Starfleet's Torchwood

[Batman]

Starfleet engineers will be able to figure it out eventually, but it could take a while.

And you know this because? And why would it be the engineers? Last I checked it was scientists who figured out how and why previously unknown technology does what it does, the engineers come in when that stage is done and the question moves on to 'can we build machines that do that too'.

But what if LaForge brings along his android friend Data to help out. If there are still astromech droids on the Star Destroyer he will be able to interface with them.

Which you know because of...what, exactly?

The computer languages they speak will be different but it won't take long for Data to figure out the language.

As evidenced by?

Or even if there are no droids on the Star Destroyer, Data will be able to interface with the ships computer.

Again, you know this because?

Once he's cracked the different language barrier,

Which we know he'll be able to do because of what again?

he will be able to program the tricorders that technicians carry around with them as well as Starfleets computers to correctly interface with Imperial technology.
That will really make it easier for the technicians with their research.

Absolutely. You will now naturally provide evidence for Data being able to actually do all that.

[Purple]

Which you know because of...what, exactly?

The computer languages they speak will be different but it won't take long for Data to figure out the language.

As evidenced by?

Well to be fair he would have a slightly better shot at it than regular humans. If for no other reason than because he can think the way machines do. Not that it really matters in this context. And given his machine like nature the droids on board might well come to trust him more quickly than they would the rest of the feds.

Or even if there are no droids on the Star Destroyer, Data will be able to interface with the ships computer.

Again, you know this because?

This really depends on what he means by interface. Does he just mean communicate or actually do something afterward? Because if its just communication that I wager he could actually do that relatively quickly. After all it's just a matter of figuring out what kind of USB port (and network/data transfer protocols) the SW ship uses and running a cable to him self along with some new firmware. And depending on how well that goes he would have the equivalent of a modem connection or at worst dredging through a hard drive whose encoding he can't read. But with time it would be feasible.

A greater problem would be what to do than. He has no idea where to start and no way of interpreting most of the data he gets out of the deal. Than again unless information theory is significantly different in the SW verse than it is in ST (why would it be?) the same logic should apply overall and he could eventually figure out how to read the data. And having him experiment with that could be useful in the long run if for no other reason than to discover which port is a power outlet and which is a data port.

Absolutely. You will now naturally provide evidence for Data being able to actually do all that.

It all depends once more what he means by that. Interfacing could be as impossible as turning them into remote control devices or as simple as programing them to use the right set of network protocols. And even if he can't do that (should be possible with time and effort invested, not saying quick or soon but possible) there is plenty of work he could do. Just programing the things to monitor stuff that has been discovered by trial and error would be a great boon. Like say programing them to indicate the call button when pointed at an elevator or calibrating them with the right scale to detect when that power conduit is way too hot like that time it totally cooked poor Urist Mc Victim. And once the language barrier is eventually cracked which will happen sooner or later he can program them to auto-translate the writing on buttons and displays.

Now none of this would happen over night. But as new things are discovered he could use that robot brain of his to spit out the right code faster than any human could and keep everyone's hand held handbooks up to date.

[Batman]

Which you know because of...what, exactly?

The computer languages they speak will be different but it won't take long for Data to figure out the language.

As evidenced by?

Well to be fair he would have a slightly better shot at it than regular humans. If for no other reason than because he can think the way machines do. Not that it really matters in this context. And given his machine like nature the droids on board might well come to trust him more quickly than they would the rest of the feds.

That presupposes he can talk to them to begin with. And the 'trust' issue only comes into play with droids that have actually developed sentience, which is not their default condition.

Or even if there are no droids on the Star Destroyer, Data will be able to interface with the ships computer.

Again, you know this because?

This really depends on what he means by interface. Does he just mean communicate or actually do something afterward? Because if its just communication that I wager he could actually do that relatively quickly. After all it's just a matter of figuring out what kind of USB port (and network/data transfer protocols) the SW ship uses and running a cable to him self along with some new firmware. And depending on how well that goes he would have the equivalent of a modem connection or at worst dredging through a hard drive whose encoding he can't read. But with time it would be feasible.

You have a CBM64. Interface with a current-day PC. And that's massively easier than what Data is faced with because the modern day PC shares the same technology base while the Star Destroyer does NOT.

Absolutely. You will now naturally provide evidence for Data being able to actually do all that.

