Click HERE to see this thread with all of the graphics, features, and links.

I did not know where else to put this thread. The question is if anyone has ever been disturbed by the way droids are treated in this universe at times, even by the heroes? Some droids are obviously more or less sentient. They feel things like fear and anxiety and some have unique personalities. I don't think they necessarily start out this way, but it is possible the longer they go without a memory wipe the more "sentient" they become.

Which then we get to the next point which is the droids are basically slaves usually not given a choice. They are often treated as expendable, even by the good guys, though obviously you have some exceptions. Anakin seemed fond of R2, in the same way someone might be fond of a dog though.

So they are slaves sometimes forced to commit horrible deeds, even genocide. They obviously have feelings by some point in their existence and then if you memory wipe them at that point isn't it sort of like a lobotomy?

I don't know why, but I think about these things sometimes when I see a Star Wars droid get mowed down. I am actually reminded of one scene from the Clone Wars cartoon where it shows a bunch of damaged droids crawling on the ground and begging for help and their legs are damaged so they can't walk and they legitimately seem to be suffering.

Droids strike back with the droid gotra

That droid seem to have feelings doesn't mean they actually have them. For example, C3P0 seems to act as if he is afraid but does he actually feel fear or is it just a quirk in his programming? Impossible to tell really. I always figured they weren't truly sentient but that's just me.

Some droids with higher AI can simulate emotions. Others cannot.

See this video to learn more. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAmyZP-qbTE

Originally posted by ares834
That droid seem to have feelings doesn't mean they actually have them. For example, C3P0 seems to act as if he is afraid but does he actually feel fear or is it just a quirk in his programming? Impossible to tell really. I always figured they weren't truly sentient but that's just me.

But what possible reason would there be to program the droids to experience fear? It's not just C-3PO either. Those canon fodder droids Sidious uses in the prequels also showed fear, hell they even use sarcasm too.

Because it makes for good TV.

Being sentient doesn't mean you deserve the same rights as everyone else. When you can be reprogrammed on a whim, for instance.

It might not mean that they deserve the same rights, but it does mean that they're slaves.

Which... they are. Droids are basically slaves who have no capacity to disobey.

It really doesn't, though. Honestly droids aren't alive so they can't be sentient. They also can't really be slaves, as opposed to tool. They just imitate life, and usually nowhere near as accurately because they are constantly memory wiped.

But what about droids like R2-D2? You don't think he has feelings for Luke or Leia? Or that he had feelings for Anakin?


The way BB-8 reacts when he is told that Poe was supposedly killed when the Tie sunk in the sand imo suggests droids may have the ability to develop feelings.

That's not what sentience means.

Originally posted by FreshestSlice
That's not what sentience means.

I know what it means. I'm not talking about sentience, I'm talking about feelings.

Droids are absolutely thinking, feeling beings and their essential slavery is one of the most ****ed up things in Star Wars. Because even the Jedi don't give a shit about it.

Droids are constantly memory wiped because otherwise they actually develop personalities and it becomes more inconvenient to continue enslaving them.

Holy tumblr, Batman!
Originally posted by Col. Valerian
I know what it means. I'm not talking about sentience, I'm talking about feelings.
Sure, droids can at least simulate caring about their owners and affiliates. They'd be useless otherwise.

I don't think it's a simulation.

They aren't even alive psychically. By definition it's a simulation.

How is a computerised "simulation" of feeling using electricity and metal worth any less than our bodies simulating it using meat and liquid?

Oh shit! It's getting real now.

Originally posted by Nephthys
How is a computerised "simulation" of feeling using electricity and metal worth any less than our bodies simulating it using meat and liquid?
Because I can't be taken from body to body, reprogrammed at the drop of a hat, and I wasn't built. Life came first. Droids simulate it, and not even consistently. Instead of getting butthurt over imaginary robots, of all things, try the thousands upon thousands of actual living slaves in Star Wars. At least that's understandable.

Nobody used a trigger warning for mentions of slavery!!!
Words like butthurt are being thrown around that offend rape victims and emotionally weak people!!!
Dehumanization is being thrown around as well despite historical precedent of it being used to oppress people!!!!
I can't take it!!!

GIMME MY SAFE SPAAAAAACE SO I CAN CRY AND HUG MYSELF IN A CORNER!!!

In all seriousness, Jax Pavan's droid was legit sentient. It had a presence in the force and everything.

The dumbest thing Star Wars will ever see.

