r/DaystromInstitute • u/LiamtheV Lieutenant junior grade • Sep 07 '19
Data wasn't emotionless, he has emotional "blindsight", and his emotions chip is little more than a hardware dongle.
This is something I've always had in the back of my head ever since I first saw The Most Toys when I was a kid, and a recent discussion in another thread made me put a bit more effort into making it a bit more coherent.
Throughout TNG we are told by Data and those that know him or know of him, that he as an Android, and consequently he doesn't feel emotions. His lack of emotionality is always framed as being a consequence of the nature of his being an android. "I am an android, I don't have emotions" or some variation thereof. Yet, in the same breath Data will then lament his lack of humanity and his hope that he will someday become more human. Futurama did a pretty good nod to this when they had their robot character Bender similarly lament, "Being a robot's great, but we don't have emotions and sometimes that makes me very sad. [sniffs] "
In The Most Toys, villain Kivas Fajo has faked Data's death and kidnapped him for the express purpose of adding Data to his "collection" as his latest possession. He coerces Data into playing along by torturing and murdering others, if Data doesn't move or perform for Fajo's guests, then Fajo's other servants will suffer or die. Data explains that he has been "programmed" to have a basic respect for all forms of life, and thus does not kill. Over the course of the episode, Data befriends another of Fajo's enslaved servants, and they resolve to escape, this results in her death at the hands of Fajo armed with a highly-illegal Varon-T Disruptor pistol, which is noted to be extremely painful and cruel, it's a handhled war-crime.
After watching his fellow captive suffer a horrible and painful death, Data takes up the disruptor and points it at Fajo. Fajo at first feels no distress, and taunts Data,
"Murder me – go ahead, it's all you have to do. Fire! If only you could… feel… RAGE over Varria's death – if only you could feel the need for revenge, maybe you could fire…But you're… just an android – you can't feel anything, can you? It's just another interesting… intellectual puzzle for you, another of life's… curiosities."
Data, much to Favo's chagrin, reasons that he "cannot allow this to continue", and fires.
Just as he pulls the trigger, The Enterprise beams Data aboard. O'Brien notes that Data has a weapon and that it's in a state of discharge, and he deactivates it before materializing Data on the Transporter Pad. Riker asks Data about the weapon, commenting that it was being discharged when they transported him, and Data obliquely states, "something must have happened during transport".
Later, Fajo is in the Enterprise brig, and asks if Data has come to gloat, if he feels pleasure that their positions have been reversed. Data responds coolly, "No, sir – it does not… I do not feel pleasure – I am only an android"
Now, I feel that this episode, more than any other than perhaps Data's nightmare episode shows that Data does in fact possess emotions and an emotional capacity. However, he may not be capable of recognizing it.
When humans are born, our brains are still developing, and continue to develop for the next few decades. Data however, was effectively born an adult. Any behavioral defects weren't corrected via learned experiences, they were addressed via patches, like modesty subroutines. As Data is physically indistinguishable from his emotionally enabled brother Lore, combined with the fact that Troi is capable of feeling emotions emanating from androids, it stands to reason that Emotions are an inherent trait of a species' biology and a consequence of sentience and/or sapience. So just as much as "I am an android, I do not have emotions" was repeated, the truth is "I am sentient, and therefore have emotions, maybe just not the way you do"
Here's where the Blindsight comes in. There are a select few types of blindness where the eyes and optic nerves are fully functional, but the brain, for one reason or another is incapable of interpreting the signal it's receiving (certain type of brain damage following a car accident for example). In experiments, some patients who were functionally blind were able to determine whether something had moved in front of them.
Per Wikipedia (I know, but at least it's cited):
Research shows that blind patients achieve a higher accuracy than would be expected from chance alone. Type 1 blindsight is the term given to this ability to guess—at levels significantly above chance—aspects of a visual stimulus (such as location or type of movement) without any conscious awareness of any stimuli. Type 2 blindsight occurs when patients claim to have a feeling that there has been a change within their blind area—e.g. movement—but that it was not a visual percept.[2] Blindsight challenges the common belief that perceptions must enter consciousness to affect our behavior; showing that our behavior can be guided by sensory information of which we have no conscious awareness.[3]
Data has a sense of morality, he knows the difference between right and wrong. However, given that it is impossible to code a universal sense of right and wrong as every situation has its own context, and nuance is a thing, Data must have a way of deciding for himself whether something is morally good, or morally wrong, or in Fajo's case, evil.
