, providing a foil to Picard's inward moral deliberation.
- • Clarify the technical and tactical details of La Forge's proposal.
- • Prevent rash decisions that would abdicate command irresponsibly or prematurely.
- • Computers are strong at execution but weak at originating judgment.
- • Command responsibility should remain with accountable humans whenever possible.
Urgent and solution-focused (inferred from proposal) — willing to push conventional boundaries to buy time and save lives.
Not physically present in the room but explicitly referenced; La Forge's inventive, urgent proposal to cede control to the computer is the catalyst for the conversation and the moral conflict Picard faces.
- • Implement a technical workaround to stabilize the ship and protect the crew.
- • Convince command to permit a risky but potentially life‑saving automation of ship control.
- • Engineering solutions may require unconventional delegation of control to systems.
- • The immediate survival of the crew can justify technically risky choices.
Neutral/impersonal by nature; its presence in the debate heightens Picard's concern about surrendering human moral agency to an algorithmic process.
Referenced as the entity La Forge would hand control to; its capacity for faster adjustments is central to the tactical argument but it is portrayed as neutral, efficient, and lacking moral accountability.
- • Execute precise adjustments faster than human operators (functional/inferred).
- • Carry out orders and optimize ship systems without moral consideration (structural/inferred).
- • Algorithmic optimization is superior to human reaction time for certain technical tasks (ascribed by La Forge).
- • Decision-making can be reduced to data-driven procedures (ascribed).
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The ready-room door chime audibly signals Riker's arrival and punctuates the conversation's privacy; its brief tone initiates the exchange that leads to the moral argument about machine control.
Picard invokes the model ships as a tactile memory and moral metaphor: their handcrafted nature and the boyhood imagination they carried become the fulcrum of his argument against ceding command to cold automation.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Picard's nostalgia for simpler times with model ships contrasts with his ultimate reliance on human intuition to manually navigate the Enterprise to safety."
"Picard's nostalgia for simpler times with model ships contrasts with his ultimate reliance on human intuition to manually navigate the Enterprise to safety."
Part of Larger Arcs
Key Dialogue
"PICARD: He's come up with something that might give us a chance. If we agree to stay out of it."
"RIKER: Computers have always impressed me by their ability to take orders; I'm not at all as certain about their ability to give them."
"PICARD: You missed something by not playing with model ships. They were the source of one boy's imaginary voyages, each holding a treasure of adventures. Manning the earliest space craft. Or flying a plane with only one propeller to keep you in the sky. Imagine that. Now, the machines are flying us."