My wife and I are rewatching The Next Generation and just finished Measure of a Man, the episode in season 2 in which Data’s personhood is legally debated and his life hangs in the balance.
I genuinely found this episode infuriating in its stupidity. It’s the first episode we skipped even a little bit. It was like nails on a chalkboard.
There is oodles of legal precedent that Data is a person. He was allowed to apply to Starfleet, graduated, became an officer and rose to the rank of Lt. Commander with all the responsibilities and privileges thereof.
Comparing him to a computer and the judge advocate general just shrugging and going to trial over it is completely idiotic. There are literal years and years of precedent that he’s an officer.
The problem is compounded because Picard can’t make the obvious legal argument and is therefore stuck philosophizing in a court room, which is all well and good, but it kind of comes down to whether or not Data has a soul? That’s not a legal argument.
The whole thing is so unbelievably ludicrous it just made me angrier and angrier. It wasn’t the high minded, humanistic future I’ve come to know and love, it was a kangaroo court where reason and precedent took a backseat to feeling and belief.
I genuinely hated it.
To my surprise, in looking it up, I discovered it’s considered one of the high water marks for the entire show. It feels like I’m taking crazy pills.
The fact they had a trial to determine data’s personhood and that it was agonizingly close, that they were actually considering denying it.
If they were truly moral, the question would have never come up; or Maddox and the general would have been slapped down with a scathing “don’t be evil”.
Also, at that point data was hardly new- he’s been in starfleet for 20+ years in which Data earned his place as a decorated Lt. Commander.
In any case, this isn’t even a question for a starfleet court - this would fall under civil purview, and even hearing the trial is a miscarriage. (Also the IFP courts probably have some sort of test that doesn’t require destructive testing. Details.)
Yeah sitting down and discussing all viewpoints before coming to consensus is clearly beneath Starfleet. They should just automatically know the right thing to do (which is obvs what I think is right) and clearly a interplanetary civilisation wouldn’t have any sort of conflict of interest/opinion.
Obviously the guy suing should understand data is clearly a person despite being a new ‘unique’ form of life in the universe that they have never interacted with before. Like come on are you telling me everyone in the federation hasn’t watched tng and become emotionally attached to the characters like I have.
Stoopid episode 0/10
Except that’s not what’s happening here. This is a criminal trial under military/starfleet law to determine if Data has the right to refuse.
This isn’t some arbitration hearing this is a criminal trial. Remember, they came and ordered him, Picard tried to stop it and failed so Data resigned his commission.
Maddox’s argument is that a toaster doesn’t get to do that. (Conveniently ignoring that toasters aren’t commissioned officers to begin with.) it’s prima facie an attempt to coerce data into doing research that will almost certainly kill him; for dubious scientific benefit.
Fascesiousness aside, yes. That’s exactly what should have happened.
Remember that thing called the Prime Directive? several core bits would simply not work without some definitive test as to who or what has personhood and who or what doesn’t.
Maddox’s position has the same level of standing as the recent Florida case against newspapers, where the judge responded “It’s the 4th Amendment, idiot.”
Even further there’s 20+ years of Data passing as a person so well that no one before The Jackass ever questions it. Almost like, because he meets the criteria in the same way that Jackass or Picard or Troy or even the blue barber guy does.
It’s only when Jackass wants to destructively clone Data that it’s even brought up as a question.
So YES, ABSOLUTELY, this trial should never have been allowed to ever happen.