#data 'i have no emotions' soong

[homewrecking-lore]

A lot of daforge fanfics have Data going on a date or getting hit on while Geordi’s pining and writhing with jealousy but have we all forgotten that random storyline in Phantasms where Ensign Tyler has an obvious crush on Geordi, and Data is weirdly intense about it. Like:

SIR????

DATA HE IS CLEARLY NOT INTERESTED? CAN YOU COOL IT DOWN A NOTCH???

[to-trek-or-not-to-trek]

Geordi: Hey, Data, I'm going to sit this away mission out, okay?

Data, frowning slightly: Okay.

~Later~

Dr. Crusher: Have fun on the away mission!

Data, still frowning: I will not, but thank you!

[thevashta-narada]

I need data to be mean and bitchy more often I find it concerningly hot

(and do not say "lore is just bitchy data!! why do you need data to be bitchy too" as some have said to me before because you are Wrong) (also I need the bitchyness to come from a guy who is not normally bitchy)

[nocturnes-hideout]

I'm watching Star Trek: TNG, "A Matter of Honor", and I just got to the part where Mendon tells everyone that he already noticed the bacteria on the Klingon ship and just didn't tell anyone, and Data just turns his entire seat around to look at him. Data "I do not experience any emotions" Soong just dramatically turned his entire seat around to look disappointedly at this idiot.

[fox-stuck]

the boy™️

data warmup sketches <3

[adarkroomandawallflower]

So, I just had a thought (& possible realization that could be canon?):

As I'm sure many of us TNG fans are aware, it's never canonically addressed where, how, or when exactly Data got Spot. However, based on the order of the episodes, Spot wasn't shown or mentioned until "Data's Day", & because we were shown Data's quarters several times throughout Seasons 1-3 without any indications of a cat living with him, we can assume that he got Spot somewhere either in the end of Season 3 or the beginning of Season 4 (I know the argument could be made that he could have still had Spot, it just wasn't very clearly established or shown, but for the sake of my theory, let's assume that not showing Spot or evidence of Data having her indicates that he didn't have her yet).

The events of "Brothers" occurs just several episodes before "Data's Day". We saw in "Brothers" that after Dr. Soong died, Data took some of his father's things with him (i.e. the toy dinosaurs that he gave to the two brothers who were also in the episode). I think it's highly unlikely that Data would have only taken those two dinosaurs from his father's place, & I think he almost certainly took a lot more of his father's things with him (i.e. he probably took some of his books, artwork, etc.).

I think it can also be assumed that Dr. Soong didn't like being alone, & always preferred the company of another being (his sons & Juliana, for example). After the Crystalline Entity attacked, Juliana left, Data joined Starfleet, & Dr. Soong was left all by himself on that whole planet, I think he got really lonely, but didn't know or have any other person in his life that he could seek companionship with. Not wanting to go through the intense emotional & physical tolls of creating another android son again, & being unable to find another partner or spouse, I think he would have probably gotten himself a pet as a last-ditch effort to curb his loneliness.

But what would his pet be? Perhaps a cat...?

Long story short, I propose this theory: Spot was originally Dr. Soong's cat, & after he died & Data was looking through his place to determine all the things he wanted to keep, he found Spot, & knew he had to take her with him.

I'd have to rewatch "Brothers" to look for any evidence of Dr. Soong having a cat, as well review the episodes after "Brothers" & before "Data's Day" to see if they showed Data's quarters clearly catless again, to support this theory, but I genuinely think this could be how Data got Spot

[triptychofvoids]

thinking about how i hate datas emotion chip and how they used it in the tng movies and how i think they should not have used the emotion chip as a way of showing datas character growth because i think he already has emotions (albeit i think he experiences them differently than humans do) and how i think a better way to convey his growth as a character would have been through him coming to a better understanding of himself and his own experiences rather than experiencing emotions in a completely human way and how i think that if they really wanted to show him becoming more in touch with humanity they should have just given him the ability to taste which i guess they kind of did but food is so deeply rooted in human culture and i remember him saying in the series that he would be willing to experience bad emotions if it meant he could taste his dessert and i think giving him the ability to taste food without the inclusion of the emotion chip would have been a much better more fun and less jarring step forward for his character

[ultimate-artificial]

FINAL ROUND

Propaganda from submitters below the cut; I will reblog any additions!

