10 Reasons Why Data Was A Dangerous Threat To The Enterprise

3. He Doesn't Really Have Control Over Himself

Going back to Noonian Soong for a moment, he built Data as a sort of mystery box. There are tons of hidden subroutines that popup throughout the show. Even Data is unaware of them until they are activated.

A benign example of this is Data’s ability to dream. Data can’t dream. That is, he doesn’t until the episode “Birthright.” When Data suddenly has a dream about his father, Noonian.

It turns out that Data’s dream subroutine laid dormant for years. It wasn’t meant to be activated until Data reached a certain level of sophistication.

Not all these “hidden” subroutines are as harmless as Data’s ability to dream, though. Some of them put the Enterprise, and her crew, in considerable danger.