Data's Operation

[Crewman47]

Just a random question but in Insurrection, after Data gives his leg measurment he mentions that his operation depends on specifications that never change and I wondered, what would happen if some techno device, like the Transporter or plot point of the week, were to alter Data's dimensions by making him smaller, or taller. Would his program be able to adapt or would he run into any problems?

Just a thought

 

[Timo]

I doubt his programming would have this possibility built in - but I also believe Data would be able to cope quickly enough. He has been known to remain quite operational when his entire torso was removed, so obviously most of his thinking processes are localized in his head; if a leg were to fall victim to a transporter accident, complex adaptations could take place in the head.

Lal was also able to adapt to an altered body quickly enough, FWIW. Although probably no dimensions crucial to mobility or stability were altered...

Whether Data's head would remain functional if shrunk by 10% is another matter. But we've seen that most of the anomalies that shrink our heroes (TAS "Terratin Incident", DS9 "One Little Ship") do not adversely affect brain chemistry. They thus shouldn't much affect Data's positronics, either...

As for how complex and time-consuming it would be for Data to learn to cope with an altered, "crippled" body... I really don't know. He did seem to suggest it would be a real problem in ST:INS, but probably he was just humoring the kid. He's always been a very fluent liar.

Timo Saloniemi