Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 6, Episode 8: “A Fistful of Datas”

Synopsis: In an experiment to ascertain whether or not Lt. Commander Data is able to be an emergency bypass to the Enterprise’s main computer a malfunction causes Data’s programs to merge with that of the ship’s.

In this episode viewers get an illustration of the concept of inflation from the Analytical Psychology of Carl Gustav (C. G.) Jung. Inflation occurs when an individual’s conscious ego over-identifies with the god-like power of archetypes found in the unconscious.

In this episode, what starts out as an experiment to ascertain whether the Enterprise’s android second officer, Lt. Commander Data has the ability to serve as an emergency bypass system to the Enterprise’s main computer ends up as a dangerous cross-contamination of Data’s programing and that of the ship. Initially, things go as planned, but then Data’s systems experience an energy fluctuation. The experiment is then shut down, but not before there has been damage to the circuits in both Data and the Enterprise.

While this is an electronic issue in “A Fistful of Datas” in the human psyche, this is what happens when the conscious ego becomes inflated when it identifies too closely with the power of a bit of unconscious archetypal energy. To an extent, this is a normal part of the ongoing process of the union of opposites, where the conscious ego acknowledges and incorporates bits of unconscious material into itself. It is in fact necessary, because without the strength that comes from a  feeling of rightfulness that comes from this process, the ability to continue would not be present. The danger is when the ego identifies too greatly or for too long a time with the god-like power of the unconscious archetype. Instead, the process of the union of opposites must occur in a continuing movement between the energy of the unconscious and the restrictive impulses from the conscious ego. It is in the lifelong balancing of these energies that individuation, the journey of the psyche becoming stronger and more whole, takes place.

Original post created 2 November 2021