Could Data Evolve BEYOND Humanity?

[Moviefan2k4]

But he didn't believe it. It was his job as the litigator to say it. My OP focused mainly on how whenever Data has exhibited emotions, Troi recognizes them as if they were any other person's. Data's emotional awareness, once he has a recognizable one, is the legit real deal as far as they are concerned. As such, he's somehow got a real consciousness. Therefore, it could arguably have the same potential as anyone else's to develop into the weird supernatural stuff we see in Star Trek, like V-ger did.

Deanna was able to sense anger in Data when Lore altered Noonien's emotion chip, and Altan Soong was one programmer for the current version's "consciousness", if you will. The shows have used various terms somewhat loosely, trying to generalize whether man-made creations would have souls, a.k.a. "the ghost in the machine".

 

[Commander Troi]

Yes, I think it's possible, with enough time.