Episode premise:
Kivas Fajo is determined to add the unique Data to his prized collection of one-of-a-kind artefacts and, staging Data’s apparent death, he imprisons him aboard his ship.
We know that Data is later logically coerced to lie in “Clues” to protect the crew, but this appears to be a decision all his own. Or did he not in fact actually fire the weapon?
Did he lie? Or did he give a vague statement that is necessarily true?
Data is an Aes Sedai confirmed.
Oh, I was hoping this would have been posted later so I wouldn’t have to reply from my phone, lol (was also going to throw this ep on after work and brush up).
I think, yes, data actually fired on Fajo. There was a write up in the meme post from @Makeitstop@lemmy.world which is very spot on, and I’m hopeful they’ll be contributing that here (don’t want to steal their thunder).
Data didn’t actually, lie, though. At least not, IMO. “Perhaps something occurred during transport, Commander” is kind of dodging the question, but it’s not a “lie” in the strictest sense (i.e. it’s not necessarily going against any ethical subroutines).
Based on Riker and O’Brien’s reactions, I liken it, almost, to when Worf told Picard at the end of Birthright “No, sir, there were no prison camps” and Picard hesitates a second and simply says “I understand”.
The glancing look in question:
Data is typically straightforward and matter-of-fact with his responses. This one seems a little more “human” as it were. He’d rather redirect than answer.
Yeah, I don’t have an explanation for the out-of-character-ness for that (at least that early in the series), but I would assume his report included all of the details as they occurred (including an official answer to the question posed here).
My theory is he did, indeed, intend to kill Fajo but the writers/executives wanted some wiggle room so we got that.
Data: “Perhaps something occurred during transport, Commander”
Riker: “Like what?”
Data: “Like I tried to shoot the motherfucker but you beamed me away too quick.”
Contrary to popular belief, there is nothing in Data’s programing that would prevent him from doing “bad” things like lying or killing. He has free will just as much as any other Starfleet officer.
Data is much more human than you might guess at first. He is more akin to a human on the autism spectrum than a robot with hard-coded programming.
This is honestly something that kind of annoys me about the show, data is pretty obviously human enough from the get-go, his journey is just about generally figuring things out and forming a proper personality.
Like the episode where they have to put his personhood to trial isn’t that amazing, humans now overwhelmingly at least somewhat care about the well-being of actual cattle, how the fuck would a clearly human-looking android that’s clearly capable of reasoning not be considered a person just like any other humanoid alien species?
It would have made sense if it took place in humanity’s capitalist past, but the largely enlightened federation? come oooooooon
i like that The Orville has their obligatory digital lifeform be from a whole-ass race that considers themselves obviously superior to everyone else, and no one questions their personhood because how the fuck do you question the personhood of someone who is actively choosing not to pulverize you?
![[DISCUSSION] In TNG's "The Most Toys" (s3e22), did Data lie about firing the disruptor?](https://lemmy.world/pictrs/image/3bde53cd-b0ed-41da-a851-41ee70448045.png){kind=link}