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Old 09-20-2010, 07:13 PM   #21
roguebfl
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Default Re: [BIO] Further development of a society with no qualms about (ab)using bioroids

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Originally Posted by blacksmith View Post
Sure, but those were non sapient AI and not biological but human looking robots.

The main issue with this is how human are the bioroids? If say you take the THS approach, which I like, you can have ones that run a broad level of rights. You can make bioroids that are legally property, just make them bioshells and give them a NAI or LAI controler. It might squick people but that is all really, they become engineered meat robots.
umm actill the sapient level of the Ai is a major theme question weither some of them were sapient or not.

and while their server were not fleshy, you had people like the Major who pushed the boundery between what was human and what was machine. the Culturally accepted answer was you were human as long as you had a ghost. except the it started to seem like some of the borderline sepaient AI might actually have ghosts. it has the same squick boundy effect.
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Old 09-20-2010, 08:54 PM   #22
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Default Re: [BIO] Further development of a society with no qualms about (ab)using bioroids

Of course essentially the society that has no qualms about using bioroids is just an updated slave society. They try to get around the problems of slave societies by genetically determining the personalities of their slaves to be motivated and tractable while their physical abilities are optimized for their intended function. Human workers who don't get one of the supervisory roles are going to end up competing by working cheap. Or just turn to crime.
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Old 09-20-2010, 09:50 PM   #23
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Default Re: [BIO] Further development of a society with no qualms about (ab)using bioroids

Human beings have routinely done to other human beings all the nasty sorts of things you might do to a bioroid that you did not regard as human.
As David says, this is called slavery, and it's been around for a long, long time.
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Old 09-21-2010, 07:31 AM   #24
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Default Re: [BIO] Further development of a society with no qualms about (ab)using bioroids

As David adn combatmedic have mentioned, this is straight up slavery. Looking human or standing out in a crowd really doesn't matter. There are plenty of ways to brand a bioroid without dipping into the genepool at all.

As for how this affects society: Slavery is really only useful in places with industries that require a lot of manpower. This is largely why the northern states in the US didn't have slavery and the southern, agricultural-based states needed it. Bioroids could easily find themselves serving as butlers, assistants, cashiers, short order cookers, and other "menial" jobs, also.

The biggest problem you'll need to deal with in your setting is why bioroids are better than robots, and i don't mean Asimov's robots. An automated shopper at a supermarket that is programmed to procure and convey your shopping list to your house may be cheaper to manufacture and maintain than a bioroid. One way around the manufacturing cost is if bioroids can reproduce. Lowering maintenance costs can be done if bioroids don't require as much food and water to survive. These would need to be engineered into them, obviously. Essentially, bioroids would slowly creep down the road toward an ubermenchkin. Perhaps regulations on how one can be altered would be implemented to prevent them from growing too dangerous. Then again, that's never been an issue where historical slavery was consistent and prolonged enough to allow selective breeding....
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Old 09-21-2010, 08:07 AM   #25
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Default Re: [BIO] Further development of a society with no qualms about (ab)using bioroids

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umm actill the sapient level of the Ai is a major theme question weither some of them were sapient or not.

and while their server were not fleshy, you had people like the Major who pushed the boundery between what was human and what was machine. the Culturally accepted answer was you were human as long as you had a ghost. except the it started to seem like some of the borderline sepaient AI might actually have ghosts. it has the same squick boundy effect.
Sure, but it was all cutting edge AI not anything that social protocalls or laws had been built around.
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Old 09-21-2010, 08:09 AM   #26
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Default Re: [BIO] Further development of a society with no qualms about (ab)using bioroids

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As David adn combatmedic have mentioned, this is straight up slavery. Looking human or standing out in a crowd really doesn't matter. There are plenty of ways to brand a bioroid without dipping into the genepool at all.
Depends on the sapience level of the bioroids. People don't consider working animals to be slaves.
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Old 09-21-2010, 09:31 AM   #27
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Default Re: [BIO] Further development of a society with no qualms about (ab)using bioroids

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Depends on the sapience level of the bioroids. People don't consider working animals to be slaves.
No qualms, means "no qualms". And there's no real reason to make them nonsapient because the uses for a nonsapient android are so limited.
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Old 09-21-2010, 01:07 PM   #28
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Default Re: [BIO] Further development of a society with no qualms about (ab)using bioroids

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No qualms, means "no qualms". And there's no real reason to make them nonsapient because the uses for a nonsapient android are so limited.
There's plenty of reason to define them as non-sapient though. "No Mr. Congressman, while our Gene-Tech X91847 series appears to be capable of human-like thought and action, this is really just a result of clever programming. Don't let their looks fool you, they are really just animals operating on instinct. They're really no more intelligent than an especially smart chimp."
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Old 09-21-2010, 01:51 PM   #29
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Default Re: [BIO] Further development of a society with no qualms about (ab)using bioroids

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There's plenty of reason to define them as non-sapient though. "No Mr. Congressman, while our Gene-Tech X91847 series appears to be capable of human-like thought and action, this is really just a result of clever programming. Don't let their looks fool you, they are really just animals operating on instinct. They're really no more intelligent than an especially smart chimp."
Fortunately "no qualms" means not having to engage in that kind of hypocrisy. People who do this kind of thing simply aren't concerned with whether their slaves are sapient or not except insofar as it makes them useful.
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Old 09-21-2010, 01:54 PM   #30
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Default Re: [BIO] Further development of a society with no qualms about (ab)using bioroids

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Fortunately "no qualms" means not having to engage in that kind of hypocrisy. People who do this kind of thing simply aren't concerned with whether their slaves are sapient or not except insofar as it makes them useful.
or rather the are so certain the the question is already answered they no longer asking it...so newer models get a pass even they do push the limit that they would have qualms about it if the general public realed the difference.
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