It all depends once more what he means by that. Interfacing could be as impossible as turning them into remote control devices or as simple as programing them to use the right set of network protocols.[/quote]
Or it could be as impossible as him having no way to interface with them in any meaningful manner.

And even if he can't do that (should be possible with time and effort invested, not saying quick or soon but possible)

Possible, certainly. Likely? Not so much.

there is plenty of work he could do. Just programing the things to monitor stuff that has been discovered by trial and error would be a great boon. Like say programing them to indicate the call button when pointed at an elevator or calibrating them with the right scale to detect when that power conduit is way too hot like that time it totally cooked poor Urist Mc Victim. And once the language barrier is eventually cracked which will happen sooner or later he can program them to auto-translate the writing on buttons and displays.

Yeah, no. What he could do once he manages to interface with the ship's computers and manages to break the language barrier is irrelevant until you prove he can actually DO that.

[Purple]

That presupposes he can talk to them to begin with. And the 'trust' issue only comes into play with droids that have actually developed sentience, which is not their default condition.

Well yes. As I said it does not really matter much. But who knows. They might get lucky.

You have a CBM64. Interface with a current-day PC. And that's massively easier than what Data is faced with because the modern day PC shares the same technology base while the Star Destroyer does NOT.

Or it could be as impossible as him having no way to interface with them in any meaningful manner.

I lumped these together as they all address the same thing.

I newer once said it would be quick, easy or anything like that. But eventually it would be possible. And while it might well take decades of work it would surely be much quicker and easier than say figuring out how the hypermater reactor is built or how neutronium is mined for the hull. And once it does happen they are likely to call on Data to be the first thing they plug in since he has the sentience of a human being combined with the data ports of a computer.

So once more. I newer said it would be a short term instant thing like you make it out to be. He might have but I didn't.

Yeah, no. What he could do once he manages to interface with the ship's computers and manages to break the language barrier is irrelevant until you prove he can actually DO that.

First thing first. I don't need to prove roughly half of what you quoted as even I could do the job of figuring out when a power line bursts, measuring the temperature of the pipe next to the charred body and programing the magic device with a thermometer in it to scream when that happens.

As for the rest I don't really think the burden of proof is on me to prove that given sufficient time (remember, I newer claimed quick or easy) the federation would not eventually figure out the SW language and computers. I think it is reasonable to assume that even if it takes a couple centuries it would eventually happen. And I think Data could last long enough. (Does he actually have a limited life span?) Nothing about this is going to be quick or easy. And the whole project might well stretch into the millennia. But its not impossible, just time and resource consuming.

Figuring out the language at least is the closest thing to being within their capabilities. Especially since the kind of low level programing I was talking about equates to figuring out the button with the odd writing takes you to the bridge whilst the one with the other odd writing takes you to the hangar and putting up digital sticky notes to that effect.

My idea with this is basically that tricorders are like Wikipedia with sensors that automatically show you the right article every time you point it at something. And he could help populate the articles as things get discovered.

[Purple]

Missed the edit mark: Add the following sentence to the very end when reading. No paragraph break or new line.

His only contribution to the cause being that he can type faster than the average ensign.

[Darth_Jim]

Starfleet engineers will be able to figure it out eventually, but it could take a while.

And you know this because? And why would it be the engineers? Last I checked it was scientists who figured out how and why previously unknown technology does what it does, the engineers come in when that stage is done and the question moves on to 'can we build machines that do that too'.

But what if LaForge brings along his android friend Data to help out. If there are still astromech droids on the Star Destroyer he will be able to interface with them.

Which you know because of...what, exactly?

he will be able to program the tricorders that technicians carry around with them as well as Starfleets computers to correctly interface with Imperial technology.
That will really make it easier for the technicians with their research.

Absolutely. You will now naturally provide evidence for Data being able to actually do all that.

To sum up all of those points, seeing that Data serves on the Enterprise, the main role of the ship and its crew is exploration. which means they spend a lot of time learning new cultures and technology as they come across them in their travels. Data has a lot of experience on previous away missions figuring out technology which he has never encountered before. Sure, he won't be able to figure out the technology of the Star Destroyer over night, but through trial and error, and with a rather large team of engineers, or scientists as that is probably the better term, helping out, I'm pretty sure Data will eventually be able to crack it. Seeing that Data is self-aware like a human but can think at the speed of a computer, he'll do a much better job than a human.