Why didn't Data's freedom apply to Lal?

Question

In the episode The Offspring Data creates another android named Lal. Starfleet catches wind of this and they dispatch Admiral Haftel to move Lal to a research station.

However, in the earlier episode The Measure of a Man Starfleet's Judge Advocate General ruled that Data had the "freedom to choose" whether or not to under go invasive, exploratory surgery of his brain, while simultaneously ruling that Data was not the property of Starfleet:

"It sits there looking at me, and I don't know what it is. This case has dealt with metaphysics, with questions best left to saints and philosophers. I am neither competent, nor qualified, to answer those. I've got to make a ruling - to try to speak to the future. Is Data a machine? Yes. Is he the property of Starfleet? No. We've all been dancing around the basic issue: does Data have a soul? I don't know that he has. I don't know that I have! But I have got to give him the freedom to explore that question himself. It is the ruling of this court that Lieutenant Commander Data has the freedom to choose."

Why didn't this earlier ruling apply to Lal? Through Admiral Haftel Starfleet took a much more possessive position on Lal, basically declaring Data unfit to raise her and essentially forcing a writ of ownership on her. Was this simply Admiral Haftel acting outside of his authority or did Starfleet renege on it's earlier position?

Answer 1

Even with this full story, we do not know if Data's freedom applies to Lal. While there could be different motives as to why Starfleet wanted Lal, the case they were making was if Data was a fit guardian.

Technically Lal is a child, a minor, and we see enough of the situation to learn that in the 24th century, in the United Federation of Planets, that the government still reserves the right to remove children from those they consider an unfit guardian. Note that the Admiral's objections and the case he's building for taking Lal revolve around guardianship and raising children.

We've found out about Data's rights as an adult, but the process never is allowed to complete, so we don't know what the ruling would have been about Lal's rights as a child, or Data's rights as a parent. It's also quite possible Starfleet could have taken Lal, using their reasoning, and court proceedings might later have forced them to return her to Data.

Either way, a minor's rights would not be the same as an adults. We never get to find out if Lal would have the same rights as other minors in the Federation, or the same rights as an adult, or if Data would be viewed as a parent or merely a mechanic.

Answer 2

The ruling applied not only to Data, but to all sentient artificial life forms who came after him. That was the whole point of the judgement and ruling made by the JAG, Phillipa Louvois, who stated that she was making a ruling that spoke to the future about their rights as sentient beings.

Was Admiral Haftel acting outside of his authority? The answer is yes he most certainly was. Did Starfleet renege on it's earlier position? If they knew what Haftel was up to it's possible they were trying to create some loophole in order to take advantage of the situation, but that would go against everything that Starfleet stood for.

Here's the pertinent sections of script during the trial from 'Measure of a Man' that directly addresses the rights of all who come after Data:

PICARD: And now you propose to dismantle him.

MADDOX: So that I can learn from it and construct more.

PICARD: How many more?

MADDOX: As many as are needed. Hundreds, thousands if necessary. There is no limit.

PICARD: A single Data, and forgive me, Commander, is a curiosity. A wonder, even. But thousands of Datas. Isn't that becoming a race? And won't we be judged by how we treat that race? Now, tell me, Commander, what is Data?

MADDOX: I don't understand.

PICARD: What is he?

MADDOX: A machine!

PICARD: Is he? Are you sure?

MADDOX: Yes!

PICARD: You see, he's met two of your three criteria for sentience, so what if he meets the third. Consciousness in even the smallest degree. What is he then? I don't know. Do you? (to Riker) Do you? (to Phillipa) Do you? Well, that's the question you have to answer. Your Honour, the courtroom is a crucible. In it we burn away irrelevancies until we are left with a pure product, the truth for all time. Now, sooner or later, this man or others like him will succeed in replicating Commander Data. And the decision you reach here today will determine how we will regard this creation of our genius. It will reveal the kind of a people we are, what he is destined to be. It will reach far beyond this courtroom and this one android. It could significantly redefine the boundaries of personal liberty and freedom, expanding them for some, savagely curtailing them for others. Are you prepared to condemn him and all who come after him to servitude and slavery? Your Honour, Starfleet was founded to seek out new life. Well, there it sits. Waiting. You wanted a chance to make law. Well, here it is. Make a good one.

PHILLIPA: It sits there looking at me, and I don't know what it is. This case has dealt with metaphysics, with questions best left to saints and philosophers. I'm neither competent nor qualified to answer those. I've got to make a ruling, to try to speak to the future. Is Data a machine? Yes. Is he the property of Starfleet? No. We have all been dancing around the basic issue. Does Data have a soul? I don't know that he has. I don't know that I have. But I have got to give him the freedom to explore that question himself. It is the ruling of this court that Lieutenant Commander Data has the freedom to choose.

Answer 3

In-universe, I would say that what was decided for Data went down the memory hole because people who think their wifty goals entitle them to act in a high-handed way are very resistant to being denied. (Real-world examples of this include just about every politician and government official you will ever meet.)

The excuses offered for seizing Lal are transparently flimsy:

• Data's fitness as a parent is in doubt? He won't forget necessary care and he won't have fits of anger. Lal's stint serving drinks on Ten Forward notwithstanding, Data is still more qualified to be a parent than half the people in some counties I could name. It sounds more like pretending that there are grounds for doubt than there actually being any. And when have we seen anyone else's fitness as a parent called into question?

• It's too much risk to have both of the Federation's androids on one ship? Uh, there is no more risk than when Data was the only android. Nothing important to the Federation depends on Lal's existence. If she had never been built the Federation would be just as well off.

Seriously, Maddox and Haftel are lucky Lal didn't get the idea that if she's not human, then it's not a crime for her to pop their heads off.

Answer 4

It is flimsy logic for any to suggest that the previous ruling had applied only to Data. When first contact with other species was made, and agreements reached, did they then say, "Now we must test every single one of you on your planet to make sure they are sapient, too?"

No, they did not.

And were we to imagine that Data and Data alone had been granted right of being a sapient being, well, he had specifically introduced Lal as his child. Surely then if any thought she was not the sapient offspring of a provenly sapient being, the burden of proof would be on them.

And further, Admiral Halftel wanted her precisely because she was like Data, and they did not want two such in the same place!

Admiral Halftel was thus trying to kidnap a child of a Starfleet officer, in violation of all custom and law, and while he was committing that felony, the child died of fright. Which is, to my understanding, felony murder.

For those reasons, which would seem to be applicable were this reality, one can only conclude that the scriptwriters needed this for the story line, and thus pretended that no one in Starfleet noticed this crime taking place.

Answer 5

Admiral Haftel made the point that now there were two sentient androids known to Starfleet, having them both on the same actively-serving starship seemed unnecessarily risky.

Answer 6

I think that they did not treat Lal like Data,because although being sentient herself, it was like she had not the experience nor the information enough to decide for herself (in other words, as if she were a minor). The admiral states that she will be able to decide for herself when she is prepared (something like that). And it is the premise of the episode whether Data is able to give her all the guidance and information enough (in other words, if he is a good father although he had no experience on the matter). The plot is to decide if Data is or is not able to be a father and responsable for another being's actions. Data claimed his right to reproduce and form a kind of his own (a family).

I think this episode serves as a complement of The Measure of a Man, not as a re-hash, whether it is a necessary or unnecessary complement is another question. I myself like the episode very much.