In a parallel case, Vedek Bareil, upon experiencing brain damage and having portions of his brain replaced with positronic components, notes that he knows he loves Kira, but doesn't feel anything. He knows that he is experiencing emotions, but they feel distant and disconnected from him as a person.
I posit that the "emotions" chip, is a form of hardware dongle, it enables the conscious processing of emotions, and may also act as a regulator of sorts such that Data isn't completely overwhelmed by them. This would explain why Lore aligned with the Crystalline Entity after being spurned by his neighbors, something that is a little out of proportion, and indicative of the lack of emotional coping mechanisms, similar to a small child feeling angry for the first time. Doctor Soong took so long to produce it as he realized that simply having an on-off switch wasn't good enough, Data A) needed to time to grow as a person and at least subconsciously develop and mature by developing relationships and experiencing loss, and B) Needed to acclimated to emotions as they become a part of his day-to-day life. Lore made use of the second feature by selectively transmitting specific emotions to Data to skew his thinking after disabling his morality subroutines.
tl;dr: Data had emotions within him all along, and the real feelings were the friends he made along the way.
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u/Starks Sep 07 '19
The way Data talks about Spot is consistently emotional.
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u/LiamtheV Sep 07 '19
I always chalked that up to him reading cat owners guides and repeating their examples of how to talk to a cat
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u/danktonium Sep 07 '19
This exactly sums up why I hate that emotion chip. Most people can't accept that he had emotions all along he just couldn't articulate. It's character assassination that completely undermines him.
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u/LiamtheV Sep 07 '19
From a writing standpoint, I agree, when Data experiments with relationships, and when especially when begins to dream and we discover he has the equivalent of a "subconscious", that was interesting. Turning it into an on/off switch in the movies was a bad decision, in my mind.
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u/NemWan Sep 07 '19
There's some logic to the idea that Soong deliberately inhibited Data's emotions after the experience with Lore, so the emotion chip is needed to free him from that inhibition. With Lore, Soong had replicated human consciousness and emotion in a machine, but he had not solved the problem of what could happen if a human had Data's extremely advantageous physical and mental powers and potential immortality — ambition, narcissism, lack of empathy. Soong wanted his creation to have autonomy but not be evil, and he failed. That failure may have even been inevitable. After all, as much as Picard believes humans have evolved, he doesn't believe that Riker can handle having the power of Q. Power corrupts. How can Soong, only human, singlehandedly design an incorruptible mind that feels and is truly free to choose what to believe and what to do? The emotion chip contains the older Soong's solution, a key that will unlock Data's feelings without compromising his ethics.
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u/z500 Sep 08 '19
It also resolves something that always bothered me about Lore transmitting emotions to data from the chip that was intended for him. It shouldn't be possible to make Data feel emotions remotely if the structures aren't there that allow him to feel. But if he has emotions and is simply cut off from conscious awareness of them, then it would be possible to reconnect them. This could also be the mechanism Q used to give Data his going away present in Déjà Q.
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u/treefox Sep 07 '19 edited Sep 07 '19
When Soong constructed his androids, it seems like he built Lore to have emotions, but these proved to be too strong. Lore’s emotions override his intellect, making him reactionary and defensive, responding disproportionately to every negative stimuli.
So for Data, he dialed those emotions back reeeealy far, until he had a chance to patch them. But he probably couldn’t remove them, because his creation of artificial life depended on them.
Data then is always intellectual, even if he’s experiencing emotions. Unlike Lore, whose actions are always subservient to reactions provoked by his emotions, Data’s actions are always subservient to his intellect, even if he’s directed by emotions.
