Editing Data (Star Trek) (section)

===Biography===
Data was found by Starfleet in 2338. He was the sole survivor on Omicron Theta in the rubble of a colony left after an attack from the [[Crystalline Entity]]. He is a [[Synthetic biology|synthetic life]] form with [[artificial intelligence]], designed and built by [[Noonien Soong|Doctor Noonien Soong]] in his own likeness (likewise portrayed by Spiner). 

His [[positronic brain]] allows him impressive computational capabilities. He experienced ongoing difficulties during the early years of his life with understanding various aspects of [[human behavior]]<ref>''TNG'': "[[Encounter at Farpoint]]"</ref> and was unable to feel [[emotion]] or understand certain human [[idiosyncrasies]], inspiring him to strive for his own humanity. This goal eventually led to the addition of an "emotion chip", created by Soong, to Data's positronic net.<ref>''TNG'': "[[Descent (Star Trek: The Next Generation)|Descent, Part II]]", "[[Star Trek Generations]]"</ref> Although Data's endeavor to increase his humanity and desire for human emotional experience is a significant plot point (and source of humor) throughout the series, he consistently shows a nuanced sense of wisdom, sensitivity and curiosity, garnering respect from his peers and colleagues.

Dialog in "[[Datalore]]" establishes some of Data's backstory. It is stated that he was deactivated in 2336 on Omicron Theta before an attack by the [[Crystalline Entity]], a spaceborne creature which converts life forms to energy for sustenance. He was found and reactivated by Starfleet personnel two years later. Data went to [[Starfleet Academy]] from 2341 to 2345 (he describes himself as "Class of '78" to Commander [[William Riker]] in the series premiere "[[Encounter at Farpoint]]"—with "[[Honor society|honors]] in probability mechanics and exobiology", although canonically may only refer to the [[stardate]]) and then served in [[Starfleet]] aboard the USS ''Trieste''.<ref>[[Clues (Star Trek: The Next Generation)]]</ref> He was assigned to the ''Enterprise'' under Captain [[Jean-Luc Picard]] in 2364. In "Datalore", Data discovers his amoral brother, [[Lore (Star Trek)|Lore]], and learns that Dr. Noonien Soong created Data after Lore. Lore fails in an attempt to betray the ''Enterprise'' to the Crystalline Entity, and [[Wesley Crusher]] [[transporter (Star Trek)|beams]] Data's brother into space at the episode's conclusion. Lore claimed that Data was "less-perfect", which was a lie, as Soong later confirmed to Data in "Brothers"; the only real difference between the two of them "was some programming" (Lore's positronic net differed from Data's: it had a Type-"L" phase discriminator compared to Data's Type-"R"; see episode "[[Time's Arrow (Star Trek: The Next Generation)|Time's Arrow]]").