Junk Code, Star Trek, and Leadership: The Faith Factor in AI and Human Decision-Making
In the quest to create artificial intelligence that mirrors human consciousness, we find ourselves grappling with an age-old question: What makes us truly human?
Eve Poole, in Robot Souls, suggests that our so-called imperfections—our emotions, intuition (which she calls the Sixth Sense), mistakes, storytelling, uncertainty, free will, and search for meaning—are not flaws but essential traits she calls Junk Code. “In computer programming, junk code is redundant code that could be deleted or rewritten in shorter syntax without affecting the execution of the program.” [1]
Yet, Poole posits: “Perhaps Junk Code is actually soul; and that it is not our consciousness that makes us special, but our souls… perfectly imperfect, and for good reason.” [2]
This Junk Code is also at the heart of effective leadership. While modern leadership literature often emphasizes resilience, logic, and efficiency, great leaders—whether in faith communities, businesses, or society—must navigate uncertainty, mistakes, and meaning. This is particularly true for Christian leaders, who operate within the ultimate framework of faith: believing in something unseen and unknown, trusting in God’s guidance even when clarity is absent.
Using characters from Star Trek as illustrations, the challenge of integrating AI into society parallels an ongoing leadership dilemma: Do we lean into the logical efficiency of a Spock-like, purely rational model? Or do we acknowledge, like the android Data, that leadership requires emotion, intuition, and faith?
Spock, despite being half-human, suppresses his emotions to function purely through logic. Data, on the other hand, lacks emotions entirely but longs to possess them, believing they will make him more human. These two characters represent opposite struggles with Junk Code—Spock seeks to erase it, while Data yearns to gain it.
Spock and Data: The Struggle with Humanity
SPOCK: He intrigues me, this Picard.
DATA: In what manner, sir?
SPOCK: Remarkably analytical and dispassionate, for a human. I understand why my father chose to mind-meld with him. There’s almost a Vulcan quality to the man.
DATA: Interesting. I have not considered that. And Captain Picard has been a role model in my quest to be more human.
SPOCK: More human?
DATA: Yes, Ambassador.
SPOCK: Fascinating. You have an efficient intellect, superior physical skills and no emotional impediments. There are Vulcans who aspire all their lives to achieve what you’ve been given by design.
DATA: You are half human.
SPOCK: Yes.
DATA: Yet you have chosen a Vulcan way of life.
SPOCK: I have.
DATA: In effect, you have abandoned what I have sought all my life.
– Star Trek: The Next Generation, “Unification Part 2” (1991) [3]
In this unique series crossover episode, Spock chooses logic over emotion, while Data longs for the very humanity Spock suppresses. Their conversation highlights the tension within leadership: Should we rely solely on reason, or is something deeper required?
The Neuroscience of Junk Code: Why We Need Emotions, Mistakes, and Meaning
Emotions: The Fuel of Human Connection and Leadership
Our brains are not optimized for cold, logical efficiency like a machine; rather, they are wired for connection, adaptability, and meaning-making.
Iain McGilchrist’s The Master and His Emissary explains that the brain’s left hemisphere seeks control, logic, and certainty, while the right hemisphere embraces intuition, ambiguity, and relational wisdom: “Ultimately, if the left hemisphere is the hemisphere of ‘what,’ the right hemisphere… could be said to be the hemisphere of ‘how.’” [4]
Leadership requires the intersection of both hemispheres, yet society often prioritizes the left hemisphere’s focus on structure and data.
In Primal Leadership, Goleman, Boyatzis, and McKee emphasize the role of self-awareness in emotional intelligence in effective leaders. They write: “Self-awareness also plays a crucial role in empathy, or sensing how someone else sees a situation: If a person is perpetually oblivious to his own feelings, he will also be tuned out to how others feel.” [5]
Poole highlights emotions as critical to human nature—something that both AI and hyper-rational leaders (like Spock) often suppress. However, neuroscience shows that emotions are vital signals shaping decision-making, learning, and relationships. Leaders who regulate their emotions create trust and engagement.
Leadership Insight: Leaders who embrace emotional intelligence, rather than suppressing their emotions, cultivate stronger, more effective communities and organizations.
Mistakes: The Role of Failure in Growth and Resilience
Another key aspect of Junk Code is the ability to make mistakes—and learn from them. AI can be programmed to avoid errors, but human intelligence is uniquely shaped by our capacity to fail, reflect, and adapt.
Poole writes, “Character is a coping strategy for adversity.” [6]
Brené Brown, in Dare to Lead, expands on this: “When we have the courage to walk into our story and own it, we get to write the ending. And when we don’t own our stories of failure, setbacks, and hurt–they own us.” [7]
Psychologist Carol Dweck’s Mindset explains that leaders with a growth mindset—those who see mistakes as opportunities for learning rather than as failures—develop resilience and adaptability. AI, which lacks self-reflection, cannot choose to grow from failure; it can only be reprogrammed.
Leadership Insight: Great leaders view mistakes as a pathway to growth, rather than something to be eliminated.
