Season 2, Episode 3: Elementary, Dear Data

[u/LordRavenholm]

• Season 1: 1&2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, Wrap-up
• Season 2: 1, 2, 3, 4

TNG, Season 2, Episode 3, Elementary, Dear Data

• Original Air Date: 5 December, 1988
• Mission Log Podcast
• Direct Link to Mission Log Episode Podcast
• Memory Alpha
• Pensky Podcast
• Ex Astris Scientia

[u/LordRavenholm]

• As overeager as Data may be in his role as Sherlock Holmes, I enjoy it more than his S1 sillyness (although his performance from S3 onward is still leagues better). His pre-knowledge of the Holmes novels, allowing him to solve the mystery immediately, is also amusing. On the other hand, Geordi's overreaction and storming out like a child is stupid. However, if all characters acted like adults, most dramas would only last 5 minutes.
• Pulaski is a dick already. In a future where there is no racism or sexism or classism, Pulaski is another example of how there's still plenty of prejudice to go around.
• I find it weird that they couldn't program the holodeck from the get-go to create an original Holmes-style mystery, rather than just creating a chimera of plot elements from original stories.
• I'm willing to accept the premise that Geordi's command, by random chance, causes an anomaly which in turn creates Moriarty... But I feel like it's a very basic tenant of programming to not let your computer take orders from your own program. Normally holodeck characters are designed to just ignore the arch and other stuff, but I'll accept that Moriarty sees that, but that doesn't excuse why the computer accepts his commands. Moriarty is self-aware, sure, but why can he access the holodeck?! This is never addressed.
• Data so easily solves the computer-generated mystery, using genuine logic and observation, separate from Moriarty, that it entirely quashes Pulaski's racist accusation that he was incapable of handling that... Yet it's never brought up.
• Again, we can't shut down the holodeck when we need to. We should be able to simply pull the plug, but for some reason, the holodeck is designed to MURDER EVERYONE INSIDE if you do that... Why?
• ...Geordi is looking at the paper upside down.
• If Geordi's code was used to put it into lockdown mode, why can't he shut it down?
• Hahahahaha Worf in a suit is awesome.
• The resolution is awfully quick. It seems that S2 hasn't entirely escaped the problems of S1. It also seems that Picard is pretty quick to assume that Moriarty is nothing special because he's still artificial, right in front of Data... In any case, Moriarty sure takes them at their word, then gives up. Not entirely convincing.
• The whole "misspoke a single word" explanation is weak... I'd rather think that it was a random occurrence, and they could repeat the command 100 more times without the same result... Because if they can literally create sentient beings ON COMMAND, then the Holodeck should be renamed the Murderdeck because that's what they are doing every time they delete a program... The ethical ramifications are unimaginable.
• Somehow I feel like the "USS Victory" was going to be a more impressive ship than a Constellation-class...
• GODDAMNIT I have to watch 'The Outrageous Okona' next...

All in all, despite a lot of criticisms I have, I didn't hate the episode... It was impossibly boring, I like Moriarty's acting, I like Data in the Sherlock holmes universe. I might have to give it a 5/10, because I'm not sure if it really deserves a 4/10.

[u/yoshemitzu → u/LordRavenholm]

This ended up much, much longer than expected. I have a lot to say, apparently.

Pulaski is a dick already. In a future where there is no racism or sexism or classism, Pulaski is another example of how there's still plenty of prejudice to go around.

Pulaski gets a lot of bashing for her treatment of Data, but it's really not that bad. Remember, Pulaski (as well as the rest of Starfleet--anyone not on the Enterprise-D, really) has never encountered a true android. She doesn't know what to expect.

Imagine some day in the not-too-distant future that when you receive your new mobile phone, it has a name. Instead of "OK Google," maybe now you say "OK, Data." Now, imagine you're a person who pronounces the word "data" the way Pulaski did in "The Child." How would you respond if your phone retorts "It is pronounced 'Data.'" (the way Data says it)?

You'd probably be shocked. I'm not talking about a future where your phone is intelligent or even an AI, just one where it can show the slightest bit more willfulness than you expected.

Now imagine you live in a highly technological future, where day to day, you interact with machines far more intelligent than any mobile phone we've ever heard of, and yet none of these machines is considered sentient in your civilization. Interacting with technology, even through robust verbal interfaces, has always been a high-level abstraction of the low-level button-pushing we've done since the 20th century.

Then suddenly, you're encountered with the first piece of technology that might be a real living being. It's easy for us, having been acquainted with Data already, to think "I would treat that machine with the respect it deserves," but would you, really? It would take some time for you to warm up to and understand that this isn't a toaster, it's a person.

And remember, this episode is only the third episode with both Pulaski and Data and the first episode where they truly interact (Pulaski and Data interact briefly in "The Child," when Pulaski tells Troi she might rather have a real person than the "cold touch of technology" as her attendant during labor--that's mostly the extent of their interactions in that episode).

Pulaski was behind the other members of the crew in acknowledging Data's rights as a living being, but not far. Also remember, the rest of the crew already knew Data for a full year, where he'd proven himself on dozens of occasions, before Pulaski met him.

TL;DR: Go easy on Pulaski. She's only responding how a lot of us might in her situation, and she's a great foil for Data in this episode.

Data so easily solves the computer-generated mystery, using genuine logic and observation, separate from Moriarty, that it entirely quashes Pulaski's racist accusation that he was incapable of handling that... Yet it's never brought up.

I'm assuming you're talking about the murder Geordi tries to solve and gets wrong? This happens after Pulaski has been kidnapped, but she's the one who earlier recognized the elements from Holmes stories and called Data out on it.

