Overall a refreshingly positive article, and I appreciate the author noting that the comparison can only go so far. I have to agree too on Spock vs Data- Spock is a much more positive and self accepting role model. Data has been used in the past to describe autistics (Grandin comes to mind), and besides his wanting to "be more human" that the author comments on, i don't care for the robot/computer analogy. Yet, i don't think I've ever seen that cautioned against like the author cautions about the 'alien' issue.

I find Spock being half-alien less problematic actually than Data being all-circuitry (even when he got emotion, it was a chip and arguably 'artificial'). A machine, no matter how 'life-like' (or arguably alive) is, I think, easier for people to dehumanise than a humanoid half-alien who made of "real" flesh and blood (even if it is green!). This actually reminds me of the "flesh carnivals" in the movie AI, where it was acceptable to torture/kill androids because they were seen as entirely artificial, regardless of how life-like they appeared/acted)