Data (Star Trek)
Data is a male television character who features in Star Trek.
Contents |
Biography
Data was a male android developed by the scientist Dr. Noonien Soong in the 24th century with the goal of creating an artificial intelligence that was sapient. He was the fifth of six known androids developed by Soong with Data being created on the world of Omicron Theta around the year 2336. Soong's prior creation was another android known as Lore who had been deactivated. (TNG: Datalore) This was done so against the protests of Soong's wife Juliana. (TNG: Datalore) According to Noonien, he had built Data to be perfect amongst his androids with the intention of making these improvements to Lore. (TNG: Brothers). During his development, Juliana came to see Data as a beloved son but came to fear for him as she thought he would either fail like his previous 'brothers' or become dangerous like Lore which would have resulted in him being dismantled. (TNG: Inheritance)
One of Data's first assignments after he graduated Starfleet Academy was aboard the USS Trieste. (TNG: Clues) He spent three years as an ensign and twelve as a lieutenant before being promoted to lieutenant commander in 2360. (TNG: Datalore)
Shortly after the Farpoint mission, the Enterprise crew was infected with a polywater intoxication which caused the crew members and even Data to act irrationally, as if mentally unstable. Fortunately, Dr. Crusher found an antidote, and with Data's help the recovered crew was able to retain control of the ship. (TNG: The Naked Now)
In 2365, Jean-Luc Picard was asked by Admiral Nakamura on behalf of Commander Bruce Maddox to submit Data to an untested procedure that Maddox believed and had advocated would grant Federation cybernetic science a greater understanding of the technology of Data's positronic brain. Data studied Maddox' proposal and found it to be flawed; persuading William T. Riker and Picard of the legitimacy of Data's position as to the scientific merit of Maddox' project; prompting Maddox to present Nakamura's duly-logged orders requiring Data to submit. Data refused, and resigned from Starfleet. Maddox challenged Data's right to do so, implying that Data should not be considered a sentient being with rights to self-determination. Maddox's petition prompted Louvois' supposition of a legal issue as to whether or not Data was property and not to be accorded rights to self-determination. This position was supported in a preliminary ruling, by Captain Phillipa Louvois of the Judge Advocate General's office, 23rd Sector, based on the 21st-century Acts of Cumberland. Captain Jean-Luc Picard adversarially challenged this ruling, and sought due process of law in Data's regard. Picard asserted a position in favor of Data's sentience as a matter of law, in a legal hearing wherein Picard advocated on Data's behalf while Riker advocated a position benefiting Maddox. After a conversation with Guinan, Picard became inspired to assert that Data represented an entire race, and that duplicating Data for the purposes of enforced and potentially-dangerous labor, without legal recognition of rights to self-determination, essentially would result in the institution of slavery. Ultimately, Louvois ruled that Data was not the property of Starfleet, and had the legal right to choose whether to acquiesce to Maddox' requests. (TNG: The Measure Of A Man)
A fragment of Data managed to survive within a salvaged positronic neuron that was salvaged by Bruce Maddox. He took it with him as he looked to develop synth life in secret leading to a partnership with Altan Inigo Soong who was the son of Noonien Song. The pair established a colony on the hidden world of Coppelius and continued their work on making more life-like androids. At Coppelius Station, the positronic neuron was maintained and kept within a quantum simulation construct allowing Data to continue on living. However, he believed that this was a needless existence and instead wanted it to end as he believed it gave life meaning. In 2399, this fragment of Data encountered Jean-Luc Picard after his near-death experience where the two had some final words with one another. Data then requested Picard to shut down the neuron to allow him to live a natural end to his existence. Picard was then restored in a new body where he complied by fulfilling his friend's last wish with the neuron powered down thus leading to Data's death. (PIC: Et in Arcadia Ego)
Overview
Personality and attributes
Powers and abilities
He was built with an ultimate storage capacity of eight hundred quadrillion bits (100 petabytes) and a total linear computational speed rated at sixty trillion operations per second. (TNG: The Measure Of A Man) However, he later augmented his computational speed by converting his interlink sequencer to an asynchronous mode of operation, removing the performance constraint created by virtue of having space between his positronic links. His computational speed became virtually instantaneous after this modification. (TNG: The Quality of Life)
Notes
- Data was portrayed by actor Brent Spiner where he first appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "Encounter at Farpoint".
Alternate Versions
In other media
Video games
Appearances
- Star Trek: The Next Generation:
External Links
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