Data and The Doctor.

[prodigium]

this is something that has always confused me and i just need to get your thoughts on it.

Data is praised as a scientific brake through. the first android with the capabilities of evolving and learning.

the doctor on Voyager is a normal holoprogram that has been allowed to grow and "evolve".

Data is essentially the same thing as the doctor, an electronic being. yet data has no emotions and in comparison to the doctor is much less human.

why then is data so special?

 

[Luckyflux]

Data was the first android in Starfleet. And was thought to be the first android ever created (though Lore was first, but the one from Insurrection is there also).

The Doctor wasn't supposed to be active for that amount of time, he was only to be used in emergencies. I always wondered why the Doctor 'grew' emotionally. I thought he would just act the same each and everytime he was activated. But he was able to grow as an individual and become a good member of the crew. Plus the audience would get bored with the character if he was the same week in and week out.

Others will have much better answers, but I hope this helps out.

 

[Rowan Sjet]

Because Data was around before the Doctor? And then there's the fact that Data got his emotion chip and the Doctor was activated round about the same time, after TNG.

 

[A beaker full of death]

Meh. Both characters were a total betrayal of one of the basic tenets of TOS - that there is something special about man, that he is better than his machines.

 

[USS Excelsior]

And plus since there are endless number of holograms created, he was presumed to be the same as the others, basically a simulation.

 

[Quark's Lobe]

And he reminded many of the Starfleet brass of the gym coach from The Wonder Years, and they loved that show.

 

[Kegek]

Data was intentionally built without emotions. His predecessor, Lore, did have emotions. Noonien Soong would subsequently regret this and would build the emotion chip.

There were plenty of androids in the TOS era, but most of them were built by dead alien races. The Soong androids appear to be the first built by humans.

 

[jimbtnp2]

prodigium said:
this is something that has always confused me and i just need to get your thoughts on it.

Data is praised as a scientific brake through. the first android with the capabilities of evolving and learning.

the doctor on Voyager is a normal holoprogram that has been allowed to grow and "evolve".

Data is essentially the same thing as the doctor, an electronic being. yet data has no emotions and in comparison to the doctor is much less human.

why then is data so special?

The doctor was an abortion as is voyager, data was envisioned by GR,someone with purpose and vision

 

[Red Ranger]

People,

Notwithstanding some of the snarky, ill-conceived, myopic viewpoints of a couple of posters, most of you actually put some thought into your answers.

Both characters did have something in common: allegorical representations of the outsider, folks who don't "fit in" to the mainstream, but want to.

I always thought of characters like Data and the Doctor representing the immigrant experience in the U.S. -- shunned at first, then eventually seen as having more in common with everyone than originally thought.

For my money, Data is the better character, but the Doctor certainly had his moments. Don't forget Data was also the 24th century superscientific version of Pinocchio, and Dr. Soong was Gepetto.

Red Ranger

 

[James Bond]

jimbtnp2 said:

prodigium said:
this is something that has always confused me and i just need to get your thoughts on it.

Data is praised as a scientific brake through. the first android with the capabilities of evolving and learning.

the doctor on Voyager is a normal holoprogram that has been allowed to grow and "evolve".

Data is essentially the same thing as the doctor, an electronic being. yet data has no emotions and in comparison to the doctor is much less human.

why then is data so special?

The doctor was an abortion as is voyager, data was envisioned by GR,someone with purpose and vision

LOL ok there champ..

 

[MetalPants]

I look at the Doctor and all holograms presented as being programmed to simulate a human, with the various subroutines there to make a "personality" With the doctor, these subroutines became more complex the longer he was active. This was so that he could better simulate human interaction, and thus be a better medical instrument.

Data on the other hand was unique. He was not preprogrammed to follow any specific course. He learned and made his own decisions. It was Data's decision to emulate humanity, to try and become as humanlinke as he could. He could have just as easily have decided to give up this "human quest" and done something totally different.

The difference is Data made a choice, whereas the Doctor was programed.

 

[SlyCardie]

I think Data was more special because his ability to aspire was not specifically programmed in, though his ability to evolve was. The Doctor, on the other hand, had personality and emotional sub-routines, but wasn't designed to evolve. Data, as a material being, was the greater achievement in engineering though, imo (hologram vs. physical being).

 

[TheMasterOfOrion]

I always wished they made a movie about Data's borther Lore

 

[A beaker full of death]

jimbtnp2 said:
data was envisioned by GR,someone with purpose and vision

Bullshit. He was a thin reworking of Xon.

 

[number6]

^^ No. He was a thin reworking of Questor.

 

[greenmystik]

Let's just say he was a thin reworking then.

 

[Sisu]

Wouldn't that be a thin refullyfunctioning then?

 

[Red Ranger]

greenmystik said:
Let's just say he was a thin reworking then.

Speak for yourself! Not everyone agrees that Data was a thin reworking. I certainly don't. It's true he owes more to Roddenberry's Questor, but also had Spock-like qualities, and owes something of his character to the Three Laws of Robotics in Isaac Asimov's short story collection, "I, Robot."

I'm always amused by all the TOS sycophants out there. Don't get me wrong, I love TOS, but I see it's flaws, too. I think TNG and DSN are the worthiest successors to TOS. Yes, they're different from TOS, but, duh, they came out more than 20 years later!

Red Ranger

 

[greenmystik]

Hey, I wasn't agreeing I was just messing with those two.

Personally I liked Data and I don't think he's a reworking at all. He was his own person/android and The Doctor has nothing on Data

 

[Red Ranger]

greenmystik said:
Hey, I wasn't agreeing I was just messing with those two.

Personally I liked Data and I don't think he's a reworking at all. He was his own person/android and The Doctor has nothing on Data

Agreed. No harm, no foul, greenmystik! I thought you were, but you can never be sure. I also thought it was easier to respond to the kind of silly "reworking" complaint. I've heard that there are only 12 original ideas in storytelling, so everything else is -- dare I say it -- a reworking of those themes! Egad! -- RR