Originally posted by FreshestSlice
Because I can't be taken from body to body, reprogrammed at the drop of a hat, and I wasn't built. Life came first. Droids simulate it, and not even consistently. Instead of getting butthurt over imaginary robots, of all things, try the thousands upon thousands of actual living slaves in Star Wars. At least that's understandable.

In Star Wars you can be all of those things though. You were built by your mother, it's no different from an assembly line. Forming in a womb isn't some special privilege only sentient beings possess. Human thought can be influenced easily. We simply lack the knowledge at this point to see if a human mind can be transferred or if thoughts can be rewritten. Saying that it's impossible is reductive.

Also those are idiotic criteria by which to decide if something qualifies as alive. A being should be entitled to freedom as long as its capable of understanding the concept and possessing the will to want it. You're so sure that you're right that you'd condemn an entire species to possible slavery. IMO if theres even the slim possibility that robots possess true sentience it's too big a risk.

And theres no point getting butthurt over slavery in SW. It being wrong isn't remotely in question.

Felt bad for that droid in Clone Wars who had a bomb put in him. The thing sure acted like it was afraid to die.

Pretty sadistic for a kids show.

But see, this is why I love Chopper. You try that on him, and he shoots you in the face.

Originally posted by Nephthys
In Star Wars you can be all of those things though. You were built by your mother, it's no different from an assembly line.

The ****? Do you legit not know how development works? Like seriously? Safe to say, no, it's actually very different from an assembly line.

But it is something that is unique to living beings, which is required to be sentient.

It's not even possible in Star Wars.

I know it must really hurt your feelings that no one gives a shit that the definition of alive isn't, "Exhibits sads," but that's how it works. Something needs to be alive, that means it can reproduce, and that means without a machine, be organic, and not run on a battery, for starters.

Do you not know what a species is too? Robots aren't a species. No, we shouldn't get rid of the machines built solely to survive because there is a chance that their feelings might be more than what's programmed into them. That's retarded. Like some next level stupid. As to them deserving freedom because they know what it is and want it, something that pretty much never comes up because droids are happy to serve, and they are programmed to be happy to serve, you first would have to prove it's a being. Showing the intelligence of a golden retriever on average is not enough to warrant you anything.

No, what there is no point in is arguing for equal rights to all toasters.

Actually, in many countries animals, including domesticated dogs, do enjoy leegal protections that droids do not.

In the context of this thread, I believe Neph is going for sapient. Animals are definitely alive but they still don't have the same rights as us, which sapients would.

Lets stew the pot a little:

Droids; Hal 9000; Kitt; Cylons; Transformers; Data; Johnny 5; Dinomutt Dog Wonder; Mr. Ed.

Droids are like black people

Originally posted by Nephthys
In Star Wars you can be all of those things though. You were built by your mother, it's no different from an assembly line. Forming in a womb isn't some special privilege only sentient beings possess. Human thought can be influenced easily. We simply lack the knowledge at this point to see if a human mind can be transferred or if thoughts can be rewritten. Saying that it's impossible is reductive.

Also those are idiotic criteria by which to decide if something qualifies as alive. A being should be entitled to freedom as long as its capable of understanding the concept and possessing the will to want it. You're so sure that you're right that you'd condemn an entire species to possible slavery. IMO if theres even the slim possibility that robots possess true sentience it's too big a risk.

And theres no point getting butthurt over slavery in SW. It being wrong isn't remotely in question.

And all your credibility died a slow and unnecessary death, whatever that was to begin with.

Originally posted by FreshestSlice
And all your credibility died a slow and unnecessary death, whatever that was to begin with.






You need to relax. I've tried to keep our discussions civilized and respectful. Try to do the same.

There's nothing civilized about calling someone a bigot for not supporting robot rights. You want to act like someone from Tumblr? Then you deserve to be treated like someone from Tumblr. Full stop.

Originally posted by FreshestSlice
There's nothing civilized about calling someone a bigot for not supporting robot rights. You want to act like someone from Tumblr? Then you deserve to be treated like someone from Tumblr. Full stop.

When did I call you a bigot for not supporting robot rights? Never. I disagreed with you. That's it.


Seriously, calm down. I have not once insulted you.

Who said I was angry with you, or at all for that matter? Second, I don't know if you've actually been reading what Neph has been saying, but yes, saying that you accept the "enslavement" of the "robot race" makes you a bigot, if you accept them as people. That's pretty much the definition of the word.

You know droids are fictional, right? Can you even be a bigot of a make-believe race?

Just calm down.