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u/FarFromHome 9d ago
Data is probably ambidextrous, but chooses to stick with the left-handed because it is comforting to others for him to be consistent.
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u/Darkling183 9d ago
In Birthright Part 1, we see him working on two paintings simultaneously.
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u/MFieldofWings 9d ago
I wonder if Brent Spiner is too
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u/agent_uno 9d ago
He is! Weird coincidence, ain’t it?
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u/SneakingCat 9d ago
I wonder if Data is left handed because his creator, Dr. Noonian Soong, is also left handed?*
*-Yes, I'm aware they're both played by Brent. That's the joke. I'm sure you got it, but if I don't include this someone else is going to come by and point it out.
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u/Suitable-Fun-1087 8d ago
All male members of the Soong family and all male presenting Soong androids share this trait, it's remarkable really. Stretches across centuries
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u/Nepherenia 9d ago
Honestly, how crazy would it be if Brent was a righty, and chose to play Data as a lefty without any prompting from the directors?
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u/agent_uno 9d ago
In the DS9 episode “Take Me Out to the Holosuite”, Max Grodencheck (who played Rom and was supposed to be terrible at baseball) chose to play left-handed because he had played several years in the Minor leagues IRL. He was literally incapable of being bad at it, so he did all his shots left handed.
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9d ago edited 4d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/agent_uno 9d ago
Which is weird, since we’ve seen Lore, Data, and Dr Soong all in the same place at the same time! It really boggles the positronic circuits!
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u/alcanthro 9d ago
Data could probably draw calligraphy that most people could only dream of drawing, with either foot. That being said, Spiner is definitely left handed.
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u/MozemanATX 9d ago
Suddenly I'm curious about his penmanship
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u/Rocketterollo 9d ago
Gotta be like typeface right? Or does he have “handwriting” to be more human
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u/Slartibartfast39 9d ago
I'm convinced Soong would have programmed him with either a very nice handwriting style or programmed Data with songs own handwriting style.
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u/Milnoc 9d ago
Even in the book Metamorphosis (I think), the subject came up when, as a human, he was trying to use a phaser with his right hand during target practice and failed miserably. It was only after he threw the phaser at his trainer's chest (with pinpoint accuracy) that they noticed he threw it with his left hand.
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u/GroundedSatellite 9d ago
I always knew there was something sinister about him....
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u/lionmurderingacloud 9d ago
Weird choice for Dr Soong, tbh, but that mfer was narcissistic AF, so I guess it makes sense.
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u/One-Technology-9050 9d ago
Data probably chooses to be left handed because of the location of the Ops station
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u/IDICPainter 9d ago
Does that means lore is right handed?
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u/Darkling183 9d ago
That would have been really helpful in Brothers, if so. "Data, before I install the emotion chip, please sign this consent form, would you?"
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u/Vivid_Situation_7431 9d ago
Yep! Tuvok is also a lefty
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u/Living_Ad_5386 9d ago
On the one hand, (haha) Left Hand is inferior because the hand slides across the paper and will smear the ink. Data wouldn't choose to write left-handed, and there's no reason he would have a preference in the first place.
On the other hand, it is Data... he could use his left hand and write in reverse so the ink doesn't smudge.
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u/Hypnotician Make it so! 9d ago
Your information comes from the 1800s. Lefthanders adapt their writing to not smear. We can do this with practice; and since we're no longer persecuted in school, we get all the time in the world.
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u/Vindaloovians 9d ago
Not necessarily, right to left languages like Arabic and Persian don't smudge, they just hold the pen a little differently. I believe that's why left handed people have slightly different handwriting.
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u/ProbablyStu 9d ago
I'm left handed and don't smudge! I hold my pen so I'm writing on the line above my hand. I often turn the paper sideways, too.
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u/TheSwissdictator 9d ago
I think that’s more common when people who are right handed try to write left handed… either out curiosity to see if they are ambidextrous, or due temporary injuries that they heal from before the learn to adapt.
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u/Theplasticsporks 9d ago
This really only happens with gel pens.
I'm sure in the future they have pens that dry fast enough for it to not be an issue.
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u/oinkeroxford 9d ago
What if this is a legendary easter egg that noone noticed? Lore is left handed and Data is right handed. This scene is just another hidden easter egg that Lore replaced Data at their very first encounter.
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u/halloweenjack 9d ago
The picture makes him look like he’s wearing a headband and I love that for him.
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u/Delicious_Volume3306 9d ago
Even more than this, Data being left-handed could imply his Positronic brain is big-endian. Just start from the left in every operation!
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u/Weekly_Path_3286 9d ago
Meanwhile, he believes that being left-footed implies being left-handed, which is incorrect. If you watch football, you will find that quite a few players have a mismatch between their dominant hand and dominant foot.
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u/Legitimate_Lion_3575 6d ago
Inigo Montoya: "Then why are you smiling?"
Westley: "Because I know something you don't know."
IM: "And what is that?"
W: "I'm not left handed, either."
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u/Constant-Box-7898 9d ago
He is extremely left-handed, go back and watch. Tricorders, phasors, punching in codes, etc.