This does not explain the inconsistency with Data and contractions (and just going from memory), it has been an unspoken tradition that robots and talking computers do not use contractions, although I am sure there have been some previous outliers.
I’m sorry, Dave. I’m afraid I can’t do that.
I’ll Be Back…
It’s against my programming to impersonate a deity.
I gotta give a shout out to Spiner for his Data performance. I’ve been reading a lot of those early “learn to read” books to my kid and they specifically don’t use contractions. They’re so awkward to read that I naturally replace the words with contractions.
If I were an android, I might avoid contractions in the interest of communicating as clearly and unambiguously as possible. It’s a lot easier to mishear “can’t” as “can” than to mishear “cannot” as “can.”
It’s a little like avoiding acronyms and initialisms here on the SDMB—I mean, the Straight Dope Message Board—and instead writing out the complete words, when there’s a chance that not everyone in your audience will recognize those acronyms.
All this talk about Data not using contradictions is off-topic: the thread title clearly indicates this thread is for Lore rules, and Lore didn’t have a problem with contractions.
Especially as he has super android strength, and he’d have torn it in one second.
That part actually doesn’t bother me. If you’re making a super-strength android who is meant to interact with humans, one thing you would definitely do is have it, by default, limit its strength to human-standard-limitations, requiring a conscious effort to switch into super-power mode. Otherwise, Data would constantly be pulverizing hands when he shook them, ripping doors off hinges, etc.
One assumes that if suddenly there was a red alert while data had his fingers trapped and he needed to go save the ship, he would rip his fingers out instantly. At least, one might so assume if one wished to give the ST writers the benefit of the doubt.
Yeah, Data clearly was only “trapped” by the thing to the extent that he didn’t want to damage it in order to escape. Accurately calculating grip strength is something that we can train machines to do today, with contemporary robots that can pick up eggs without crushing them and so forth. That would be trivially easy to get right by the time you’re building positronic brains.
Similar to this scene, where Superman casually breaks out of some handcuffs:
Of course, he couldn’t have done that at any time….only when it was funny.
He’s not a Toon rabbit.
That was B4, this is now.
I’m LALing.