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Pardon the inherent ickiness of asking how an android and a human...become intimate, but this has genuinely puzzled me since I watched the Next Generation episode "The Naked Now." The summary for the episode on Memory Alpha states:

She asks how "functional" Data is; he replies he is fully functional and is programmed in many "techniques," a wide variety of pleasuring. She leads him to her bedroom, where Data gives a programmed smile. The door closes.

I'm not asking for specific details because, honestly, ick-factor, but:

  • What does "fully functional" really mean?

  • Why was Data built to perform a "wide variety of pleasuring"?

FreeMan
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Brett White
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  • Is your question "how intimate were they" or "why is Data programmed for this"? – hairboat Sep 20 '11 at 15:41
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    Good question. I'd say the latter, because it's less icky. Revising! – Brett White Sep 20 '11 at 15:43
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    Please make the edit summary "made less icky". – hairboat Sep 20 '11 at 15:44
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    TVTropes has this listed: "The night with Data. He agrees to keep it quiet, but we see that it's one of his most precious memories. (In an extended version of Yar's goodbye message, she says, "Data? It did happen.")" The same page also points out that Data's ridiculous humanoidness is because, "His creator was far more interested in the puzzle of creating fully-sentient mechanical life than any commercial applications." – Aarthi Sep 20 '11 at 15:52
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    @Abby - done :) – DVK-on-Ahch-To Sep 20 '11 at 16:23
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    I'm wondering how many times Brett's gonna say icky in this question. – OghmaOsiris Sep 20 '11 at 17:26
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    My guess would be, that Dr. Soong intends to someday download himself into an android body... :) – John C Sep 20 '11 at 17:53
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    I find nothing about this topic Icky. Me Gusta. – DampeS8N Sep 21 '11 at 01:01
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    Vote yes on proposition ∞ – Valorum Mar 07 '15 at 14:39
  • If mods will permit, I will point that there is even a quite good song about this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlbmi1hhV_0 – Yasskier Sep 18 '15 at 04:38
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    You know how it is. You've dedicated yourself to this huge complicated project ("build an android") and you can't figure out how to solve this one really tricky part ("give him emotions without making him a serial killer"), so you procrastinate by solving relatively simple problems ("make his junk work") instead. – Doug Warren Nov 23 '15 at 20:46
  • Out of universe, Star Trek is bubbling over with sexual motivations, it's rare to find an entity you can't screw, and if you do you it's full-on inconceivable Lovecraftian horror. – SudoSedWinifred Mar 29 '18 at 03:42
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    Data is fully functional, but can't say contractions? WTF!? –  Jun 22 '19 at 15:15
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    The whole episode is out of character for Data. The polywater shouldn't really affect him, and he acts nervous when Tasha seduces him which is an emotion he is later shown as incapable of experiencing. – user Aug 13 '19 at 15:09
  • John C may be right, but look at cutting edge robots today and how many of them are suped up love dolls? It's not inconceivable that he was built specifically as a fuck-bot. – Rubellite Fae Sep 04 '21 at 07:01
  • Moreover, if he's "fully functional," does that mean he has a seminal tank that needs periodic refilling? If so, you know at some point he's having it filled at a replicator and has one of his classic awkward Data encounters when someone asks what he's up to. Listen, if they didn't want us discussing these intricacies, they wouldn't have written such a weird thing that into the episode. Hell, the whole episode is just weird, why do the men get aggressive, but the women get horny? – Rubellite Fae Sep 04 '21 at 07:07
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    @RubelliteFae I would assume that rather than refilling some specific tank with some specific substance, he ingests some innocuous raw material from which he internally manufactures/replenishes various consumables. In "Deja Q" he tells Q that he occasionally ingests "a semi-organic nutrient suspension in a silicone-based liquid medium". – Anthony X Jul 31 '22 at 16:58
  • A fully functional android from the Questor Tapes mentioned at 20 min mark on Inside Star Trek album 1976 https://youtu.be/SUtMz3dniFU?si=inHP3k6MLGuck9iH – lucasbachmann Nov 14 '23 at 03:44

2 Answers2

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It is addressed again:

From Wikipedia,

Although stories about Yar are not normally connected to Data, the issue of Data's sexual encounter with Yar amid a ship-wide intoxication during the episode "The Naked Now" is recounted in stories about Data. Data carries a hologram of Yar with him and during the trial regarding his rights in the second season episode "The Measure of a Man," he admitted to the incident with the words "We were intimate."
Wikipedia

As far as why he was built in this way, Dr. Soong made sure everything else worked (hair growing, et cetera), it makes sense that he would also supply Data with his own "special purpose."

It's also possible that it's part of Dr. Soong's attempt to make an android so realistic that he does not know he's an android, as referenced in the Season 7 episode "Inheritance."

Stormblessed
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Curtis Retherford
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I'd have to say, in my opinion, it's assumed he was made to be very life like with all his capabilities; looks, adaptations, mental awareness, that it's not so hard to believe he'd also be equipped with physical functions (fully functional body, sexually) as a normal human being would, or at least a robot/android would. Who's to say Dr. Soong didn't want his android to be a fully functional human being, why not? The question would more or less be, why was he not comprised of more of an emotional awareness? Well that's what his first design was to be, Lore. So, in that respect he scaled down with Data, because Lore was just 'too humanlike'.

JMD_Jamie
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