Tuesday, April 28, 2015

Is anyone else concerned with the treatment of droids in Star Wars?

Is anyone else concerned with the treatment of droids in Star Wars?

This has always been problematic, from the Imperials not shooting the escape pod, to purchasing droids for farm work, to -- of course -- memory wipes. In the EU (now Legends), we learn that droids don't interact with the force and are considered, at least by some jedi, to be an abomination. And restraining bolts! How could I have forgotten?

Yet, we see from the very beginning they have emotions, are cognizant of their own existence, and want to live and be free. With the exception of R2, most droids we see are OK with their lot. We even see some free droid bounty hunters. 

To misquote Measure Of A Man, one droid is a curiosity. But a million? That's a race. A race of disposable people.

If you can produce sentients, is there a moral requirement to give them freedom?

23 comments:

  1. In a Star Wars RPG I'm playing with Paul Edson, we've tackled that. The timeline is the original trilogy, and there has been the typical attitude towards droids while one very powerful control droid is trying to find a safe haven for itself and the droids it works with.

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  2. Kevin Farnworth Yeah. The clones don't get a choice about what life to lead. No matter how well they are treated, they ain't free.

    Richard Rogers Nice. How are the PCs reacting to this? Are any of them droids?

    Arnold Cassell Yeah, I think I've seen this before. Its not wrong.

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  3. It definitely bothers me. In fact, I consider automaton personhood so important that it's a major theme in my steampunk setting. :)

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  4. It's a solo game. The NPC crew has generally a neutral to negative reaction to the droids (one fought in the Clone Wars, his bigotry is deep seeded). the PC has offered support to FC, the droid looking for a home for itself.

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  5. Eric Simon Tell me more.

    Richard Rogers Nice.

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  6. Our concept for the Star Wars game (using rules Powered by the Apocalypse) is a gritty no-jedi original trilogy life on the fringe game. We've tackled slavery, murder, spice addiction, droid rights, Imperial dogma and their growing threat, uneasy alliances, enemy of my enemy choices, lots of dark storylines. It's been a very noir game of Star Wars.

    The PC just started a mission on Coruscant down in level 1313 trying to sniff out a Black Sun Vigo.

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  7. QuantumVibe.com has some good stuff with varying attitudes across the solar system to "artifolk."

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  8. Richard Rogers Jedis really are a problem. If you want multiple PCs to be useful in the same sort of situation, structuring the use of the force is really hard. Having one PCs cuts down those problems, and given that there are no jedi, the problem goes away entirely.

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  9. Steamscapes is a mostly-realistic alt-history steampunk setting (no magic, no fairies, no floating-rock islands) set in 1871. Our take on the 19th century world is not romanticized or idealized, except that we have leveraged additional representation for women, minorities, and indigenous peoples in a variety of ways.

    In this context, we consider what would happen with an entirely new and artificial life form inserted at the bottom of the social strata. Clearly there would be prejudice, and there would be disparity of treatment by different nations and different cultures. We try to show realistic political, social, and military interactions with the addition of mechanical intelligence to Victorian society.

    Feel free to browse my various developer notes about the setting at (steamscapes.com).

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  10. Don't want to derail your original post, but I find not only the jedi powers problematic, I find their whole cosmology to be un-fun from a story standpoint. Sexless Buddhist monks who proclaim beliefs they constantly act against bothers the heck out of me.
    Badasses with laser swords I can dig. Jedi, not so much.

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  11. Richard Rogers I had a thread on exactly that earlier today. And there was a really great article on it recently. Basically, I am unconvinced that the jedis are virtuous, and it may be due to the influence of the force. That is, if you have extra sensory and magical abilities in a normal human brain, you may be incapable of handling it correctly.

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  12. Eric Simon Steamscapes looks cool. I'll do a little reading.

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  13. "We don't serve your kind here." ... straight from the original movie.

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  14. Yanni Cooper Am i missing something? Is that quote meant as additional evidence that droids are treated poorly?

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  15. First movie, when they walk into the Cantina to hire Han. Droids had to wait outside
    . So yeah, additional evidence.

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  16. ... yes? I mean, I appreciate the additional evidence. I'm just not sure what else you're trying to say, other than giving an additional bit of canonical evidence.

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  17. Cameron Mount If I remember any of that book that wasn't Blade Runner (and not Android's Dream, by Scalzi) correctly, then that sounds about right. Does Dick get to a suggested answer to the dilemma?

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  18. Of course Dick wouldn't help solve the quandary. There are some actual, professional moralists thinking about it -- and from what I remember, the suggestion is that it doesn't matter what is used in place of meat, a mind is a mind. That's the simplified answer, of course.

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  19. I think how droids/clones are treated is the most science fictiony part of Star Wars.

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  20. Abram Bussiere Interesting. Because they are teated like objects, much as we treat our phones and pets? That is, that the moral question isn't one individuals in universe consider much?

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  21. That, and also metaphor for slavery-as-a-race. 'Not quite us' + 'they must follow our commands' has been enough for treating people as objects/a race of disposable slaves multiple times in the past.

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