Why would they even let Data in Starfleet Academy?

[The Rock]

Don't get me wrong, I love Data! He's a great character.

But I always wondered just why Starfleet would ever let an android enroll at Starfleet Academy? I mean he has superior mental and physical capability compared to every other student. He would ace all the exams due to just simply storing information in his neural net and pass every physical test with flying colors.

How could it possibly be fair for any of the other students with Data there at Stafleet Academy?

 

[BillJ]

How could it possibly be fair for any of the other students with Data there at Stafleet Academy?

Competition.

Data raised the bar for every other cadet there. No different than a cadet Spock who probably attended an overwhelmingly human Starfleet Academy in the 23rd century. He was stronger, able to retain far more information and could do complex math equations in his head. Not exactly fair for the human students in attendance.

 

[T'Cal]

I like Data (on the show, not in the films so much) a lot. My biggest issue was when the script called for him to not recognize a commonly used informal phrase. It never came across as funny or believable especially when he was supposed to have had an advanced computer for a brain and decades of experiences with humans.

 

[zar]

I like to think Starfleet Academy is evolved beyond the obsolete mess that the education system is today -- that is, being based around mindlessly retaining raw information for the purpose of regurgitating it in standardized exams, which is what Data would be good at. I think in a more practical education environment, Data might actually be at a disadvantage.

 

[od0_ital]

Remember Lal?

I imagine Data was a lot like that while he was at the Academy.

 

[Tiberius]

Don't get me wrong, I love Data! He's a great character.

But I always wondered just why Starfleet would ever let an android enroll at Starfleet Academy? I mean he has superior mental and physical capability compared to every other student. He would ace all the exams due to just simply storing information in his neural net and pass every physical test with flying colors.

How could it possibly be fair for any of the other students with Data there at Stafleet Academy?

Why do you think that students are competing against other students. If the cadet passes his exams, then he passes. It's not like, "We'll take the five best from this class and the rest can bugger off."

 

[Mojochi]

Because as we see in some of Wesley's enrollment processes, it's not all about knowledge retainment or physical prowess. There are character assets which are judged, and I imagine in those ways, Data had more difficulty than other more fully realized individuals, enough so that even getting in might have been miraculous

 

[YARN]

How could it possibly be fair for any of the other students with Data there at Stafleet Academy?

Huh?

What wouldn't be fair would be keeping Data out because others couldn't keep up with him.

If the Academy is about merit, then Data merits admission.

 

[Doug Otte]

Remember Lal?

I imagine Data was a lot like that while he was at the Academy.

Bingo. Just like human brains store a lot of info, but it takes experience to "burn" in the synapses for certain paths to obtain the needed info for various situations. Android brains also require experience to become efficient at retrieving and using all the knowledge.

I have a vague memory of Data even mentioning this fact. Anyone...?

 

[Alrik]

Remember Lal?

I imagine Data was a lot like that while he was at the Academy.

Bingo. Just like human brains store a lot of info, but it takes experience to "burn" in the synapses for certain paths to obtain the needed info for various situations. Android brains also require experience to become efficient at retrieving and using all the knowledge.

I have a vague memory of Data even mentioning this fact. Anyone...?

You might be thinking about Legacy, when Data is explaining to Ishara about how he is able to have friends. Here's the exchange:

ISHARA
But you don't have feelings, do
you?

DATA
Not as such. However, perhaps
even among humans, friendship is
sometimes less an emotional
response, and more a sense of
familiarity.

ISHARA
(understanding)
You can become used to someone.

DATA
Exactly. As I experience certain
sensory input patterns, my mental
pathways become accustomed to
them. The inputs eventually are
anticipated. And even "missed"
when absent. When something once
expected is no longer there.

 

[Kirks_Flying_Wig]

I like Data (on the show, not in the films so much) a lot. My biggest issue was when the script called for him to not recognize a commonly used informal phrase. It never came across as funny or believable especially when he was supposed to have had an advanced computer for a brain and decades of experiences with humans.

I don't find it so much of an issue that he doesn't recognise the phrases, since he might not be aware of the social situations they're supposed to be used in, but it did annoy me when he was completely unable to say the actual words, and so replaced them with hyper-formal language instead. For example, there was absolutely no reason (in universe) why he should say "ignite the midnight petroleum" instead of "burn the midnight oil". Seven said similar rubbish on Voyager.

