10 Reasons Why Data Was A Dangerous Threat To The Enterprise
9. He Has The Mind Of A Child
So, we’ve established that Data is, without a doubt, the strongest member of the Enterprise crew. Beyond that, he’s also probably the smartest. That’s if we’re speaking in terms of how much, well, data Data can hold.
By the way, don’t bother googling, “how much data could Data hold.” It will get you nowhere. But, according to most sources, Data’s maximum storage capacity was eight hundred quadrillion bits. That’s about 100,000 terabytes or 100 petabytes.
Now, that’s just storage capacity. Data’s computational speed is described as “near-instantaneous.” So, when Picard asks him, “Data how long will it take to get to Vegra III at warp 8.9?” He’ll know the answer before the captain has even finished asking his question.
With all that said, Data’s intellect was lacking in one important, hard to define, aspect. Call it wisdom, call it life-experience. Whatever you want to call it, Data didn’t have it. That’s why friends were constantly explaining to Data the nuances of human behavior.
Take, for instance, a simple argument between a couple. In the Episode, “Data’s Day,” Keiko and Miles O’Brien are getting married. The day before their nuptials, Keiko calls off the wedding and she and Miles get into a huge argument.
Data assumes that the couple is done for good. Geordi has to explain the concept of wedding-day jitters, and that the couple was not doomed.
Data takes things at face value. If you tell him something is true he’ll believe you unless he knows for a fact that thing isn’t true. There’s a term for this, and it’s called naivety. So, while Data was definitely the smartest crew member aboard the ship he was also the most gullible.
Not an ideal trait for a Starfleet officer.
By the way, did you know that gullible doesn’t actually appear in the dictionary? Weird right?