Personal Application: As I gather and synthesize information for my project, one key element I’m playing with is what I am currently calling the ARK of Integrity: self-Awareness + self-Reflection = self-Knowledge. The more aware we become about our patterns of thought and emotion, the more easily we recognize the triggers that prevent us from being a non-anxious, differentiated leader in an anxious, chaotic world.
Faith, Uncertainty, and Leadership
Poole connects Junk Code to uncertainty, arguing that faith, by definition, requires a “commitment to lifetime uncertainty.” [8] She contends that “uncertainty is a vital tool for preventing error. It is having the courage to entertain the unknown… It also forces us to seek out other people, when we are unsure and need help, advice, or leadership.” [9]
Faith is often seen as the antithesis of logic, but Poole suggests it is actually a leadership advantage. Leaders who embrace faith can navigate uncertainty with confidence, leaning into wisdom beyond data and calculations. “Even a lack of freedom can be compensated for by a strong sense of hope, because of a sense of meaning and purpose.” [10]
In his book, Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl expounds on suffering, hope, and meaning:
It is this spiritual freedom–which cannot be taken away–that makes life meaningful and purposeful… The way in which a man accepts his fate and all the suffering it entails, the way in which he takes up his cross, gives him ample opportunity–even under the most difficult circumstances–to add a deeper meaning to his life. [11]
Spiritual leadership—whether in ministry, business, or society—relies on this balance between uncertainty, faith, and hope.
Leadership Insight: Christian leaders must not only tolerate uncertainty but recognize it as a steppingstone to hope, and a powerful force for growth, collaboration, and faith.
Junk Code, Leadership, and the Balance Between Spock and Data
Poole’s Robot Souls highlights a paradox in both leadership and AI: our perceived weaknesses—emotion, mistakes, and uncertainty—are actually our greatest strengths. Neuroscience and leadership research confirm this, demonstrating that these Junk Code traits fuel connection, resilience, and moral wisdom, respectively.
Spock and Data offer two flawed approaches to leadership. Spock suppresses emotion in favor of logic, much like a leader who relies solely on strategy and efficiency while ignoring relational dynamics. Data, on the other hand, longs for human traits but struggles to integrate them, like a leader who mimics emotional intelligence without fully embodying it. Neither is the ideal model. Instead, great leadership—exemplified by Captain Kirk (or Captain Picard, if you prefer)—requires balance.
Final Thought: AI may surpass us in processing power, but it will never lead with faith, tell stories that inspire, or create meaning from suffering. True leadership—especially Christian leadership—isn’t about eliminating Junk Code. It’s about using it wisely, just as Kirk leads not by eliminating Spock’s logic or Data’s intelligence. If allowed by the series creators, they would all benefit most by bringing their gifts together into something greater.
The best leaders embrace their full humanity—melding logic, emotion, and faith. In a world increasingly shaped by AI, leadership must remain deeply human. That is something no machine will ever truly replicate.
1 – Eve Poole, Robot Souls; Programming in Humanity (New York: CRC Press, 2024), 74.
2 – Poole, 74.
3 – Paul Fidalgo, “Spocks and Datas”, Near-Earth Object https://nearearthobject.net/2018/04/07/spocks-and-datas/ (accessed Jan. 22, 2024).
4 – Iain McGilchrist, The Master and His Emissary; The Divided Brain and the Making of the Western World (New Haven, Yale University Press, 2009), 93.
5 – Daniel Goleman, Richard Boyatzis, Annie McKee, Primal Leadership; Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2002), 30.
6 – Poole, 79.
7 – Brene Brown, Dare to Lead; Brave Work; Tough Conversations; Whole Hearts. Large Print edition (New York: Random House Large Print, 2018) 296.
8 – Poole, 87-88.
9 – Poole, 88.
10 – Poole, 92.
11 – Viktor Frankl, Man’s Search for Meaning (Boston: Beacon Press, 2006) 67.
About the Author
Debbie Owen
Deborah C. Owen is an experienced spiritual director, Neuro-based Enneagram executive and life coach, disciple maker, professional writer, senior librarian, and long-time church Music Director and lay leader. She has earned the award of National Board Certification for teaching excellence, and a podcasting award, and is pursuing a Doctor of Leadership degree through Portland Seminary at George Fox University. She lives in the backwoods of Maine with her husband and flat-coated retriever. She spends as much time as she can with their 3 grown children, daughter-in-law, and 2 small grandchildren. Find her online at InsideOutMinistries.info.2 responses to “Junk Code, Star Trek, and Leadership: The Faith Factor in AI and Human Decision-Making”
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Debbie,
Thanks for incorporating Star Trek into your post. It served as a great example. You talk about the right and left hemispheres of the brain and the focus of each. In your leadership, which do you see yourself favoring? Or are you well balanced?
Hi Debbie, I agree with you. There are certain human traits that no machine will ever replicate. I appreciated the way you connected “junk code” and leadership. With mind-blowing AI advancement and its worldwide use, have you considered how leaders might need to interact with it and lead their followers through changes it will bring?