A problem with the ST:TNG episode 'Measure of a Man'

[Orrex]

So the guy wants to download Data's core programming into a new prototype positronic brain, and Data objects on the grounds that something essential will be lost in the process. He's not talking about his own uniqueness being lost by creating a second "Data," but rather he's referring to something intrinisic to his programming that won't survive the download.

Later, of course, he was able to download Lal's experiences into his own system, and later still he downloaded his essential self into B4, but those were generation-2 and generation-1 Soong-style androids, respectively, so it can be assumed that their architecture was better able to receive the download. Still...

:wtf:

I've downloaded a ton of stuff in my time online, some of it workplace-friendly, and I'm confident that I haven't damaged the original files by copying them to my own hard drive.

What the hell is Data talking about? Why should the download actually result in damage to his own program?


Still a fine episode, and Phillipa (sp?) is the most credible love interest for Picard ever shown in the series.

[arcadian]

1. I once tried to download my kitty's brain onto my harddrive.

No wait, I was really stoned and imagined it while staring at the ceiling.

[Orrex]

2. So you can understand what I'm talking about!

Glad to have you aboard!

[ZombieNixon]

5. I tried that once.

My computer got up, jumped off the desk, raided the food cabinet, then peed in my shoes, and went back to sleep.

[LostInAnomie]

3. Maybe Data was bullshitting.

All his poker playing may have taught him to bluff.

[Orrex]

4. I concede that he might have recently written a bullshitting subroutine

[JTG of the PRB]

6. Maybe it's another one of those little programs Soong put into his androids...

If their programming is copied, there's a function that automatically deletes itself or won't be copied. That way, nobody could recreate another android exactly the way Soon designed the original. Maybe that programming that Data claimed would be lost is critical enough that the android won't respond, think, or behave as it should. Maybe it's a sort of failsafe that Soong included to make sure each of his androids was unique and could not be copied.

Or maybe I'm just wrong and the writers couldn't figure it out either. :shrug:

[Orrex]

7. That's not a bad suggestion

Better IMO than the way they presented it on the show. Nicely done!

[BattyDem]

8. That actually sounds like something Soong would do, LOL!

:toast:

[Bryan]

9. Yeah, that's a good explanation

I don't really see the inconsistency; in fact the later episode buttresses the earlier, because it demonstrates that no one besides Soong-up to and including Data-can successfully duplicate the Soong-style android.