GlaDOS (Portal) -murderous ai -please don't ask me about the veracity of the cake -GLaDOS isn't just a computer she is the entirety of Aperture, she was created to contain the mind of a separate lady but seems to have her own personality, and her creators hate her and she killed them. I love her. I will forgive all her crimes. Yeah she's a bully but she's also severely hurt she can kill all she wants. (reblog link)

Data (Star Trek) -Data is a sentient synthetic life form designed in the likeness of Doctor Noonien Soong, his creator. In his growth as an individual, Data was later augmented with an emotion chip to help him better understand human behavior and increase his own humanity. -reblog link for images (1) -reblog link for images (2)

[steakout-05]

i have an interesting little piece of Star Trek TNG media to share today, it's pretty obscure and i've seen literally no discussion of it online at all. my dad is a really big fan of Star Trek, especially Star Trek TNG, and he has this DVD box set of season 1 of the show. it was released around 2002-2003 and it's this big bulky gray capsule box that contains a foldable disc sleeve thing, and most importantly, a little pamphlet that holds descriptions for the main characters of the series. it's a really neat little piece of media, but what i want to focus on is how it describes Data, because i think it's very interesting.

(apologies for the glare)

"Data - A unique and super-intelligent android, Data was created by the genius Dr Noonien Soong to be as human as possible. However, powerful though as his positronic brain might be, Data is unable to comprehend emotion."

the language it uses to describe Data and his relationship with emotions is really intriguing to me. it doesn't say he cannot feel emotions, but rather than he can't comprehend them. it's pretty commonly agreed on in the Star Trek fandom that Data can absolutely feel emotions, but he just can't process or express them in a human-like way. the show is not very good at convincing people that Data is an unfeeling automaton, lol. he definitely feels things, but he's convinced that he can't because he doesn't feel things like a human does. i feel like this pamphlet corroborates that in a way. just,, the language of "unable to comprehend" rather then "unable to feel" comes off as a very deliberate choice with this in mind. characters in the show, including Data himself, will always say that he cannot feel emotions first and foremost, and it feels significant to me that a piece of official media would instead focus more on Data having trouble comprehending emotion. comprehending something and feeling something are two very different things. i feel like this is important.

i'll try to see if i can get the whole pamphlet scanned and uploaded online. again, it's quite an obscure piece of media and i can't seem to find it anywhere. i don't know if i'll be able to account for pamphlets that were released with dvds of the later seasons as i think we only have the season 1 box from this set. i hope they all get found and scanned someday!!

[nyx-lyris]

no one asked for this but

i just had this idea about data and his emotions and i just had to talk about it.

so my personal theory/headcanon about how emotions work for data is that he does have them - they're just very low-volume, for lack of a better expression.

now i know the entire tng fandom has been knew about that for a long time, but i would like to add something to it.

i saw a comment on another post that said that they believed emotion was an essential part of sentience and that got me thinking:

clearly dr. soong can incorporate emotion directly into his androids' systems like he did with lore, but he was afraid that if he did that with data, he would end up like his brother. however, i believe that some emotion is required to create a sentient android - so soong essentially had to figure out the lowest "volume" of emotion to program into data to make him sentient, but hopefully prevent what happened with lore.

so basically my theory/headcanon is that data definitely does feel, but it's just on such a low frequency that he can easily dismiss it as part of his programming. sometimes, he experiences a strong enough emotion that we get to see it sort of surface in barely formed facial expressions and the actions he takes to help those he loves (because yes, data, you do love, you just show it more than you actually feel it).

i don't think he's lying/in denial about his emotions - not really. he can't really feel his emotions very strongly and sometimes he doesn't feel them at all. but, they are there - and when they're strong enough they do surface - but, due to their relatively low volume, it's easy for him to dismiss them.

anyway, somebody's probably already talked about this and i'm way late to the party, but i thought i'd throw in my two cents.

[toomanyeggs2003]

GOD I just watched Descent Part Two and boy do I have some THINGS TO SAY!!!!

THIS!! Number one, Brent Spiners acting shines through ONCE AGAIN with the differences between Data/Lore, and I can't!!! Get enough!!!

But this shot!!!

They're having a civil conversation. But there's a power imbalance.

The power, in this episode, sits in Lore. Lore has something Data wants: Emotions. Or access to emotions. He is the only one who can give them to him (and is doing that, although in a twisted sort of way) and Data KNOWS that. He's being manipulated, sure, but he still knows that fact is true. He knows Lore has that power over him, and he's following his lead here.

Yet, the way they're standing.

Data is standing tall, calm with his arms straight at his sides. Showing No Sign of aggression. He's trusting, he's open to be hurt in his position. Only his head moves when he's speaking. And he's speaking calmly, even though Lore has his BEST FRIENDS VISOR in his hand. And with previous knowledge of Lores misdeeds and wrongdoings that's a BIG DEAL. and yet, he's still standing at equal footing with Lore.

