Spooky action at a distance ...

was Einstein's term for quantum entanglement, the phenomenon in which the behavior of two things can be connected regardless of distance.



I've just finished Star Trek: The Next Generation: Cold Equations: The Persistence of Memory: Book One and I hope it won't spoil the book for anyone if I reveal that the android Data, who had died some years earlier, has been resurrected by the end of the story. He's different, though, with a new and more advance body, and with the added memories and knowledge of the scientist who originally created him. He is offered his old commission in Star Fleet, but he refuses, in part because he's going off on a quest and in part because he's not really sure if he's the same person he once was. In this bit from the book, Geordi La Forge asserts that he is the same, but Data says ...

* * * * *

"I understand why you would take comfort in that idea, but I cannot share your confidence that I am, as you say, 'the real Data.'"

Offering his hand, La Forge asked, "Are you still my friend?"

Data shook La Forge's hand. "Always."

"Then you are the real Data. Case closed."

He smiled and released La Forge's hand. "Thank you, Geordi." Then he reached into his pants pocket, took out a metallic device shaped like a cylinder the size of a finger, and handed it to him. "I want you to have this. It is a comm device you can use to reach me in an emergency."

Holding up the gadget, La Forge asked, "How does it work?"

"Quantum particle entanglement."

* * * * *

Data's quest that will be covered in the second book of the trilogy, Star Trek: The Next Generation: Cold Equations: Silent Weapons: Book Two, which I guess I'll read next as it's only 99 cents :)