Does Data follow the Three Laws?

[Tiberius]

No. Lets see.

I disagree qwith you. I'll explain why...

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

As a starfleet officer, he would be expected to order subordinates to their death if necessary. We saw this demonstrated when Troi was trying to become a commander. Based on the fact that we've seen Data in command of the Enterprise on occassion, we can assume that he has passed the command exams, I can't see how that would be possible if he was forced to obey this law.

You are forgetting about the zeroth law, that a robot must not allow harm to come to humanity. If Data can save a thousand people on the enterprise by ordering Geordie to his death, then he would do it, and still be obeying the LoR.

2. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

By Federation principles, forcing a sentient lifeform (which we know Data to be considered as under Federation law) to follow any order given to it by a human would be considered slavery. Obeying the orders of a senior officer is one thing, but any human?.

Given Data's line in First Contact "To hell with our orders" also lends weight to this argument.

In this case, Data knew that Picard's experience with the Borg meant that Picard's presence at the battle was the best chance they had of defeating the Borg and thus protecting Humanity. Again, the Zeroth law means that Data was not violating the LoR.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws

From what we've seen, Data actually appears to follow this law. He has a sense of self-preservation. Yes, he has more than once put himself in danger, and ended his own life, but in all cases it was to prevent humans from doing so.

All things considered, I'd say the latter is personal choice, (and logical) but no, he doesn't follow the laws.

Why do you dismiss this? Data sacrificed himself to save the entire crew of the enterprise. Definitely acting within the LoR there.

No. Since a Data has often employed force in the line of duty or in self-defense, he has obviously not bound by the First Law.

Stunning someone with a phaser breaks that one right there.

How does that harm a person? Sends them to sleep for five minutes and they wake up with a bit of a headache. Not really much harm there. And anyway, it's not Like Data does it for the fun of it. Data has never stunned someone when it wasn't necessary, and it always served a greater good.

In fact, the only time when Data broke the laws was when he tried to shoot Kivas Fajo. And that always seemed to me to be very out of character.

 

[CorporalCaptain]

None of which proves that Data obeys Asimov's Laws of Robotics, however many of them one counts.

 

[Skellington]

Data has an ethical subroutine, as do most of us. In Descent we saw the effects of disabling it, but the very fact that it exists suggests that the Three Laws are largely redundant and implies that their enforcement would be highly unethical.

 

[sevenstars]

I always kind of assumed that the Three Laws were meant to be Data's moral context, or at least his starting point, even if he doesn't end up following them to the letter. But as the story of his creator was fleshed out, things seemed to take a somewhat different direction. Lore went wacko rather quickly, didn't he?-- was Data's moral structure something of an afterthought?

 

[CoveTom]

I think it's worth pointing out here that Data is not a robot, but an android. A fact which he, himself, has pointed out. And that changes what his capabilities are by quite a bit and may also change whether or not the LoR would even be applicable. After all, Data is recognized as a sentient being with the same rights as any other intelligent life form. To then restrict his free will in such a way as the LoR demands would seem to be a fundamental violation of his basic rights.

 

[The Librarian]

In fact, the only time when Data broke the laws was when he tried to shoot Kivas Fajo. And that always seemed to me to be very out of character.

I don't see how it's out of character at all. Fajo was lucky Data refrained from using violence as long as he did. As a Starfleet officer being held prisoner, Data's first duty was to escape. He simply played along with Fajo's assumption that he couldn't hurt anyone in order to gain information and find a way to escape without causing harm or endangering himself. Legally he would have been justified in snapping Fajo's neck the first time they were alone together; it was simply in-character to wait until given serious provocation to use lethal force.

Also, how is 'human' being defined here, anyway? If it includes just biological humans (and leaving aside the wonky cross-breeding forehead alien stuff), then Soong has created a genocide machine that is even now plotting how to exterminate or subjugate the rest of the galaxy, much like the Asimov robots did. If not, Data would be forced to do what's best for the greatest number of people, which may well mean the Dominion or the Borg.

In any case, he's not three-laws compliant. There's too many times he's hurt people or disobeyed orders for it to work.

 

[The Badger]

You are forgetting about the zeroth law, that a robot must not allow harm to come to humanity.

The original question was does Data follow the THREE laws of robotics. If the zeroth law is taken into account, then he does not have to obey the other three. There have also been occasions where we have seen him breaking at least two of the laws.

Any act of violence, be it gunning down Borg Drones, fighting Klingon warriors, or his apparent attempted murder in 'The Most Toys' is a violation of the first law.

On occasion, Data has disobeyed direct orders. 'Redemption part 2' springs to mind, and that order was not only from a human being, but a superior officer.

So, two possibilities exist:
1) Data does not obey the laws of robotics at all.
2) Data does obey the rules of robotics, including the one that says he does not have to obey the other three.

Either way, he ain't following the rules.

Furthermore, there is no reason he should be following them. Apart from having a 'positronic' brain, and a throwaway reference to Asimov in 'Datalore', there is nothing, AFAIK, to connect Data with the three laws. If there has ever been a stated reference to the contrary, please quote it here so we may consider it.

 

[Tiberius]

In fact, the only time when Data broke the laws was when he tried to shoot Kivas Fajo. And that always seemed to me to be very out of character.

I don't see how it's out of character at all. Fajo was lucky Data refrained from using violence as long as he did. As a Starfleet officer being held prisoner, Data's first duty was to escape. He simply played along with Fajo's assumption that he couldn't hurt anyone in order to gain information and find a way to escape without causing harm or endangering himself. Legally he would have been justified in snapping Fajo's neck the first time they were alone together; it was simply in-character to wait until given serious provocation to use lethal force.

And at the time Data pulled the trigger on Fajo, he was no threat at all. He was standing there and had thrown his gun away. Data's attempt to kill fajo was not motivated out of self preservation (Data was not being threatened at the time) and was not motivated by a desire to protect someone else (Varia was already dead, and Kivas was threatening no one else.) Data's only possible motivation was either for punishment or revenge. At the time, Data didn't have emotions, so you'd have to work very hard to convince me it was revenge, so that leaves punishment. And Data, I think, would have punished Fajo by bringing him back and forcing him to stand trial, not by conducting an arbitrary execution.

Also, how is 'human' being defined here, anyway? If it includes just biological humans (and leaving aside the wonky cross-breeding forehead alien stuff), then Soong has created a genocide machine that is even now plotting how to exterminate or subjugate the rest of the galaxy, much like the Asimov robots did. If not, Data would be forced to do what's best for the greatest number of people, which may well mean the Dominion or the Borg.

I think it's safe to say it means"intelligent life forms".

 

[Anji]

I never believed Data would follow Dr. A's Three Rules. Data is not a robot or an android, what he is is another type of sentient life form.

We've seen it over and over again. And he really proved it in "The Most Toys" when lied at the end of the transporter scene.

 

[plynch]

No. And he clearly emotes (facial gestures) before getting his chip, too.

 

[plynch]

Data has an ethical subroutine, as do most of us.

Sorry for the double post, but I just read this. It is the best line I've perhaps ever read on this board.

 

[Vulagr]

He was going to kill Vajo when Riker intervened and unwittingly stopped him.