This review of the Star Trek TNG episode "Brothers" (ep 3, season 4) focuses on the character of Lore (portrayed by Brent Spiner), the android predecessor and figurative brother of Lt. Commander Data. I'll begin with a short summary of the episode.
One day on the bridge of the Enterprise, for unexplained reasons, Data begins reprogramming the ship computer. He removes the air supply from the bridge area (forcing the rest of the crew down to the engineering headquarters of the ship) and uses various means to disable the captain's control and prevent interference. He then pilots the vessel to a mysterious planet, where its sole inhabitant is revealed to be Dr. Noonien Soong, his creator. He had sent out a signal which turned on a sort of auto-pilot mode inside Data and made him come to the scientist, who then restores Data's normal state of self-awareness. He introduces himself and then laments Data's career choice of working in Starfleet. Data asks why he was created, and Soong replies that it's a lot like the human urge to procreate, and that he hoped Data would follow in his footsteps.
After a brief time, Lore also shows in Soong's lab, having responded to the same homing signal. Despite a warning by Data, Soong returns him to normal as well, and a bitter confrontation ensues. Lore blames his father for disassembling him and Data for setting him adrift in space. Lore was about to storm out when Soong tells him he summoned them because he was sick and didn't have long to live. Dr. Soong shows Data an emotion chip, which is supposed to enable him to experience basic human emotions. He then takes a nap, and on waking, installs the chip into what appears to be Data. But in fact it was Lore who had disabled his brother and switched clothing. Soong tells him the chip's effect would be unpredictable, since it was specially designed for Data's use (he hadn't known that Lore was "alive" until that day). But Lore ignores his words and hurls him across the room and then teleports away. At this point the Enterprise crew has managed to regain enough control to beam down to the planet and collect Data.
In a side story throughout the episode, a kid played a practical joke on his brother that resulted in him being infected by some contagious disease. The cure could be administered only at a nearby starbase facility where he needed to be taken within 3 days. Data's commandeering of the ship places the boy's fate in great peril, heightening the drama. However when the ship gets to the starbase on time, the sick boy seems to have forgiven his brother and they are shown playing together again.
The way that Brent Spiner executes the part, one couldn't help but sympathize with Lore. The wicked android has been shown in an erlier episode to be capable of indirect mass murder, when he lured a giant space crystal entity to his homeworld to eat all the humans. Dr. Soong has called him unstable and said he "wasn't functioning properly", hence the need to disassemble him all those years ago. But when in this episode he looked pleadingly at Dr. Soong, and said, "Why didn't you fix me?" I had a chilling feeling. I don't know too many people whose behavior borders on the sociopathic the way that Lore's does, but everyone has imperfections of character or an emotional weakness here and there. His inquiry to his creator was akin to a prayer to God himself, asking why he is plagued by weakness and inadequacy. The bitterness eating away at him comes out later when he accuses Soong of using sub-standard parts to make him, and says "you owe me." But by then the emotion chip was working in him, and appeared to be amplifying his anger.
It's interesting how if you liken the emotion chip implantation to a reverse-lobotomy, the scene could be viewed as a statement about psychological "treatments" (albeit in the context of androids and positronic brains). At one point Lore says that Data would be more like him if the latter had the chip installed. Dr. Soong also points out that it would make Data more trusting of Lore. But as it turns out, Data was right all along to have distrusted his brother. Soong seemed to think that familial harmony was more important than being right. Certainly the emotion chip appears to make Lore more dangerous, since earlier he seemed genuinely upset upon hearing of his builder's anticipated death, while after getting the chip he thinks nothing about weilding his android strength in shoving the sick scientist. But is that purely because the chip was not "prescribed" for him, but for Data? Or would Data - a reliable, rational and ultimately stable individual - lose all of these traits in becoming more human? It seems that when brains and personalities are concerned, there aren't any cures: only a trade-off is possible.
I have a sister who I've had a historical animosity with. I would liken her to Lore, in terms of having an unstable "evil" personality. (I suppose she viewed me the same way for much of her life.) As pushy and demanding as she was, it was difficult at best to coexist with her in our little apartment. At one point she moved in with our grandparents so as to put distance between her and myself, and I was real grateful for that sacrifice on her part. But I think always in her mind I was an evil brother, without regard for her personal space, her things or her comfort while living together (never mind being protective and caring the way an older brother ought to have been.)
More recently she has been behaving quite civilly when I was around, and helping me out with such things as I need and even seems to appreciate when I do things for her. I've grown as a person too, I like to think... Although really it was her realization that there's more to life than antagonizing those who annoy her that is bringing peace back into the relationship. I guess I have to ask myself whether logic winning out every time was worth the absense of brotherly love as such. It's a hard question to consider. In the extreme case of Lore it was just as well, since fewer people got hurt that way. But Dr. Soong seemed to think that he knew what was best for his creation, and would have preferred it if Data could give compassion to his evil twin.
And in a final sense, I would agree that compassion is the most important psychological ability that a person has at their disposal. It may come easy as in the case of a father for his child or siblings for each other, or it may be difficult, as when trying to understand the viewpoint of a villain. But even more so than logic, it has a great potential for making the galaxy a better place.
