Persuasion, Coercion, and Ethical Means

The sequence stages a moral debate about influence: Data's shift from factual persuasion to theatrical demonstration and finally to coercive action forces a collective choice. Gosheven's violent silencing of Data is itself coercive, while Data's calculated ultimatum crosses a threshold from rhetoric to threat. The story interrogates whether coercion can be ethically justified to prevent greater harm and who may legitimately wield it.