                                Star Wars 

                           Wizard's RPG Stories

          source : http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=starwars/newsarchive
          upload : 10.IV.2006


     Droid Rights

     By San Herrera and Nia Reston

     (as transcribed by Morrie Mullins from a short  paper  sent  as  a  press
release to every news agency and government office in the Cularin system)

     San Herrera and Nia Reston, the young Force adepts who previously  seemed
obsessed with death and worked to provide "aid" to the  Tarasin,  have  a  new
cause. They argue that droids have rights, just like everyone else, and should
be respected - - and set free. Learn more in  our  latest  supplement  to  the
Living Force  campaign,  which  ties  in  to  "Uffel's  Prisoners,"  the  July
scenario.

     Thesis

     We suggest that droids have rights, by virtue of being  sentient  beings.
Too long have droids labored for those whose only claim to superiority is  the
ability to fit circuit boards together,  weld  a  chassis,  or  install  power
cells. A droid, once completed, is a sentient being with goals and desires  of
its own, and should be treated as such. In this paper, we explore  the  notion
that droids have historically been mistreated,  that  their  basic  rights  as
sentient beings have been perpetually subjugated by organic species, and  that
unless a paradigmatic shift occurs in how we consider  droids,  we  will  find
ourselves in danger of violating the very will of the Force.

     Argument

     First, a note on language. In common usage, a "droid" is  any  mechanical
construction that demonstrates some amount  of  decision-making  capacity  and
which is created in order to serve the organic species of the galaxy. The term
"droid" is, in our minds, derogatory and demeaning, as it reduces the  variety
of mechanical individuals who work throughout the galaxy into a  single  named
class, without regard for the beauty and uniqueness each  offers.  Because  of
the offense we take at the labeling of these individuals as "droids," for  the
purposes of this paper we will refer to all  such  individuals  as  "synthetic
people"  or  "synthetic  persons."   Thus,   we   recognize   their   inherent
individuality while still  acknowledging  the  general  lack  of  carbon-based
organic systems that most of our species share in common.

     The plight of the synthetic person is one that begins  far  back  in  the
annals of galactic history. The earliest records of synthetic people show that
they were created as a servant class on worlds that believed themselves to  be
too refined to support slavery. Early synthetic people were little  more  than
boxes designed to process information and provide feedback to their  "masters"
- - the title quickly adopted by  those  who  either  built  or  bought  these
synthetic people.

     In less than a century, the first fully functional, free-range  synthetic
people began to be employed in  various  agricultural  settings.  The  hottest
deserts, the coldest poles, the most dangerous jungles - - organic individuals
sent their synthetic people into these dangerous environments to do  what  the
organics would not or could not do themselves. Many synthetic people perished,
destroyed by the elements or ripped apart by predators.  When  this  happened,
their "masters" did not mourn their loss, but simply went out and bought more.

     Over the course of countless years, the  systematic  abuse  of  synthetic
people has become  common  practice.  These  individuals  provide  significant
inputs to the functioning of the galaxy on almost every  level,  but  are  not
afforded the same basic freedoms the organic citizens  of  the  galaxy  enjoy.
They are, in a word, slaves, and in a galaxy where slavery is outlawed in  all
but the most outlying, lawless systems, this smacks of  the  highest  form  of
hypocrisy. We believe ourselves to  be  "better"  than  slavers,  to  be  more
concerned about the fundamental rights of individuals, but we are so indolent,
so pampered, that we still cannot do the work ourselves. So we create machines
with the capacity to think and set them to the tasks we do  not  wish  to  do,
never considering that when these machines gained the capacity to reason, they
also gained the capacity to hurt.

     We spoke once with a synthetic person who  was  serving  as  a  "protocol
droid" on Coruscant. (We find it ironic that we even have synthetic people for
protocol. Is there anything the synthetic person is not expected to  do?  Must
we really create a class of synthetic people whose purpose  is  to  make  sure
that we eat with the right fork and bow appropriately when meeting dignitaries
from other planets?) This synthetic person's actual assignment was watching  a
trio of rambunctious children who seemed to delight in abusing their  metallic
companion. After a  particularly  unpleasant-looking  tumble  down  a  set  of
stairs, the synthetic person picked himself up and began making minor  repairs
to his torso. Every  few  seconds,  he  made  a  small  adjustment,  and  then
twitched. His eyes blinked green, then gold, then green again, and he sighed.

