The one flaw with "Measure of a Man "

[trekfan_1]

Don't get me wrong, it's literally not only one of my favorite episodes of TNG but also one of my favorite episodes of the entire franchise.

But every time I do a re-watch, one specific aspect always bugs me. it's concerning the initial claim that Data may be Starfleet property. And that a hearing was even neded. Maddox makes that argument and hypothetically asks the admiral if Starfleet would allow the Enterprise computer to refuse a refit. At which point the admiral points out the computer is property. Maddox is then quick to make a connection/corelation that Data falls into that category. The admiral then looks to Picard for any quick rebuttal for which he has none . This is when I'm screaming at the TV (in my mind) that it is TOTALLY different . Main reason: The Enterprise computer, a tricorder, transporter pad, medical scanners, etc. do not/ wouldn't be allowed to enlist in Starfleet, attend the Academy, or achieve rank. Im pretty sure that being accepted as a Starfleet cadet automatically gives you certain rights as an attending student alone. Rights, expectations and privileges that a student desk computer wouldn't have .

It's Apples and fried chicken.Not even apples and oranges. How can one be seeking entry into Starfleet if they are already "owned "by Starfleet in the first place? It's an inherent contradictory concept. How can the JAG admiral not see this,? As soon as Data was accepted into Starfleet/Starfleet Academy, the precident was already set that he would have the same treatment and privileges as any fellow attendee or officer. By definition/logic then, Data cannot be properly because computers and equipment do not go through the same process for Starfleet entry as officers and enlisted personnel do.

Now it's possible that if Picard quickly pointed this out in that scene with Maddox, the admiral still would of ordered a hearing. But my main beef is neither Picard nor Guinan or any other person on the Enterprise even brought this up . Seems like common sense to me.

Of course, if the admiral shot Maddox down, we wouldn't have an episode. So I get it. But I wish this counterargument was at least posed.

 

[Tosk]

Not to mention the fact that even if Data were property to be owned, Starfleet assumes ownership of something that was not actually theirs. They seem to operate under the notion of "finders keepers".

 

[trekfan_1]

Not to mention the fact that even if Data were property to be owned, Starfleet assumes ownership of something that was not actually theirs. They seem to operate under the notion of "finders keepers".

Good point . But since there's no money in the Federation/earth based worlds , it does make it a bit unclear to me on how exactly ownership and property actual works. Would Data, if intially deemed to being equal to"lost equipment", be legally owned by the Soong's family " estate ". ?

I guess if I find a custom made peice of machinery out in the wilderness somewhere with no apparent ability to trace its owner, there wouldn't be much legal or even moral pushback to keeping the lost item. IIRC , they didn't know who made Data when they found him. But from the sounds of it, they didn't really try hard to trace it's orginal "owner" either . So essentially Data was treated like a lost orphan. Which strengthens the case even more that Data had clear rights from the onset.

 

[Lynx]

The only possible explanation I can find for this is that Data, at least for Maddox ended up like something between what is regarded as "Starfleet property", like computers, tricorders and such and a living sentient species.

The situation was so unique that there were no laws, rules or regulations when it came to a nearly human android.

But I do agree with trekfan_1 in this case. Since data was allowed to enlist in Starfleet, attend the Academy, or achieve rank, he should be regarded as a living sentient being, not a tool.

 

[at Quark's]

Otherwise it would have been a very short episode.

Maddox: Data is the property of Starfleet!
Judge: What? You called us all here from our busy schedules for this nonsense? Don't be ridiculous, of course he isn't! Case closed!
<Data flips Maddox off>
<Everybody, even the judge, laughs (except Maddox of course)>
END


But yeah, it is the weak point of the episode, they had to make it believable somehow. In this case, I'd say they couldn't find a strong argument in favor of Data actually being property of Starfleet and so they skimped over the issue, probably hoping nobody would notice.

 

[carcinoGeneticist]

...Because the episode needed to happen? Honestly, I can't even think of a good in-universe reason for this one.

 

[Farscape One]

This is truly an exceptional episode, but I can see this as a flaw. But of course, we wouldn't get the episode if it was solved so quickly.

...Because the episode needed to happen? Honestly, I can't even think of a good in-universe reason for this one.

There may be one in-universe reason, but it comes from later in the franchise.

In DS9's "THE SHIP", Sisko tells the Vorta that he makes claim to the crashed Jem'Hadar ship as salvage rights. "We found a wrecked ship and a dead crew. And we found it first."

One could make that argument about Data being under 'salvage rights'. He was found on a dead planet, with the colony destroyed and its people dead, by a Starfleet crew, and they were first to find him.


Having said that, the claim would later be rendered a moot point because once Data became sentient and chose to join Starfleet and the board decided he could join, he couldn't really be called property anymore.

 

[at Quark's]

The concept in itself (an early form of the 'should AI have its own rights?'-question Trek would return to periodically) is fine. It's just that the entire episode is shoehorned -perhaps I should say, sledgehammered- around it to 'fit' the concept.

