Just look at Lore. He wiped out a colony, and could do far worse damage if he was both more competent and stable. It eventually escalated to the point where Data had to shut him down, due to the danger he posed to the rest of the Federation.
How did lore destroy the colony?
He summoned the crystalline entity through unknown means, which came and turned the colonists into sand.
Technically Lore didn’t do it himself, he summoned the crystalline entity which killed everyone.
I think if he instigated the event he can take credit for it.
True - it might be argued that he’s not responsible if he didn’t know exactly what the crystalline entity would do, but it’s pretty obvious that he had a good idea what would happen, so yeah, he’s the key causal factor.
I thought picard was crazy for questioning data in his quarters alone in clues. Especially after they confirmed something was wrong with him by catching him in a lie.
Lore was always more fun.
My favorite Lore moments:
- [pretending to be Data] Often Wrong’s got a broken heart - Can’t even tell his boys apart.
- Back off, or I’ll turn your little man into a torch. I promise him exquisite pain unless you obey me too, brother."
The problem is that the Federation is extremely conservative about the use of AI and human enhancement, so once you drop in someone like Data and allow him equal rights, there’s a wild power mismatch. So he can wreck havoc if he goes rogue.
Data would never be able to pull off the shenanigans he did on Brothers against a Culture craft. Even if he’s not going up against a Mind but “only” the humanoid crew, he wouldn’t have such a crazy advantage.
Lore was always more fun.