Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT

WCDT 22-26 August 2011 (1996-2000)

<< < (62/99) > >>

Is it cold in here?:
I can't remember anything as on-point as the current discussion, but there was once a thread about the social, legal, and ethical status of AnthroPCs.

EDIT: Spider Robinson said that in his view anyone who says "Excuse me" is human.

Skewbrow:
Surely a sentient robot might easily gain some rights: e.g. a minimum salary, a bank account, copyright to its creations,...

But in The Bicentennial Man the robot realized in the end that to be accepted as a human, he must be prepared to `die'. I think that the good Dr Asimov caught something essential there. I mean, if I were in a jury deciding whether a sentience deserves to be called a human being...

Loki:
This is the toaster that makes bread fun.  8-)

I hope it hasn't been posted before.

Edit:

--- Quote from: Skewbrow on 25 Aug 2011, 21:16 ---in the end that to be accepted as a human, he must be prepared to `die'.

--- End quote ---

Have you happened to read Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality by any chance? (Warning: TVTropes link).

--- Quote ---Harry said, "I thought of my absolute rejection of death as the natural order."
--- End quote ---
I must say I don't get the notion that one would need to accept death in order to live, either. Care to explain?

gangler:

--- Quote from: Skewbrow on 25 Aug 2011, 21:16 ---Surely a sentient robot might easily gain some rights: e.g. a minimum salary, a bank account, copyright to its creations,...

But in The Bicentennial Man the robot realized in the end that to be accepted as a human, he must be prepared to `die'. I think that the good Dr Asimov caught something essential there. I mean, if I were in a jury deciding whether a sentience deserves to be called a human being...

--- End quote ---
Megaman ZX. Humans and reploids finally reach a truce. The terms of agreement were that the humans receive cybernetic upgrades allowing them to function on a similar level to the reploids, whereas the reploids took on mortality instituting something similar to a biological clock making their lifespan finite.

I know it's not the greatest work of science fiction from a literary standpoint that I could be citing, but it seems relevant.

Personally I think human is great, but if I could be something better I would.

Skewbrow:

--- Quote from: Loki on 25 Aug 2011, 21:16 ---
I must say I don't get the notion that one would need to accept death in order to live, either. Care to explain?

--- End quote ---

That was not the point. The point was that if you are an immortal sentience I shall not treat you as a human being. I may respect you and your acts and creations in many other ways, but I will not think of you as a fellow human being.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page

Go to full version