Synopsis: The Enterprise receives a distress call from Gravesworld and responds to it to try to rescue one of the greatest intellects in the universe.
In “The Schizoid Man” we see how the unconscious can take over even the most rational Logos-driven egos when it wants to survive.
When the landing party responds to the distress call from Ira Graves’ assistant, Karen Brianon, they find that Graves is in the last stages of a terminal illness. Graves spends a lot of time with Lt. Commander Data alone. Because of the gravity of the illness, Graves is no longer acting responsibly, instead he is at the mercy of his unconscious drives, particularly the survival instinct, and does what he needs to do to continue living. Being an expert in cybernetics he puts his human mind into the android, Data.
Once Graves’ body dies aboard the Enterprise, Data begins to act unusually. He no longer is strictly rational and Logos-driven, he now seems to have human emotions, and is also Eros-driven, especially when he is in the company of Brianon. Just as Graves’ conscious ego was no match for his unconscious drives, Data’s mechanically perfect mind also seems to be no match for the unconscious drives of Graves’ mind.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard confronts Graves, now in Data’s body, and brings to his attention the fact that people are getting hurt because he is unable to control the strength of Data’s body. Picard tells him that he must leave Data’s body, but Graves refuses. But then he learns that one of the individuals he has injured was beloved Brianon. Perhaps this got through to him, but more likely Graves understood that if he remained in Data’s body that likely Data would be turned off, so as not to endanger further the crew. In any case, Graves’ intellect is transferred from Data into the ship’s computer. There the rational knowledge will remain, but the unconscious drives will be lost. The Enterprise is safe, but what made Graves who he was is lost.
In real life, when that which is what makes us unique, our unconscious drives are lost or ignored, the world may seem safe, but it may also seem dead.
Original post created 12 June 2021
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