Explain yourself, Dr. Noonien Soong.

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I mean, he does eat and drink to try and be more human. Where did you think it went?
- Well, he doesn't digest. He doesn't need to digest. So there are several options:
  temporary internal storage pouch, regurgitated later for recycling, or teleports it directly from his storage unit
  raw material for some matter:energy converter.
  mechanism, like a replicator. He takes in food and produces worthless but dense platinum.
  he's got some simplified equivalent to a digestive system that breaks down biological material.
  I lean toward the first. It's the most space efficient, and wouldn't bother him. The second is unlikely because he'd be able to function as an insanely powerful, world destroying bomb. The third is a very Star Trek solution. The fourth seems like a gross waste of space to no end. Is pooping that integral to understanding humans?
  
  Didnt he say at one time he converts some of what he ingests into lubricant or coolant for his internal mechanisms?
  
  You may be right. I don't recall, but I believe it if you say so. Maybe Tasha liked him so much because he was "self-lubricating."
  
  I mean, I think, Occam's Razor, he's got a rudimentary, non-functioning facsimile of a digestive tract that takes all the food he mashes up in his mouth and pushes out his poop-shoot when he wants to empty himself. That would allow him to have a mostly human-like eating experience, which would aid him in his quest to be more human. I think Soong would have argued pooping is integral to the human experience (After all, he made Data able to pointless eat, drink, and fuck. Why draw the line there?), but even if he didn't, having Data lean over a sink and regurgitate everything he swallowed at the end if the day feels pretty inhuman.
  
  having Data lean over a sink and regurgitate everything he swallowed at the end if the day feels pretty inhuman.
  I take it you've never known a bulimic.
  Not implying it's healthy or normal, but it's not uncommon nor inhuman.
  
  Sure, but it seems weird to program that in. Part of his journey to becoming more human should be developing his own body dysmorphia, not having one assigned to him.
  
  Doesn't everyone with body dysmorphia have it imposed by external sources? Media, social group, peers, parents... if it weren't for external sources, would anyone have body dysmorphia?
  
  Yes, but it should he on Data to find those external sources. What if Data chooses to hang out with bodybuilders, and instead develops MDD?
  
  regurgitate everything he swallowed at the end if the day feels pretty inhuman.
  There's an ED joke in here but I'm not nearly spicy enough to make or post one.

71 comments