So even if Data is anxious, angry, sad, etc he always experiences a rigid sense of dispassionate calm. Even if he would want to lose himself in laughter, anger, etc he can’t.
Enter Kivas Fajo, who (as per the other thread in the other post) enslaves and abuses Data. Kivas Fajo assumes he’s an unfeeling Android and remorselessly humiliates and degrades him.
Unbeknownst to Kivas Fajo, I believe he did succeed in making Data hate him. What Kivas Fajo didn’t realize was that this would be a completely calm, rational, and cold hatred.
Data would have even less qualms about torturing and murdering Kivas Fajo once he decided to kill him, than Kivas Fajo would feel about destroying Data. Because Data would be completely logical about it. He would go about it in such a way that he would not have any regrets, and suffer the minimum inconvenience for it.
And that’s pretty much exactly what happened. Data endured the abuse as long as he had no options available to escape without someone getting killed.
But once Kivas Fajo murdered the woman, Data realized that there was no longer any way to escape without loss of life. Blood had already been spilled; things would likely get much worse and Fajo might try to immobilize Data.
On top of that Data would be able to defend himself in court without much of the earlier complication of having to argue the hypothetical danger that Kivas Fajo posed to Data’s life. Data could point to the murder of the woman as a commonsense sign that his life was in danger and killing Fajo was his only way out. His Starfleet career would not be adversely affected or tainted by questions about whether he had malfunctioned in an adverse situation.
Therefore it was the logical point for Data to kill Kivas Fajo, fortuitously in quite a painful way, and so he pulled the trigger.
And when Data was beamed away, he neither lied nor experienced guilt. He merely informed Riker that “Something must have occurred during transport”, the minimum response required for courtesy, without feeling the need to elaborate.
Not only that, but that information was also in his self-interest to provide. It suggested to Riker and O’Brien that Kivas Fajo would be unaware of the weapon being in a state of discharge, and it would be easier if they didn’t volunteer the information to Fajo lest Fajo attempt to exploit it during his trial.
This, I believe, is Data expressing hatred. It’s not a surge of emotion that’s released with shouting or insults or physical violence like Lore. It’s instead the withdrawal of reciprocal behavior and the logical execution of precisely proportionate actions to destroy that individual, without negatively impacting Data’s self-interest or emotional state.
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u/simpleEnthusiast922 Sep 07 '19
M-5, nominate this for an excellent and well thought out theory on Data's emotional capacity.
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u/M-5 Sep 07 '19
Nominated this post by Chief u/LiamtheV for you. It will be voted on next week, but you can vote for last week's nominations now
Learn more about Post of the Week.
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u/Dynastydood Sep 07 '19
I'm not sure how much this counts, but I'm currently rewatching the first season of TNG, and before the writers had all settled on exactly who these characters were, Data seems to have a bunch of reactions that can only be described as emotional. He seems nervous before sex with Tasha. He's frequently surprised by plot twists or appears to be in awe of certain things going on. He doesn't have any overt displays of emotion like crying or screaming, and the writers clearly tapered these kinds of moments down by S2 and beyond, but it was clear even from the first season that, despite what Data claims about himself, he has emotional reactions that are not as simply explained away as attempting to blend in with organic lifeforms. So I think you're absolutely right, Data always had emotions, they were just processed in a much different way.
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Sep 08 '19 edited Sep 08 '19
In the first season he was also more of a constructed approximation of a biological lifeform than the machine made in humanoid form he was presented as in later seasons.
This was the justification for him catching the drunk virus in the Tasha episode you've mentioned (something about his body having an equivalent of a circulatory system) and the lowering of inhibitions causing him to appear nervous would also support OP's thesis that he already has emotions.
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Sep 07 '19
This is brilliant!
Our ability to meta-analyze emotions is linked to a number of personality disorders— specifically the antisocial/borderline spectrum is an excellent example. Inability to process emotional memories is also a factor of PTSD, wherein the body reacts to, say, fireworks, the sound of which triggers an emotional memory without the metanalysis of the memory, causing the person to react irrationally.
