Is StarTrek's Commander Data a possible example of future “Artificial Intelligence” or could he be considered a future “Evolution of the Human Species”?

Is StarTrek's Commander Data a possible example of future “Artificial Intelligence” or could he be considered a future “Evolution of the Human Species”?

What?! How could the fictional character Commander Data from SterTrek possibly be considered an evolution rather than an artificial version of the human species? Isn't he made of metal, wires, circuitry and created by a living breathing human of biological origin? That may be true (true in the sense we are talking about a fictitious character) but I hope you will read on and follow a train of logic (my logic anyway) that may make you think differently about this fictional character and consider the possibilities of what the human species may one day become.

Before we dive into this topic in depth I would like to advise that I have written this in the manner that we are discussing an actual person. I do this so I don't have to keep referring to the fact that we are discussing a fictional character and to remind you the reader that we are examining the concept of what that fictional character represents.
 
First lets discuss the sentient being that is Commander Data then attempt to tear down the concept of that being and see how closely it relates to us the biological versions.
Data was created by Doctor Noonien Soong and was considered to be a sentient being (the ability to feel or perceive subjectively) such as you or I. This effectively meant that the only difference between him and us is his physical constitution. However even in the imaginary world of StarTrek, Data was considered as artificial based on the fact that he was manufactured by a biological being and that no other species of life based on mechaniod form naturally existed. If you followed the TV series and subsequently the movies you will know that Data went through an evolutionary process learning to become more human. Early on in the show he possessed all the traits we do except that of emotion but the story eventually led to him acquiring that ability too.

Technology and the possibility that we will ever achieve that level aside, I want to do two things to show how he might be evolutionary rather than artificial. First is to examine the physical evolutionary  similarities that Data's creation has with us, which is much easier to imagine as he is supposed to be the progeny of a human thus more readily comprehended, but more surprising though is what similarities we may (i state may because i will refer to recently published scientific material that is currently only a theory and not fully accepted as fact) have in our evolutionary process to him. Second is the sentient similarity.

How is Data physically similar to us and us to him?

1.The trial and error method used by Dr Soong to achieve a successful version just as Darwin's theory of evolution suggests. If you know the story, Dr. Soong had created many versions of his artificial being that lived for a period of time but eventually died because it's physical being was unstable. Finally he found the right balance to enable his creation to survive and have all the characteristics that replicated those required for human simulation and interaction. The idea that a human will eventually create a non-biological entity in our own image would surely only be an eventuality based on the type of (primitive by StarTrek standards) research being done even today by our top scientists and those that will follow them. If you compare robotics,computers and electronics today and in the recent past to that suggested by StarTrek it would appear to be very primitive. Could this not be compared to our own evolution from single celled organisms to what we are today? Did not nature start from the very most basic automaton of life then gradually change it in innumerable ways and forms no doubt with many versions that would have not survived very long but inevitably creating slightly more advanced but stable versions until it finally arrived at a stable sentient product?

2.The existence of multiple versions of humans co-existing at the same time till the strongest version prevailed and became dominant. Again if you are familiar with the story of Data you will know that there was more than one version of him in existence (his brother Lore). As the story goes, both Data and Lore were essentially the same but slightly different versions of the same species. Eventually one managed to dominate over the other and become the prevailing version.
The traditional form of Darwin's theory of evolution suggested that humans evolved in a linear fashion from one ancestral species through time to eventually arrive at our current form. Recent paleontological evidence shows us that although we may derive from a common progenitor, at one point in time there were various versions of humans existing simultaneously. Eventually only one version proved to be the most adaptable and outstanding which hence give rise to us.
3. Ah! But Data is still comprised of non-biological material therefore he is still artificial!
For a long time philosophers and scientists have pondered the origins of life on Earth, speculating many possible theories as how it all began on our little blue planet. Theories are broad ranging in their concepts from theological beginnings, (those described by religious and cultural beliefs) to life sparking from the right set of conditions here to extraterrestrial means such as meteorites crashing to earth bringing with them the necessary material to seed our planet with life.
(The following is referenced from DISCOVER magazine Feb. 2008 Issue) More amazing that all the previous stated theories is the newest that puts forth the idea that life itself even before it's most basic single celled form may have have it's roots in the chemical and not biological. This stands to reason if you break down a human into its most basic components all you will end up with is chemicals and elements. The real question was how did even the most basic single celled life form? Scientist Stanley Miller put cyanide and ammonia in a vial and froze it for 25 years and what happened next was something extraordinary. After 25 years the 2 chemicals had coalesced into nucleobases; the building blocks of RNA & DNA and amino acids the building blocks of proteins.
What I'm trying to point out here is that we as living creatures may have started out from one entirely different form of matter (a chemical one) that eventually took different form (a carbon based one in RNA/DNA state). Does it not stand to reason that we may yet again change from an RNA/DNA state to any other state? Perhaps a physical one based on the heavier elements of the periodic table  such as metals or even beyond that to an energy based one? The only difference when we compare Data to ourselves is that a human has replaced nature as the architect.


Our Sentient similarity

In the case of Data you have a sentient being capable of a logical thought process just as us the biological version. That being the programmed ability to take a situation and weigh or calculate all the factors or parables affecting that particular situation and deal with it as best as possible. This is something that even current computers can also do (perhaps not as well) provided that you input or program all the necessary criteria and possible outcomes to choose from. But what about the Emotional thought process? This is what separates us from a potential future artificial intelligence. The ability (or perhaps inability) not to think logically. It is this Emotional thought process that makes us do things that are perhaps “against our better judgement”. Take for instance why do we smoke? We can think of a thousand different logical reasons not to do it but our  emotional thoughts like “I like it” or “I don't want to stop” make us keep smoking. The justifications for smoking can be varied and random (but with a measurable amount of predictability) from person to person. It's this randomness (some, including the Bible, would call this free will) from each individual that makes us truly sentient not just the ability to feel or perceive subjectively.
Supposing that a future brilliant programmer could create an algorithm that mimics this randomness of the emotional thought process and couples it with the logical one, you might end up with a being such as Data that can think logically but could randomly choose another emotional decision to a situation. Isn't that what humans do all the time? If we think of the programming involved to create Data's personality in the traditional sense as a simulation of human responses then I guess he is artificial. But what if the simulation is so real that the difference for all intense purposes is indistinguishable from a biological human is it really a simulation anymore? Is it not the same thing only that it evolved differently?

I'm not saying that humans are destined to become robots but rather the possibility that we could take that evolutionary path, if not as a possible singular outcome but possibly as a parallel existing sub-species of future humans. Not unlike past versions of humans where various forms existed at the same time. The question remains if we will want to acknowledge our creation as a species or machine threat and want to kill it off as did our predecessors.

Perhaps the android is our next evolution in procreation. As the only intelligent species capable of our level of thought (on our planet) perhaps our ability to recreate life outside of the biological means is how we continue as a species. After all we have absolutely no resemblance to the chemicals or single celled organism to gave rise to us.