A side effect of this is that the episode feels very heavy-handed, in a way an episode that takes itself too seriously (even if the question around which it revolves is a very important one).

 

[DonIago]

Hmm.

I kind of see the legal argument in general, in that we see Starfleet exploratory missions recovering tech and ancient relics and such all the time, and presumably everything they retrieve becomes Starfleet property.

However, we've never seen Starfleet retrieve anything that, if it wasn't a lifeform, could so effortlessly mimic one (though perhaps Data really did seem more robotic at the time he was salvaged?). Do they even have protocols for addressing finding such unclaimed items?

The snag is that Data apparently enlisted in Starfleet of his own free will (or because his programming told him to), which begs the question: if he was already considered Starfleet property, how would Starfleet have reacted if Data had chosen to charter a ship and go into the Klingon Empire or such? Was he living on a Starfleet campus? Did he have any reason to believe that he didn't have the right to self-determination?

At the risk of stirring the pot, it feels as though Maddox is trying to essentially file a retroactive property claim against Data in a way that reminds me of how Janeway chose to let Tuvix be an active member of the crew and integrate himself, only to later declare he had no right to exist. I still think if she was going to make that kind of decision it would have been more kind of her to keep him in stasis the whole time, or otherwise to proactively tell him that he shouldn't take his life for granted.

 

[at Quark's]

I still think if she was going to make that kind of decision it would have been more kind of her to keep him in stasis the whole time, or otherwise to proactively tell him that he shouldn't take his life for granted.

IIRC, in the case of Tuvix, it was only after the Doctor made a breakthrough that the separation of Tuvix back into Tuvok and Neelix became an option in the first place.

Janeway couldn't know he would make that breakthrough so soon (of course, as viewers, we knew, but not Janeway). Keeping Tuvix in stasis indefinitely to wait for an option that might never become a reality doesn't feel entirely right either.

That may be similar to the Data case. Maddox might only recently have become confident enough he could replicate Data's positronic brain.

 

[JesterFace]

If nothing else maybe Phillipa Louvois wanted to have this hearing in case something like this came up later. There would be a court case in the books that could be used as precedent.

 

[David cgc]

The snag is that Data apparently enlisted in Starfleet of his own free will (or because his programming told him to), which begs the question: if he was already considered Starfleet property, how would Starfleet have reacted if Data had chosen to charter a ship and go into the Klingon Empire or such? Was he living on a Starfleet campus? Did he have any reason to believe that he didn't have the right to self-determination?

This is actually a case where the dictionary definition of "begs the question" is appropriate. Simply describing Data as "enlisting" in Starfleet asserts he isn't Starfleet property at all, or else he already would've been part of the organization from the beginning (albeit as equipment or some other form of inanimate property) and wouldn't have needed to join it.

 

[DonIago]

IIRC, in the case of Tuvix, it was only after the Doctor made a breakthrough that the separation of Tuvix back into Tuvok and Neelix became an option in the first place.

Janeway couldn't know he would make that breakthrough so soon (of course, as viewers, we knew, but not Janeway). Keeping Tuvix in stasis indefinitely to wait for an option that might never become a reality doesn't feel entirely right either.

That may be similar to the Data case. Maddox might only recently have become confident enough he could replicate Data's positronic brain.

I guess the question is whether two weeks or so (per Memory Alpha) is really that soon. Based on Tuvix's reaction, he apparently had no reason to believe that his existence was in jeopardy, which suggests that Janeway never told him he should be concerned about it, and given that he had Tuvok's memories, it's not as though he was unaware of Starfleet regulations.

I don't know what an appropriate amount of time is, but I think until Our Heroes decided separating Tuvix was impossible, it would have been more humane not to treat him as anything more than a transporter accident, rather than allowing him to believe he had any right to self-determination.

I'm left feeling the same way about Data. If he was just Starfleet property, or if there was any reason why he should be concerned that he might be summarily disassembled at some point, he should have been made aware of that, not allowed to exist seemingly independently for years just to suddenly run into a "Gotcha!"

 

[DonIago]

This is actually a case where the dictionary definition of "begs the question" is appropriate. Simply describing Data as "enlisting" in Starfleet asserts he isn't Starfleet property at all, or else he already would've been part of the organization from the beginning (albeit as equipment or some other form of inanimate property) and wouldn't have needed to join it.

One is kind of left wondering whether at least some of TPTB at Starfleet felt that allowing the toaster to enlist would be an interesting and potentially valuble science experiment but never particularly intended for it to be much more than that.

 

[Mojochi]

Yeah, to have the episode at all, they must skip right past the reality that a service branch allowing someone entrance into their ranks is ipso facto a recognition of them being just as valid an entrant as any other, thereby a declaration of their personhood & rights, & it seems there was some contention about that at the time he joined, that was eventually put down in favor of him, which really should be the end of it.

