Trivia / Star Trek The Next Generation S 7 E 17 Eye Of The Beholder

• Science Marches On: Data mentions several points in his development where he contemplated the AI equivalent of suicide: points where it might just be easier to reboot and wipe everything, starting from scratch and effectively killing the person he'd become. He managed to overcome these difficulties by re-thinking them as challenges to overcome, and becoming a better person for the success. Clinical depression is now understood to be a mental illness, and bouts of depression are recognized as stemming from underlying causes that often can't be overcome with simple positive thinking. Consequently Data's recommended method of "sucking it up and rising above" now comes across as clueless and insensitive. Granted, as an android, Data is incapable of suffering from mental illness in the same way an organic being is, so it's entirely possible that for him his difficulties simply were challenges he needed to overcome.

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