Star Trek The Next Generation
Object

Data's Core Memory

The internal positronic neural substrate within Data that houses his core memory lattice and operational personality-state data. Physically rendered as a dense, crystalline/isolinear matrix and trace-fiber lattice, it both encodes sequential experiential states (the "core memory" that grounds Data's identity) and implements protective, self-correcting mechanisms (automatic shutdown/purge sequences used to excise corruptive code). It surfaces in diagnostics and drives narrative conflicts over disassembly, custody, and the preservation of Data's personhood.
5 appearances

Purpose

To operate as DATA's core cognitive substrate and to execute autonomous corrective procedures (including an emergency self-shutdown) that remove corrupted processes from his neural systems.

Significance

Functions as the decisive technical pivot: its successful self-purge saves DATA from permanent infection and supplies the procedural model used to wipe and restore the Enterprise's systems, turning individual survival into a crew-wide salvation gambit.

Appearances in the Narrative

When this object appears and how it's used

5 moments
S2E9 · The Measure of a Man
Maddox Declares Disassembly; Orders Transferred

Maddox names Data's core memory as the primary data subject to be dumped into the starbase mainframe for analysis. It functions narratively as the intimate repository of identity that Maddox intends to objectify and copy.

Before: Intact and housed within Data's positronic systems aboard the Enterprise, under Picard's command and protection.
After: Unchanged physically (no dump yet), but designated as the planned target for transfer and forensic analysis at Starbase one-seven-three.
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S2E9 · The Measure of a Man
Filament Doubts and Transfer Orders

Data's core memory is invoked as the prime object of scientific study: Maddox plans to dump it into the starbase mainframe for forensic analysis, making the memory itself both research material and the ethical focal point of the dispute.

Before: Integrated inside Data; intact and under Enterprise control.
After: Designated for transfer and proposed dump to Starbase mainframe pending the enforcement of transfer orders.
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S2E9 · The Measure of a Man
Transfer Orders: From Debate to Decree

Maddox states his intention to 'dump' Data's core memory into the starbase mainframe for analysis, making the core memory the critical data-asset to be extracted and examined, and the ethical focal point for the procedural debate.

Before: Intact and resident within Data's neural lattice as his active experiential record.
After: Declared intended for extraction and transfer to the starbase mainframe; slated to be copied/dumped off-ship pending reassignment.
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S2E9 · The Measure of a Man
Packing Memory — Data's Quiet Resignation

Data's core memory (the conceptual positronic memory lattice) is referenced as the quantity Starfleet wishes to access or copy; Data argues that an ineffable qualitative aspect of memories would be lost by shutdown, making the memory lattice not merely data but the seat of identity.

Before: Functioning within Data, encoding his experiential states.
After: Still active but now the explicit object of procedural intent and philosophical dispute; at risk of being downloaded and disassembled.
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S2E9 · The Measure of a Man
Violation of Quarters — Data's Resignation

Data's core memory is rhetorically central to his argument: he contends its experiential quality cannot survive shutdown and download. It functions as conceptual evidence rather than a handled prop in this scene.

Before: Encoded within Data's positronic lattice and functioning normally.
After: Unchanged physically but treated as legally and ethically endangered by Maddox's proposed actions.
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