Was it wrong for Data to disable Lore?

[Jayson]

In the final episode he is turned off and dissembled. Lore might be evil but he is a sentient being so shouldn't he have been arrested and put in prision for his crimes. Plus Lore is a criminal you could say would have a decent chance of being rehibitated. A expert could figure out how to fix his programing allowing him to live a normal life someday.

Jason

 

[Elias Vaughn]

I'd take the death penalty over being lobotomized any day.

 

[Neutral Zone]

Data did the right thing. If argument sake the turned Lore off and reprogrammed him I sure that some of his sub-routine would have survived and as a result escape to cause yet more misery on his brother.

 

[Vanyel]

Yes shutting him down would be the only way to ensure he not overpower any guards and escape. It wouldn't take him long to figure out guard rotations, possibly even figure out security codes from their sounds or the guards hand finger placement. Remember how easy it was for Data to take over Enterprise in Brothers, I can easily see Lore using many of the same tactics to free himself.

 

[Anwar]

Considering how Lore tried to lead a renegade Borg Invasion of the Federation with the purpose of conquering it, I'd say Data was within his duties as a Starfleet Officer to remove such a deadly threat.

 

[The Overlord]

Lore is a psychopath and a mass murderer, those are not the types who can be rehabilitated. There is no cure for psychopathy and mass murder is one of those crimes that people are not very forgiving of. Mass murder is not something one gets parole for.

Lore declared war on all organic life and Data essentially killed him on the battlefield. Its hard to say Data did the wrong thing, when Lore displayed no redeeming qualities and was willing and able to commit horrific acts all the time.

 

[Mr Silver]

What is to say that Lore's deactivation was permanent? It could be that Lore would eventually be reactivated within a controlled environment where he could be studied, whilst rehabilitation is attempted.

 

[indolover]

Considering how Lore tried to lead a renegade Borg Invasion of the Federation with the purpose of conquering it, I'd say Data was within his duties as a Starfleet Officer to remove such a deadly threat.

this doesn't mean killing him. Should Dukat have been killed when he was captured? Or the Female Changeling? Were not both of those persons deadly threats to the Federation?

 

[Mr Silver]

The Female Changeling surrendered and offered no resistance to arrest (including ordering the Dominion forces to stand down). It wouldn't have been ethical to kill a person who posed no threat. Dukat OTOH, was in that kill/be killed situation with Sisko. Sisko couldn't overpower him and put him into custody, so he did what was necessary to take Dukat down. This concluded with Dukat being killed/trapped in the Bajoran fire caves.

Data found a way to disable Lore and had no need to destroy him.

 

[YellowSubmarine]

A expert could figure out how to fix his programing allowing him to live a normal life someday.

By changing his programming, you might be creating a new person, since a person is not just his memories, and possibly murdering Lore in the process. So this might not be a perfect option either.

 

[Anwar]

"Changing his programming" is the same thing as brainwashing someone, pretty much killing the old person in favor of the new one.

And anyways, if Lore could've been "cured" of his violent tendencies Dr Soong would've done so. It's quite likely that he couldn't alter whatever it is about Lore that makes him so psychopathic.

 

[RAMA]

In the final episode he is turned off and dissembled. Lore might be evil but he is a sentient being so shouldn't he have been arrested and put in prision for his crimes. Plus Lore is a criminal you could say would have a decent chance of being rehibitated. A expert could figure out how to fix his programing allowing him to live a normal life someday.

Jason

This is one of your most perceptive questions...technically, if Data is a sentient being, then Lore is merely a disturbed individual with a chemical imbalance of sorts...and should have the right to treatment by specialists in cybernetics and AI. Arbitrarily turning him off would seem to be extreme action.

 

[RAMA]

What is to say that Lore's deactivation was permanent? It could be that Lore would eventually be reactivated within a controlled environment where he could be studied, whilst rehabilitation is attempted.

I think the idea was they would fix him when technology allowed, but that doesn't preclude psychiatric/technological treatment. I am sure the patient should also have some say in the matter.

RAMA

 

[KNH]

Do we even know Lore's gone for good? If Time's Arrow and Nemesis (among other examples) are to be believed, Soong-type androids can easily survive inactiveness and disassembly. From this vantage point, all Data did was restrain/sedate Lore.

