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There've been so many advances in medical technology, to such a degree that genetic cloning/modification has preceded robotic construction.

We're seeing the advance of nano-bots (yes they exist, no not like The Borg in Star Trek).



What if Robots will exist.... what's more... what if they have emotions.

By the time Robots come about we will have synthetic "plastic" bio-computers.

It is conceivable that humans and robots could be biologically compatible. We're already talking about robotically controlled biological-computer hearts.

What do you think will happen? Are these creatures still considered robots? Or will they be so close to human they might as well be like Bladerunner Replicants?


I sense a very strong Tezuka connection in this discussion, so I put it here instead of the offtopic forum. Somehow I can forsee an Astro Boy example involved.

Funny how just now, I am reading Do Androids dream of electric sheep?
I think that those who adhere to any of the Judaic-derived religions will demand that robots, whether biological or electronic be denied rights, as they will insist that their lack of 'souls' makes them unworthy of the status of human or persons.

If there were an intelligent ape, how would these people treat it? I doubt they would grant it the staus of 'person.' When certain humans lack the intelligence for which our race is known, these same people demand that these "'special' people" be pampered and coddled and sent to the special olympics. For them, humanity or personhood is a result of birth, not intelligence. No matter how lacking in intelligence one born of a human mother might be, they will not deny rights to him. Likewise, regardless of how intelligent a robot or other non-human may be, they will always regard this as an 'it.'

Jeffbert> Cool you're reading some PKD. I always thought his short stories fared a bit better than his novels, but Androids is definitely required reading. Not sure there's another work (be it blade runner or what-not) that actually captures what that book is doing.

This is my 1st of any of his writings.

There are 5 volumes of his short stories and I've always found I enjoyed them more than his novels. Either way, there's a lot to digest, and PKD is definitely a great find for any sci fi fan who's never read him before. wish I could tell you my favorite stories (I'd never remember the titles), but regardless, some of them I read when I was very young and they still stick with me today.

One thing I remember about Androids is that, unlike some of his other novels, it doesn't seem to be a recap of any of his short stories. It's fairly original and ultimately seems to end up somewhere closer to something like Kobo Abe than you might expect for a sci fi author.

I was a Fundamentalist for 20 years, & the idea that only humans had souls was, while not central to the tenets, was surely among them. I think that just as the monotheist religions each reserves for itself any claim of validity, and brands others as "of the Devil" or just plain wrong, it should follow that this exclusivity would extend to species also. In Christianity, they would never say that J died for the apes as well as the humans. But then, who would have thought that there would be polygamous sects of 'Christianity'?

I guess belief in annihilation is not too popular among the religious.