Star Trek - Data's Lessons In Humanity

Scene from Star Trek The Next Generation 'The Bonding'

Data is curious about some peculiar human behaviour following the death of a crewmember, and discusses it with Riker.

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• TNG
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• Data
• Riker
• Lesson
• Humanity
• Death

[jetpoweredgriffin]

So much care for strangers could not be present at death only, as such caring would necessitate a heart that embraces all, in life as well as death. Unless such sorrow were merely neurotic selfishness. However,they are clearly referring to the sense of loss. This would imply a connectivity that we have rarely experienced,historically. In these moments, TNG is at it's best, giving pause to reflect as to how can we improve as a race. What would be the cost and the loss in the process? Peace, -g

[theinquisitor]

Indeed. Characters like Data, Spock and Odo allow us to see an outsiders perspective on humanity that would be hard to achieve outside of science fiction. It's about more than spaceships and aliens. Too bad most science fiction on TV is just that.

[MusicJamSchauspiel]

i heard Riker swallowing! That was the best moment of my life! ^^

[ciroslive]

I think that since this episode has creating a robust discussion on YouTube, that this episode (and Star Trek: TNG itself) have succeeded. :)

[Whillikersify]

@mazerrackham001 Hmm, it still doesn't mean his demeanor and stuff was human-like in his "childhood", so he still could be "further along" from a very rudimentary and mechanical, personality and identity-wise speaking, android like the ones in TOS even if he was capable of complex tasks. But I do agree with you that it would have seemed more fitting if Data had been very young, like seven or eight, in season one. It would have made the reasons for his whole childlike demeanor more human-like.

[mazerrackham001]

@Whillikersify I meant that I would have expected him to be further along by season one, episode one, than he actually was. We can see where he was at that point and Data's article on memory alpha gives us some clue as to how he functioned at "birth", as a cadet, and as an officer on the USS Trieste.

[Whillikersify]

@mazerrackham001 But how do you know how much progress he made in a quarter century? You say "more" progress, but more than what? We never saw him when he was just built, so we have no idea what he progressed *from*. We have no idea how un-human and robotic he started out as. He could've made twice as much progress from activation to season 1 as he did over the course of his time on the Enterprise, we just never saw it.

[mazerrackham001]

@Whillikersify I'm not saying he was the same from activation to Season 1, but you'd expect more progress in a quarter century, given his rapid progress in seven years on the Enterprise.

[mazerrackham001]

@Whillikersify Some people had to have treated him like more than a computer. The fact that he was recommended for and received so many decorations for bravery and valor attest to that. It may be that we was treated the way we treat decorated K-9 dogs today, but even then there is a bond between dog, handler, and peripheral soldiers/police. He also couldn't have spent a quarter century plugged into a computer because he did valorous things and met over 1700 new species.

[Whillikersify]

@mazerrackham001 1) no one before the Enterprise crew ever bothered to make friends with him or treat him like a person, they acted like he was the sum of his job and abilities and nothing more. He only learned from databases. 2) We haven't seen Data before he was on the Enterprise. He could have matured a huge amount before the series started, and *continued* to mature throughout the series. Where is it written that he stayed exactly the same from the time he was first activated until season 1?

[mazerrackham001]

Why is it that Data grows from comically ignorant to remarkably "human" in his seven year tour of duty on the Enterprise even though he had already been in Starfleet for 23 years, had encountered over 1,700 species, been decorated for bravery on multiple occasions, and had served for 15 years on the USS Trieste? He adapts, learns, and enriches himself relatively quickly on the Enterprise, but lacks even basic understandings of death's effects despite almost a quarter century in the military.

[TonySeptim]

Truer words have never been spoken.