BOT, considering "The Measure Of A Man", maybe the Academy and Starfleet HQ let Data enroll because they wanted believed he would come in useful in the fleet as property.

 

[Gary7]

I think Data enrolled and just took the tests in short order. He didn't need to attend any classes. Why bother, when all of the information could be easily downloaded into his Positronic net?

 

[Jetboogieman]

Now I may be wrong, but even though Data is an android.

He was self aware and had the ability to evolve and change as a "person" per say.

Does he not constitute a sentient being?

Because by that I believe Starfleet could not "legally" if thats the correct word discriminate against Data.

Besides, the advantages to Starfleet having someone like Data is immense, I would want Data on my side.

And really, Data would probably have served a better purpose being a number cruncher and researcher with Starfleet intelligence. But I'm not sad he was aboard the enterprise

 

[Timelord79 (he/him)]

I think at the time Starfleet was not fully aware of Data's nature.
Remember whenever was something wrong with him, it was Doctor Crusher and not an engineer who was treating him? (Except in later years they treated him more liek a traditional machine).

He also got drunk in The Naked Now and is able to digest food.

My point? He has a functional measurable body chemistry.
As far as Starfleet was concerned he was more an alien with a positronic brain at first, then a robot.
I am under the impression that a positronic brain itself functions by mimicking a human brain very closely, only the components are different.
For all we know, a positronic brain could even use biological components/tissues.

The turning point I think came in Datalore, when Starfleet found a similar Android in a disassembled state and learned that Data could be shut off!
It was only then, that a young Lieutenant Maddox got the idea in his head that Data was reproducable and not so humanlike as everybody thought but a mere machine.
Only then the issues of his "human" rights even came up first. Until then it was undisputed.

Am I making sense here?

 

[zar]

Now I may be wrong, but even though Data is an android.

He was self aware and had the ability to evolve and change as a "person" per say.

Does he not constitute a sentient being?

Because by that I believe Starfleet could not "legally" if thats the correct word discriminate against Data.

But legally, he wasn't a person back then.

 

[Marten]

Now I may be wrong, but even though Data is an android.

He was self aware and had the ability to evolve and change as a "person" per say.

Does he not constitute a sentient being?

Because by that I believe Starfleet could not "legally" if thats the correct word discriminate against Data.

But legally, he wasn't a person back then.

Doubtly so. If the situation was that clear, the trial in The Measure Of A Man wouldn't have been necessary.

 

[Gary7]

One thing important to note, is that interpersonal skill in command situations is as important as knowledge. Data could certainly store information lightning fast. The only thing he'd be missing by not attending classes are discussions about decision making, and how it's not always the immediately logical conclusion to go with.

Data probably had to work his way up the ranks, demonstrating his ability to show discretion and make tempered decisions. He is "Lt. Commander Data" for the entire run of TNG and the movies, while his colleagues were promoted (Picard and Crusher were the exceptions). Why? Isn't that peculiar, given his advanced Positronic brain? You'd think he would have at least advanced to Commander, and been the next in line to take over for 1st Officer if Riker was incapacitated. I suspect it has something to do with his ability to command others in a balanced nature. We see him continue to fumble with even some of the most simple aspects to human interactions up until late in the movies.


Incidentally, I was perplexed by his destruction in "Nemesis", as we saw in "All Good Things" that he was still functioning in Picard's retirement years. Is that just a continuity oversight?

 

[indolover]

Data was a Federation citizen and a sapient being, that is reason enough. There could be many Federation member species that have physical/mental advantages over people. A Betazoid could read an examiner's mind prior to an exam and score 100%. A Vulcan would generally defeat a human in physical assessments (Vulcans are stronger than humans).

A

 

[DonIago]

Incidentally, I was perplexed by his destruction in "Nemesis", as we saw in "All Good Things" that he was still functioning in Picard's retirement years. Is that just a continuity oversight?

No, it's a different timeline...or possibly a figment of Q's imagination. Just like the three-nacelled E-D.

 

[zar]

Incidentally, I was perplexed by his destruction in "Nemesis", as we saw in "All Good Things" that he was still functioning in Picard's retirement years. Is that just a continuity oversight?

It was "not written in stone".

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duimzKVFQE0&start=33[/yt]