Skip to main content

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 / ...



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Did Dolores Umbridge Have Any Association with Voldemort (or Death Eaters) before His Return?

I noticed that Dolores Umbridge was born during the first Wizarding War, so it's very likely she wasn't a Death Eater then (but she is pretty evil -- who knows?). After that Voldemort was not around in a way that could affect many people, and most wouldn't know he was planning to rise again. During that time, and up through Voldemort's return (in Goblet of Fire ), did Umbridge have any connection with the Death Eaters or with Voldemort? Was she doing what she did on her own, or was it because of an association with Voldemort or his allies? Answer Dolores Umbridge was definitely not a good person. However, as Sirius points out, "the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters". Remember that he also says that he doesn't believe Umbridge to be a Death Eater, but that she's evil enough (or something like that). I think there are two strong reasons to believe that: Umbridge was proud to do everything according to the law, except when she trie...
Post a Comment
Read more

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

aliens - Interstellar Zoo story

I vaguely remember this story from my childhood: it was about an interstellar zoo that came to Earth with lots of bizarre and unusual species, and humans would file through and gape at all the crazy looking creatures from other planets. The twist came at the end when the perspective shifted to the other side of the bars and we discovered that the "creatures" were traveling through space on a kind of safari. They thought they were the visitors and we were the animals. Neither side knew that the other side thought they were the zoo creatures. Answer Got it. Zoo, by Edward D. Hoch. Published in 1958. Link to Publication History Link to PDF
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - What is the difference between Diffindo and Sectumsempra?

In the Harry Potter books, Diffindo is called the 'Severing Charm' and it’s most commonly used to cut ropes and the like. However, in the last book Hermione uses it on Ron but misses, creating a 'slash in his jeans' and his knee gets cut, causing him to 'roar in pain'. We've only seen Sectumsempra used once on screen when Harry directly uses it on Malfoy in the sixth book, but there it's mentioned that he is 'waving his wand wildly'. Wouldn't Diffindo, if used in such a fashion also cause a similar effect? Similarly, if it was able to cut Ron, it would also be able to, say, chop off an ear (George's)? In that case, how are these two spells different, except for Sectumsempra seemingly used exclusively to hurt humans? Answer While Diffindo and Sectumsempra both can be countered by other spells, Diffindo is far more easily countered. Reparo, a relatively common spell, can completely reverse its effect when used once. “He pulled the old cop...
Post a Comment
Read more