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star trek - Was Commander Data's potential wasted on the Enterprise?


Commander Data was a terrific character and Star Trek: The Next Generation would not have been the same show without him. I know that. But, in-universe, wasn't Data's potential and overall capabilities somewhat wasted steering the ship? I realize he had room to grow - and I don't mean he had to "grow up" in order to be an effective member of the crew.


My question is, why was he made to serve with humans at all when he could have more effectively and productively worked and explored alone (even in a vacuum), or been left in charge of steering the entirety of the fleet (more like Ender in Ender's Game)? Wasn't Data sort of wasted feeding a cat and telling the crew the answer to simple calculations? He could have orchestrated all of Starfleet, it seems. No?



Answer



I agree that Data was a great character. But not that he could have orchestrated all of Starfleet. Data went through Starfleet Academy like every other cadet, and was stationed according to his actual capabilities.


Data had several obvious advantages over human beings, but also some notable shortcomings. His difficulties in understanding human beings were a recurring theme in Star Trek TNG. Could he, taking such difficulties into consideration, was prepared to run the kind of mind games that the Starfleet High Command was required to play against the Romulans and such?


A better appreciation of the issues involved can be gained by comparing Data with a partly similar character from the original Star Trek - Mr. Spock. While the Vulcan Spock wasn't an android, he was also a cold, unemotional character, and also had superior calculating skills. Yet, except for a few special cases, Star Trek usually portrayed the advantages of Captain Kirk's intuitive, creative, and occasionally emotional approach over Spock's hard logic. In fact, a typical Star Trek episode would begin like this:



(Something strange is appearing on Main Viewer)

Kirk: Spock, what is this?
Spock: Unknown, captain.
Kirk: Theorize.
Spock: Insufficient data.
Kirk: Open hail frequencies / Initiate evasive maneuvers / ...



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