Teaching Sentience: Data Seeks Parenting Advice
Data comes to Dr. Beverly Crusher for practical and emotional counsel about Lal, his emergent android child, who is discovering she is different and isolated. Beverly validates the experience by likening it to Wesley's social pain, pushes Data to admit his own vulnerabilities, and reframes parenting as presence and empathy rather than instruction alone. The scene functions as a quiet turning point: Data recognizes that technical care and attention may not be enough and is forced to confront—if not accept—the possibility of love as part of nurturing sentience.
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Data seeks Beverly's parenting advice, revealing Lal's struggle to fit in with other children.
professional inquiry to concern
["Beverly's office, Data enters"]
Beverly draws parallels between Lal's isolation and her own parenting experience with Wesley.
reflection to empathy
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Character traits
professionally stoic under pressure
professionally authoritative
pragmatic
courageous
ethically resolute
compassionate
professional
resilient
resourceful
supportive
methodical
decisive
empathetic
adaptable
Data
Second Officer
primary
Character traits
technically proficient
detached
formal
composed
obedient
duty-bound
duty‑focused
procedural
precise
impersonal
administrative
logical
analytical
methodical
literal-minded
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
No narrative connections mapped yet
This event is currently isolated in the narrative graph
Key Dialogue
"DATA: "Doctor, I require your advice as a successful parent.""
"DATA: "Lal is realizing that she is not the same as the other children.""
"DATA: "I can give her attention, doctor. But I am incapable of giving her love.""
"BEVERLY: "Why do I find that so hard to believe?""