Lore though. Lore!!! He's hunched slightly. He's holding the visor in front of him like a shield!!! His facial expression!! He's thinking. He looks frightened even though he's in a position and power And KNOWS IT!! He still cracking wise (which is shown to be his coping mechanism and reflex in difficult situations, like with Dr. Soong) and trying to diffuse situations.

Lore has the power here, but the simple acting of Brent Spiner shows differently.

This shit has me thinking too hard

[frozenfoxtails]

I want to write a much longer piece about this, because i have a bunch of semi-interconnected ideas floating around, but Data Soong has always had emotions.

Want is an emotion. The desire and drive to do anything other than survive is an emotion. The fact that Data went to starfleet academy for the whole time, the fact that he did his cadet training, and graduated to being a Lieutenant Commander means he persisted in an unnecessary activity for years. The fact that he wants to be more human is in and of itself emotionally motivated, why become human? to better understand people, to relate to others, Longing is an emotion.

I think a lot of it has to do with the psychology of the era, the misunderstanding of diverse neurotypes, Data reads to a modern viewer as autistic in more ways than one, and especially the conception of emotions in general. Americans, especially American Men, especially American Men born during the Baby Boom, are historically emotionally isolated, and a lot of the ideas surrounding Data's 'inability to feel' are really just a mirror of mid-20th century America's idea that self-reliance is an Ideal, and that the ultimate self-reliance is withdrawl, especially as a Man, especially as an Important Man.

[nothingbeforenothingagain]

Thinking more about Bruce Maddox…

PIC S1 is so foul to Data, and Maddox is particularly awful to him.

From Data's perspective, he went from living on the Enterprise a free and emotional being in 2379 to a brain box on Maddox’s desk incapable of interaction in the late 2380s. Which was basically Maddox’s view of Data when he met him - a box on wheels. (I have a whole other post half-written about this and how deeply traumatizing PIC S1 was for Data and how Maddox’s isolation of Data drove him to suicide but that’s too long for here…)

Maddox should have never kept B-4's body for research, and especially shouldn't have kept Data's consciousness for research. They should have been treated like organic people and put to rest. Data never allowed Maddox access to Lore or Lal in his lifetime, though it seems he and Soong has gotten hold of them by PIC S3.

Not only was he conducting weird experiments on their corpses, but Maddox was explicitly doing it to violate Data’s reproductive rights.

Clearly Maddox sees Data as property when he just makes him a bunch of children post-mortem without considering the ethics of the situation.

Data's children now (biosynths) aren't even remotely similar to him or the daughter he DID choose create (Lal). Maybe Data wouldn't even approve of this new direction.

If Maddox absolutely couldn't do it without Data's neural engram, which seems to be the case, it's inarguably a violation of his reproductive rights. He is using his essence to give life to more synthetic lifeforms.

At the very least, it’s like taking his organs post-mortem without consent. Worf was allowed to refuse a life-saving blood donation to a Romulan in TNG's "The Enemy," but Data's ENTIRE FUCKING CONSCIOUSNESS can just be taken for research without any regard for the philosophical implications? That's not equal treatment -- Data is still a second-class citizen in the Federation and Maddox's eyes.

And now that Data’s back in PIC S3, instead of being able to experience a broader humanity, he will be thrust into the galactic spotlight as the progenitor of a whole civilization that idolizes him. There go his dreams of getting married and building another android that is in any way reminiscent of himself.

[reginaldqueribundus]

okay I've already posted about the shenanigans of the S'chn T'gai / Grayson line, but can we talk about the Soongs? because

my

GOD

these men are menaces (emphasis on men, there's been like one female Soong and she immediately noped the fuck out to do Doctor Who shit and I love that for her. respect.)

in reverse chronological order we have:

Altan Soong — honestly, he's not so bad. he made way more android children and they seem to have turned out fine. sure he almost helps cause the extermination of all biological life in the galaxy, but only out of fatherly love. and he gave up his shot at immortality to give an elderly man another shot at life

Noonien Soong — mostly just a shitty dad. builds himself three android sons, makes sure their penises work before fixing their emotional dysfunction. names them Information, Myth, and "Previously on Noonien Soong tries to build an android". abandons the first one in a ditch somewhere, presumably for being too childlike, stuffs the second in a box at the back of his closet like an old pair of rollerblades for being too evil, and runs away and leaves the third one to be raised by Starfleet because of his own insistence on being a weird hermit. makes an android out of his dead ex-wife and convinces her she's human. finally comes up with a fix for his third son's emotional issues and overrides his autonomy to make him hijack a Galaxy-class starship to his front step instead of just emailing him like a normal person. can't even tell his android sons apart and accidentally installs the chip in the evil one, who then starts a Borg death cult. refuses to share his work with the scientific community, resulting in Mars exploding and Data having to constantly fight for his right to not be disassembled and studied. his evil son caused all their neighbours to get eaten by a big flying snowflake. also was a bitch to his human son (Altan) and made sure he knew he wasn't the favourite.