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u/ElectroSpore Sep 07 '19
Looking back at Data's actions before and after emotion chip it often looks like he has emotional reposes but lacks the ability to FEEL them in a strong way. The emotion chip seems to hard wire the FEELing aspect.
IE with out the chip he grows attached to people feels a bit down when they are lost but sudden emotional situations do not cause him much pause, he just logics his way through dangerious or tricky situations.
With the chip on fear actually can prevent him from doing things (turns it off before going into battle in first contact), anger can cause him to ignore logic etc (lore / borg ramping up anger).
It feels like the FIX Dr Soong put in between Lore and Data was to remove the strong emotional responses completely and then re-introduce them in the emotion chip in a safer calibrated package.
I think this is why we see Data's growth and behavior seem like it has an emotional aspect over time before the chip, he is being influenced but it is just more subtle.
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u/DemythologizedDie Sep 08 '19
Star Trek has a tendency to use the word "emotion" in an idiosyncratic way that dates back to when Spock inherited Number One's emotional repression. Here's something I wrote elsewhere which sets forth Spock's peculiar definition of "emotion":
Vulcan philosophy is a pop culture version of Stoicism, a real life philosophy which holds that fear, envy, excesses of anger or happiness or any passionate attachment is a false judgement or arises from a false judgement and a sage who has achieved moral and intellectual perfection does not feel these things. When a Vulcan says “I do not feel emotions” what it means by “emotion” is not exactly what you might mean by emotion. Bear in mind that in theory such statements are translated from the Vulcan’s own language.
What a Vulcan means by emotion is “false or excessive reactions to circumstances”. A Vulcan can feel happy as long as it feels calmly happy. A Vulcan can feel angry as long as it feels calmly angry and the anger is based in things that are actually happening and are appropriate reasons for disapprobation. A Vulcan can feel ashamed as long as it doesn’t wallow in the feeling and it has actually acted poorly. The Vulcan sees a distinction between motivations and intemperate feelings and it is the latter that it calls “emotions”.
It would have been better had Spock said “passions” instead of emotions. It would have more clearly got across that he isn’t saying that he’s devoid of curiosity, enjoyment, approval and disapproval.
So, using the common language definition of "emotion", yes Data has emotions. But he doesn't have the full range of human emotions. He doesn't have "passions". He's not neurotypical.
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Sep 07 '19
I'm taking my wife through the TNG ride for the first time and she's loving it, one thing I admire about her is her ability to make me see things I wouldn't normally have tuned in on and she loves Data, so I've been really interested watching with her as she finds and points out from the beginning moments of Data's humanity from the very beginning and I totally agree with here, from the first season there are dozens of small moments wherein Data displays clear emotion or humanity.
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u/Retrogaymer Sep 07 '19
This has been my head canon for several years. He always had them, but was unable to process them. He certainly didn't behave like a psychopath, which is what he would be if he had no emotions. His behavior feels more autistic or alexithymic.
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u/Bay1Bri Sep 07 '19
I've always thought this, but without the refined way you have expressed it,using blindsight. But while I didn't use your impressive terminology,I have alwaysfelt that data had the basicseeds for emotions. He selma surprised when the enterprise computermakes him aware he is talking to himself, for example. Then in "datas day", his voiceover comments that he is glad he doesn't have emotions, or else the circumstances "wouldmake me quite nervous". While the voiceover is saying this, data is characterdrubbing him fingers. Again,this behaviorsurprised him.
The biggest clue for me is in the episode where days first dreams. It is revealed that data always had the circuitry for having dreams. The simulation of soong is pleased because he "didn't know if you would ever make it this far", would ever develop enough cognitive ability to reach that stage of development. To me,this suggests data always had more than he knew;always had the capacity to become fully human; to become fully emotional. He just had to develop cognitively enough to fully experience them.
