this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2023
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There's the episode where he takes over the ship (hardcoded command from Dr. Soong) which really highlights how powerful he is.
And the episode Elementary My Dear Data where the ship created a completely self-aware program in the holodeck that started to take the ship over just because Geordi accidentally asked for an opponent that could challenge Data, not Sherlock Holmes.
Data really could have wrecked everybody’s shit if he had actually wanted to.
Oh my god that episode. And then they create the program for the villain to live in indefinitely and all of that, I kind of loved how that storyline played out.
Moriarty I think they saved--wasn't it a different episode where they "beamed" the villains into another VR?
I think it's time for a 4th TNG rewatch
Yes! Professor(?) Moriarty. He made the case that they had given him life and couldn’t end the program/kill him (even despite his hijinks), so they created a program for him to exist in that would give him a full and happy life. I believe he later vanished, however?
I wish I could rewatch TNG but we’re in the middle of Deep Space Nine and are trying to keep up with Picard so our plate is a little full.
I can’t wait to eventually rewatch. I miss my friends!
Also the episode when Lt Brocolli gets super smart and takes over the ship computer using the holideck.
That episode is honestly kind of terrifying after you've got used to Data being basically just a lovable dork.
I don't see how star fleet allowed Data to remain onboard after that one. Being in the tech industry I often feel the Federation's infosec is lacking in often trivial ways (unless the episode calls for better security of course 🙂), but maybe they have just accepted that sort of thing as the cost of doing space business since it happens all the time. So Data's benefits out weigh his risk.
If all the TV shows are in the same universe, I wonder how they allowed Data to join at all after the debacle that was Control.
But that was super double secret, so nobody can ever know or talk about it. Hence why they didn't question a whole slave race of androids
I can't recall if this episode was before or after they had a trial to determine whether Data was new life. It seems like accepting he is too much of a security risk would suggest that he is more machine than intelligent life. Perhaps those things aren't mutually exclusive though. A human could be compromised in various ways as well, but not completely against their will.
Measure of a Man was pretty early, season 2 maybe? Pretty sure it was before this one. In any case, yeah I had the same thought. How many times has an organic person been taken over and done something terrible? Picard was a Borg, those weird worm things that infiltrated star trek, those ghosts that take over Troi, O'Brian and Data (again!), etc. Lower Decks has an episode where Merriner thinks Boimler's girlfriend is too hot for him and spends the entire show trying to figure out what kind of creature she is or alien influence she is under. So yeah, common star trek trope.
Presumably cooler Star Fleet heads prevailed and realized this situation with Data was no different so he isn't inherently any more risky than any other sentient being.