Arik Soong — grows a bunch of Augments in secret, gets arrested while he's out buying groceries and doesn't tell anyone he's left a bunch of child supersoldiers in a Lord of the Flies scenario, resulting in them nearly starting a war with the klingons. stands by and watches his augment son inject a guy with space ebola. tries to sell the Enterprise crew into chattel slavery. also indirectly responsible for the smooth klingon virus, which is kinda funny

Adam Soong — gaslights his clone daughter, hits a 90-year-old man with his car on purpose, hires armed mercenaries to shoot said elderly man and his friends, teams up with the Borg Queen, tries to blow up a spacecraft full of innocent astronauts and murders Talinn while trying to poison one of said astronauts. also he probably created Khan and caused the Eugenics War, and in an alternate timeline was responsible for turning Earth into a genocidal interstellar empire

... it's funny how they get more awful the further back you go, which makes me wonder if all Soong men looking the same is the result of Kore photocopying her dad until she clones the god complex out of him or something

[gay-disabled-characters-showdown]

LGBTQ+ Disabled Characters Showdown Round 2, Wave 1, Poll 10

A character being totally canon LGBTQ+ and disabled was not required to be in this competition. Please check qualifications and propaganda before asking why a character is included.

Check out the other polls in this wave and prior here.

Data Soong-Star Trek: The Next Generation

Qualifications:

Many fans interpret him as autistic, including me, and he is gay. Also canonically asexual! He has only ever had one onscreen romance (Tasha Yar does not count, that was a one night stand/FWB thing), with a woman, in which the entire moral was that he was forcing himself to be someone he wasn't while in a relationship with her. His closest relationship is with Geordi LaForge, a relationship commonly interpreted as romantic or queerplatonic.

Propaganda:

Data as a character is so important to me, as an autistic queer kid. His whole storyline of wanting to be human, but never being able to be human, because there's something fundamentally different about him that causes some people to treat him as lesser and nonsentient.... very autistic. He often infodumps to people, is very blunt, experiences emotions in an unconventional way, is socially awkward, and has specific interests in things like poetry and painting. He is a very kind person, and is averse to harming even people who are direct threats to him (such as Kivas Fajo). He has a cat and writes poems about her!! He breaks the prime directive to save a little alien girl!! I cannot adequately explain how awesome this character is in words.

Submitted by @convenient-plot-device

Olivia-Fear and Hunger 2: Termina

Qualifications:

She is a wheelchair user and bisexual. During the confessional scene, players can have her admit to being attracted to any of the other train passengers, although O'saa immediately clocks her for being specifically attracted to one of the women on the train. Additionally, reading her mind in the demo reveals that she finds both Marina and Levi attractive.

Propaganda:

Olivia is my personal favorite disabled representation in any horror game since she does have to get through the game differently compared to the non-wheelchair using players, it is simply another way of experiencing the game. She's also just a very fun character among the horrors. She's also super down for killing the horrors with a gun she found! Elated even!

[mortalfollies]

i have to say. i love data. BUT!!! his arc over the series is so messy.

like…in the early seasons we establish that he strives to be human without ignoring the fact that he is a machine and processes things differently…we have several episodes where something impactful happens to data and picard, deanna, geordi or whoever asserts his humanity (in front of him or even just to each other! when he is not present!).

we have the pivotal episode where we meet dr soong - who was way nicer than i expected, btw - and when data says “I cannot mourn you,” his CREATOR responds, “You will. In your own way.”

and we have so much evidence that data does love his friends and fear and worry and enjoy things in his own way. like!! the offspring and data’s day and more i can’t think of right now - he feels! his emotions are just different!!

and that’s really. that’s what kills me about from like…s5 onwards. i HATE the emotion chip. and while descent part 1 & 2 was interesting, i think it’s so shit that it attempts to reinforce the idea that data’s emotions aren’t real/are inferior to some stupid chip. ughhhh