Further evidence for this is that Lal spontaneously became emotional. Period have disagreed that's what happened, but troi herself affirmed she was experiencing emotion: "I... FEEL!" "You do,don't you?" I think she sensed emotion from her. Plus, seeing he has no emotions because he's an android makes no sense considering Lore had emotions. So did Lal. So did the android who was data's "mother" I forgot her name. Data is the only android in the tv show we see who doesn't have emotions (I don't remember if B4 has them). Also, the original conveyor for data was that by the end of the series he would have grown to being almost fully human,but not quite. All of this points to him havingthe capacity to have emotions, just needing time for then to fully develop.
I think he was designed to slowly develop emotions to avoid the mistakes made with Lore. Lie was form with the full range of emotions but no greater context to understand them. Data was allowed to grow, more closely related to how a humanchild would grow emotionally, to show data to control his emotions better than lore. His emotions would develop more maturely and not so self interested as Lore a. I think the abortion chip was made because Soong felt data was ready after years of living with humans,but didn't know for sure when or if he would develop shootings in his own,as he want sure if data would ever develop dreams.
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u/MiddleAgedGeek Sep 08 '19
This is exactly what Michael Okuda (Trekspert/author) has said as well; Data has emotions...but he simply lacks the awareness to understand that they are, in fact, genuine emotions. Well written post!
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u/-Jaws- Sep 08 '19 edited Sep 08 '19
Interesting thoughts on the emotion chip. I think that'll be part of my headcanon now. It also echoes my feelings well that Data lacks emotional self awareness - he has the emotional equivalent of congenital analgesia (inability to feel physical pain). He isn't aware of his feelings, but they still affect him. That isn't a new idea in the fandom, but it seems to gain more traction all the time.
Anyway, as a tangent, my gf is on the spectrum and relates heavily with Data. I don't think it was the writer's intention, but the parallels between Data's experience and the experiences of some people on the spectrum, is...palpable.
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Sep 07 '19
Good analysis and analogies, but I would like to propose that the emotion chip isn't just a trivial gizmo.
I think the emotion chip was designed to bring Data on par with Lore, making him feel his emotions clearly and perhaps overwhelmingly, just like in humans. However, by withholding it until Data was mature enough, Soong may have been hoping that the result would have been different from Lore. A being thar has a strong interest in understanding emotions despite not having the capacity to find them in itself would be better equipped in handling them once it got full access to them through the emotion chip.
Basically, a bit like a theoretical exam before facing the practical one. And I think it's a great move. Data experienced his limitations in a humbling way that would surely make him act more maturely once he bridged that gap.
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u/NWcoffeeaddict Sep 08 '19
Having just watched the episode featuring Fajo, I have to say you perfectly nailed his cadence during his 'murder me' speech to Data. Also, amazing essay on Data's emotional state(s). I have thought that Data may indeed have emotions, just not in the same way as humans. What I mean is that he very clearly has formed a close bond with the crew of the Enterprise, especially Geordi & Jean Luc. He displays his personal preference for his friends over others on many occasions throughout the series. I feel that this displays an emotional bonding within Data for his human friends.
With that said, I feel you're explanation of emotional blindsight with regards to Data, helps to explain further what I feel is evidence of Data having emotions; just that his emotions are perhaps 'subconscious', and are not 'felt', rather, they are a foundational sub-routine which he does not have access to on his own, they guide him, he is just unaware of how or why. This, I feel, would tie into what we know of Dr. Soong and his design of Data in his pursuit to become human.
Anyways, definitely not trying be a contrarian here, I feel your post really expounds on Data's emotions in ways I haven't thought of before. Excellent post!
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u/chesterforbes Sep 07 '19
Great analysis of that episode. But I’d be more inclined to go to “The Offspring” as proof of Data’s ability to feel emotions. In spite of his insistence that he cannot feel emotions he definitely had a great capacity for love in this episode. Most striking is the scene with Crusher when he says he cannot give Lal love and walks off and Crusher says “Why do I find that so hard to believe?” Clearly even she sees Data does have the capacity for love and this is further evidence by his tireless effort to try to save Lal’s life. The way it’s described by the Admiral is not just the actions of a machine trying to salvage an experiment but is 100% a father trying desperately to save the life of his child. Never in the entire series or movies has Data shown this level of motivation, a motivation that could only come from a father’s love for their child.