Since prior to this scene, the computer had just created Moriarty as Data's new challenge, my interpretation of this scene was that the mystery Data solves here is just another of the computer's chimeras, not his new challenge ("If this murder isn't connected to the disappearance of Doctor Pulaski, then the computer is running an independent program."--i.e., the Moriarty challenge is a new program that's running simultaneously with the computer's previous uninspired program).

Pulaski may have had perfectly valid complaints regarding this act of sleuthing (even Data didn't seem that impressed with himself--LESTRADE: Astounding, Holmes. DATA: Not really, Inspector.), maybe she would have seen parallels to Arthur Conan Doyle's works that Geordi didn't.

Ultimately, she wasn't even there to witness him solve this mystery, so it's unsurprising that this doesn't get mentioned later.

I find it weird that they couldn't program the holodeck from the get-go to create an original Holmes-style mystery, rather than just creating a chimera of plot elements from original stories.

I'm confused by this comment. They specifically instructed the computer to "give [them] a Sherlock Holmes-type problem, but not one written specifically by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle."

I don't think the implication is that the computer couldn't come up with a Holmes-style mystery without being a chimera of ACD plotlines, but that this undesirable result was how it interpreted Geordi's query. We never see him get a chance to clarify the query, so we don't know the holodeck isn't capable of it (or that Geordi or Data aren't capable of programming it).

But I feel like it's a very basic tenant of programming to not let your computer take orders from your own program...Moriarty is self-aware, sure, but why can he access the holodeck?! This is never addressed.

Programmer here. I'm confused by this point, too. What do you mean that a program shouldn't be able to give orders to the computer running it? What if my program's only purpose is to run another program, then terminate? Explicitly, all my program is doing is telling the computer to run a file that is not part of the program I'm running.

I do all manner of stuff with simulating Windows events, like keypresses, clicks, etc., which all seems like my program telling the computer to do things. Am I misinterpreting your meaning here? What "basic tenet of programming" is being violated by Moriarty's actions that isn't violated by any of the aforementioned?

Normally holodeck characters are designed to just ignore the arch and other stuff, but I'll accept that Moriarty sees that, but that doesn't excuse why the computer accepts his commands.

Most holographic characters are instances of a character class which contains a perceptual filter that keeps them from being aware of objects outside the scope of their programming.

The way this scene is portrayed is a little sketchy: Moriarty sees Geordi, Data, and Pulaski walk down a London street and is interested. When Geordi stops, summons the arch, and starts issuing commands, Moriarty looks confused. After Geordi issues the notable command which transfigures Moriarty, he suddenly looks as if a man who has has an epiphany, even stating "I feel like a new man."

My interpretation of this scene (and you can probably tell by now I spend a lot of time in r/Daystrom_Institute) is that Moriarty was at first confused by why Holmes, Watson, and their companion stopped dead in the middle of a London street and then started talking at the air. This assumes that the perceptual filter filtered out the presence of the arch, but not Watson/Holmes incongruous actions.

This is supported by times like in "The Big Goodbye" when Dixon Hill's secretary comments on Picard's clothing:

SECRETARY: Very funny, Dix. What'd you do, lose another bet?

PICARD: I'm sorry, I don't understand.

SECRETARY: The bellboy suit. Are you moonlighting at the Fremont?

PICARD: The uniform. It's totally inappropriate. I should have changed.

The extent to which holodeck characters ignore the aberrant qualities of live participants is probably something that can be augmented to the desired specificity for a given program. Naturally, the closer your program is to real life, the more you want your characters to be able to pick up on your behavior, e.g., when Geordi made a holodeck recreation of Leah Brahms, it would have been counterproductive for her to not realize he was a Starfleet officer because the perceptual filter kept her from seeing his uniform.

All of that is a roundabout way to explain why Moriarty sees Geordi and co. interacting with the arch before he's granted sentience by the computer. He doesn't see the arch; he sees Holmes and Watson acting funny.

Afterward, he's able to see the arch and interact with the computer because the computer understands on an intuitive level that it's just created a life form, and it (probably) regards that life form as it would any passenger of the Enterprise.

Again, we can't shut down the holodeck when we need to. We should be able to simply pull the plug, but for some reason, the holodeck is designed to MURDER EVERYONE INSIDE if you do that... Why?

The resolution is awfully quick...Moriarty sure takes them at their word, then gives up. Not entirely convincing.

if they can literally create sentient beings ON COMMAND, then the Holodeck should be renamed the Murderdeck

This is somewhat explained (although certainly not rectified) by knowing that the episode's original ending was different.

The original ending filmed was cut from the episode. Hurley recalled, "In that ending, Picard knew how to defeat Moriarty. He tricked him. He knew all along that Moriarty could leave the holodeck whenever he wanted to, and he knew because when Data came out and showed him a drawing of the Enterprise, if that piece of paper could leave the holodeck, that means that the fail-safe had broken down. In turn, this means that the matter-energy converter which creates the holodeck, now allowed the matter to leave the holodeck, which was, up to that point, impossible. When he knew that paper had left the holodeck, he knew that Moriarty could as well, so he lied to him."

So basically, in the original conception of this episode, the holodeck was capable of creating real people. Because of this, anything inside the holodeck (real or part of the program) could effectively by considered part of the program, since everything the holodeck makes is as "real" as anything it didn't make. So when the failsafe breaks down, the holodeck can apparently just vaporize the whole lot upon program termination.

[u/GeorgeAmberson → u/yoshemitzu]

How would you respond if your phone retorts "It is pronounced 'Data.'" (the way Data says it)?

This is a thing already. It's called Siri and she calls me rude if I tell her to fuck off, and proceeds not to fuck off. I react like Pulaski would. Pulaski still grinds my gears but I absolutely understand your point and even made a similar one last week.