 

[Vanyel]

The only thing about trying to rehabilitate Lore with "psychiatric/technological" is that he's too smart for the psychiatrists/therapists and could fool them; second, he and Data are nearly identical except for some bits of programming which have been implied to be Data's inability to use contractions, lack of emotions and non human like behavior. Their identical programming could included the self correcting mechanism Geordi mentioned in Contagion. That bit of programming could undo any type of technological "cures" used on him. Shutting him off seems the most human and safest way to deal with Lore.

Perhaps, in the future, another cyberneticist could have the chance to study the deactivated Lore, maybe even B-4, and find a way to purge the homicidal/genocidal tendencies from him and reprogram the self correcting mechanism to the newly designed programming, thereby rehabilitating him.

 

[Ln X]

Lore was a psychopath who deeply hated humanoid life forms. Not only that Lore was seemingly unstable, and Data was well within his rights for disabling his menace of a brother.

 

[Alrik]

Do we even know Lore's gone for good? If Time's Arrow and Nemesis (among other examples) are to be believed, Soong-type androids can easily survive inactiveness and disassembly. From this vantage point, all Data did was restrain/sedate Lore.

This is actually pretty correct. Data didn't kill Lore, he simply took him apart and removed the emotion chip that Lore stole from him.

Keep in mind that in Datalore, Lore was originally found in a disassembled state. If anything, Data simply was putting him back the way he found him. There is nothing to say that down the road Lore couldn't be re-assembled and re-activated. For now, he is just on an android 'time out'.

 

[RAMA]

The only thing about trying to rehabilitate Lore with "psychiatric/technological" is that he's too smart for the psychiatrists/therapists and could fool them; second, he and Data are nearly identical except for some bits of programming which have been implied to be Data's inability to use contractions, lack of emotions and non human like behavior. Their identical programming could included the self correcting mechanism Geordi mentioned in Contagion. That bit of programming could undo any type of technological "cures" used on him. Shutting him off seems the most human and safest way to deal with Lore.

Perhaps, in the future, another cyberneticist could have the chance to study the deactivated Lore, maybe even B-4, and find a way to purge the homicidal/genocidal tendencies from him and reprogram the self correcting mechanism to the newly designed programming, thereby rehabilitating him.

The difference between Data and Lore is that Lore was given full capacity human emotions and this includes the negative ones, which he managed to acquire/develop when he lived with them. Add to this the resentment when he was re-activated. Data was allowed to learn, minus full emotions...this apparently had the desired affect that would lead him to develop as a balanced individual. Now the key here that many people are missing is that depsite being a machine, Data and Lore have sentient rights, and have a right to due process. The one thing that may mitigate his final and swift retribution from a UFP court--remember there is no death penalty in the UFP--is the fact that he is in the end a machine, one which may be re-programmed if deemed necessary...something less likely with human beings...or at least less desirable.

RAMA

 

[Vanyel]

The only thing about trying to rehabilitate Lore with "psychiatric/technological" is that he's too smart for the psychiatrists/therapists and could fool them; second, he and Data are nearly identical except for some bits of programming which have been implied to be Data's inability to use contractions, lack of emotions and non human like behavior. Their identical programming could included the self correcting mechanism Geordi mentioned in Contagion. That bit of programming could undo any type of technological "cures" used on him. Shutting him off seems the most human and safest way to deal with Lore.

Perhaps, in the future, another cyberneticist could have the chance to study the deactivated Lore, maybe even B-4, and find a way to purge the homicidal/genocidal tendencies from him and reprogram the self correcting mechanism to the newly designed programming, thereby rehabilitating him.

The difference between Data and Lore is that Lore was given full capacity human emotions and this includes the negative ones, which he managed to acquire/develop when he lived with them. Add to this the resentment when he was re-activated. Data was allowed to learn, minus full emotions...this apparently had the desired affect that would lead him to develop as a balanced individual. Now the key here that many people are missing is that depsite being a machine, Data and Lore have sentient rights, and have a right to due process. The one thing that may mitigate his final and swift retribution from a UFP court--remember there is no death penalty in the UFP--is the fact that he is in the end a machine, one which may be re-programmed if deemed necessary...something less likely with human beings...or at least less desirable.

RAMA

Wouldn't reprogramming him, be no different from psychiatric therapy and medication? As mentioned before, for now he's simply being restrained. From a certain point of view.

 

[Anwar]

If there were genuine flaws in his positronic brain, then alterations or repairs would be considered therapy/medication.

But if he is the way he is, just because that's how his programming led him to be, then reprogramming him is just brainwashing.