Hey, guys.
I've been getting back into the Leijiverse recently (an anime/manga shared universe, so-called after its creator, Leiji Matsumoto, whose works include "Galaxy Express 999" and "Queen Millennia"), and I can see a lot of parallels between those shows/movies and TV shows like "Blake's 7" and "Red Dwarf", and I've been thinking: should the captain of the spaceship of my next story be a human character or an AI (similar to the Zen computer from "Blake's 7")?
Catch you later. :)
S. P.
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Hey, Stefano Pavone. I say human. Maybe an AI assistant like Tony Stark's J.A.R.V.I.S.
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It really depends on the type of story you want to write, but I think there is potential either way.
I recall at least one episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation where Data assumed command of the Enterprise and a prequel comic to the 2009 reboot film where he was captain of his own ship. Then there was the episode of Voyager where Doctor's fantasies led to the creation of the position of Emergency Command Hologram.
And my single favorite character in sci-fi is the titular starship in Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda.
If you go with the AI, there are a lot of potential sources of conflict which would make for good storytelling- does the AI feel emotion? Does it want to feel emotion? How does it handle commanding a crew? And how does the crew handle having an AI captain (is it a normal part of their world or is it a source of controversy)?
In your case, since you're planning to use the Zen computer as inspiration (and having not heard of Blakes 7 before, I had to do a quick google), I'm assuming you are not planning to give the computer an Android body or a holographic avatar? I'm not saying you should and I'm not saying you shouldn't, but the presence or lack thereof of a human face could influence character interactions.
And if you decide to go with human, like Maurice suggested, an AI assistant would be in order. (And given the current state of AI, I would definitely consider it to be likely.) Your desire to draw inspiration from Zen could still come into play, even if a human is in command.