10 Biggest WTF Moments From Star Trek: The Next Generation
2. The Computer Becoming Self-Aware Just To Tell Data To Shut Up
Data—especially in the early seasons—had a habit of talking too much and over-explaining himself, and his friends would often cut him off mid-sentence to make him get to the point faster. One time, Data was even too long-winded for the Enterprise's computer to put up with.
When Data was researching on his computer in the episode Conspiracy, he began speaking to himself, which confused the computer. Data explained that talking to oneself is a Human tendency, and began listing several different reasons for doing so, before the computer interrupted him, saying, 'Thank you, sir. I comprehend'.
This burst of impatience is a rare instance of the Enterprise's computer showing self-awareness and using first person pronouns like 'I'. It also shows that even fellow emotionless machines can get frustrated by Data's excessive info-dumping.