So, the only in-universe explanation for any of these events is that Louvois is an absolute idiot, & Maddox waited, possibly with Nakamura's help, for the Enterprise to be in her jurisdiction, in order to pull this stunt, figuring she'd either be too dumb or complicit, to know the right thing, and so understaffed that there'd be no way to offer any defense, so it could just slip though uncontested.

The way Nakamura is so nonchalant about it in the beginning has always rubbed me wrong, like he knew it wasn't as simple as he was suggesting, but was just trying to quietly push it through unabated with some admiral weight.

So my little bit of head canon is that Nakamura is something of a minor badmiral, who is in bed with Maddox in trying to get some half-cocked experimenting through, so they can make an army of Soong types.

 

[DonIago]

So my little bit of head canon is that Nakamura is something of a minor badmiral, who is in bed with Maddox in trying to get some half-cocked experimenting through, so they can make an army of Soong types.

This is supported by some events in the novelverse.

 

[Farscape One]

Yeah, to have the episode at all, they must skip right past the reality that a service branch allowing someone entrance into their ranks is ipso facto a recognition of them being just as valid an entrant as any other, thereby a declaration of their personhood & rights, & it seems there was some contention about that at the time he joined, that was eventually put down in favor of him, which really should be the end of it.

So, the only in-universe explanation for any of these events is that Louvois is an absolute idiot, & Maddox waited, possibly with Nakamura's help, for the Enterprise to be in her jurisdiction, in order to pull this stunt, figuring she'd either be too dumb or complicit, to know the right thing, and so understaffed that there'd be no way to offer any defense, so it could just slip though uncontested.

The way Nakamura is so nonchalant about it in the beginning has always rubbed me wrong, like he knew it wasn't as simple as he was suggesting, but was just trying to quietly push it through unabated with some admiral weight.

So my little bit of head canon is that Nakamura is something of a minor badmiral, who is in bed with Maddox in trying to get some half-cocked experimenting through, so they can make an army of Soong types.

I see what you mean about Nakamura's attitude with Data. I do have to say, though, that your idea about him orchestrating it is a bit of a reach. Too many things would have to come into play for it to occur.

 

[Qonundrum]

One is kind of left wondering whether at least some of TPTB at Starfleet felt that allowing the toaster to enlist would be an interesting and potentially valuble science experiment but never particularly intended for it to be much more than that.

Now imagine if Starfleet brought in more of them toasters:

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[Mojochi]

I see what you mean about Nakamura's attitude with Data. I do have to say, though, that your idea about him orchestrating it is a bit of a reach. Too many things would have to come into play for it to occur.

Yeah, it's a bit of a reach, but I can sell it. LOL

The Enterprise is reporting to the newly built starbase 173, positioned way out by the Neutral Zone, for crew rotation, meaning they've been scheduled to report there.

Nakamura, in command of the Starbase, engages in a deliberate encounter with Picard, with Maddox in tow. He uses his pull to drum up a surprise inspection of the ship (which Picard points out he use to abhor) & drags Maddox along. He has a clear investment in getting Maddox positioned aboard with him to set this all up. He's definitely in the know on this. He deliberately underplays it by saying "he's here to work on your android" as if he's just equipment, which means he's either been swayed by Maddox's point of view, or outright agrees with it. There's one goal by them both, to get Data in Maddox's lab without much fuss.

Maddox has been angling against Data since he first enlisted, & working on his own cybernetic research. There's no way he's been silent on this Data situation the whole time. He's certainly been looking for someone to champion him & his goals, which are unachievable without Data being his guinea pig. He never expects cooperation, which is why he has transfer orders on hand... approved by Nakamura.

Why now? Data has been a serving officer for 20 years now. Could it be it just happened to take this long to arrange? Maddox becoming good enough to sell his ideas to get someone to aid him, & that someone being able to orchestrate it?

Louvois has been out of the service for a decade until recently coming back to this assignment under Nakamura, where she's not yet staffed & probably more than a little out of touch. Nakamura offers the Jag officer post to someone who's on record having gone hard against Picard in the past... of all the people to be in that job, he picks the one who tried to court-martial Picard, maybe figuring it would get him someone who'd stand against Picard in this matter too, if push comes to shove, which it did.

From her attitude, I don't think she's mixed up in this. She was just the right choice to pit against Picard. Plus, I imagine no one expected Enterprise officers to fill in for her staff. Riker specifically was an unexpected turn. Nor do I think they expected Data to resign, which prompted a whole court case out of it.

And 5 years later, Nakamura is no longer in command of Starbase 173. He's moved to Starbase 219. The original script has more from Nakamura. He's the one eluding to a Data on every ship in the fleet. This is no small undertaking. It would maybe be as important a technological undertaking as Pressman's phasing cloak, & we see just how underhanded some of them got with that scheme.

It's certainly a conspiracy theory... but IMHO it's got teeth lol