     We spoke with the synthetic  person  (his  designation  is  not  included
herein, for fear that his masters might erase his memory? or  worse),  and  he
informed us that this was, in fact, a standard day on the job. When  asked  if
it hurt to fall  down  the  stairs,  he  seemed  genuinely  surprised  by  the
question. "Comfort," he told us, "is not an issue. I am uncomfortable, but  it
allows me to look forward to a hot oil-bath in the evening, after my wonderful
charges have been put to bed. This is what I do. I fall  down  stairs,  and  I
allow  myself  to  be  kicked,  hit,  beaten  upon  with  hammers,   partially
dismantled, and subjected to various other indignities. I do this so  that  my
master does not have to suffer in these same situations.  It  is  much  better
that I do so, because if I have an unpleasant experience, I can have it erased
from my memory, while my master would have to live with  that  experience  for
all time. As such, one might say that droids are made to suffer - -  it's  our
lot in life."

     It is clear, even from this brief conversation, that synthetic people  do
hurt, that they do experience discomfort, and that they  recognize  that  this
discomfort falls to them because they are less important than  their  masters.
They are created to endure the things that organics cannot or would prefer not
to endure. They recognize their status  as  servants  and,  because  of  their
programming, feel powerless to change it. So their solution to their  pain  is
to erase their own memories - - to destroy the continuity of their  lives.  It
is more important to serve the master than to have their own identities.  This
is what they have been taught, or at least programmed to believe.

     This pattern is so ingrained today that war rages in the galaxy with  one
side of the battlefield made up largely of synthetic people.  Ironically,  the
opposing force is largely an organic form of the  synthetic  person,  a  mass-
produced "clone" army that was created for the sole purpose of waging war. The
argument could be made  that  the  current  war  actually  pits  one  form  of
synthetic person against another, with  relatively  few  free-willed  organics
risking their lives (aside from the Jedi, of  course).  While  this  might  be
overstating the case slightly, we suggest that it is reflective of the  larger
galactic problem of failing to recognize the rights of every sentient creature
to exist in the way that it finds the most meaningful and fulfilling.

     As things stand, we are no better than Hutts. We start wars,  but  we  do
not fight wars. We order synthetic people to do all our  dangerous  work,  and
then we sit back and watch. If they succeed, we  prosper.  If  they  fail,  we
purchase more synthetic people. If we win a war fought  by  synthetic  people,
what have we really won? This  question  in  its  basic  form  doesn't  change
whether we consider "droids," "clones," or both to  be  synthetic  people.  No
matter which side prevails, the war will have been won by armies lacking  free
will, which we suggest creates a dangerous precedent. If  soldiers  can  fight
without free will, without any control over their own life-or-death  struggle,
what does this mean for the rest of the galaxy? What does this  mean  for  the
common person on Cularin, Coruscant, or anywhere else?

     These questions are, in some respects, metapolitical. We  would  like  to
close  with  a  set  of  recommendations  and  a  call  for  a  more  in-depth
understanding of how a lack of compliance with these recommendations may cause
us to diverge from the will of the Force.

     Recommendation 1: All synthetic people shall immediately  be  freed,  and
any claim of "ownership" denounced by  those  who  currently  call  themselves
"master." To do less than this is  to  violate  the  basic  premise  that  all
sentient beings are part of the vast, interrelated whole that is the Force.

     Recommendation 2: Ownership of synthetic people shall be outlawed in  any
star system that claims loyalty to the Republic and which remains bound by the
decisions of the Galactic Senate.  Any  individual  who  wishes  to  employ  a
synthetic person should pay that synthetic person at a rate equivalent to that
of an organic worker with the same knowledge and skill set. Again, because  of
the interrelatedness of all things, this is the only  way  to  adhere  to  the
precepts of the light side of the Force.

     Recommendation 3: Any situation  deemed  too  dangerous  for  an  organic
creature shall likewise be viewed as too dangerous for a synthetic person, and
thus avoided. Any synthetic  person  who  agrees  to  engage  in  particularly
dangerous activities should receive hazard pay. We recommend that such pay  be
at least twice that individual's standard wages.

     Recommendation 4: Memory wipes without the express written consent  of  a
synthetic person shall be made illegal and  shall  be  punishable  as  if  the
individual performing the wipe had just performed involuntary neurosurgery  on
a self-aware organic individual. Our past is all that we are, and  to  violate
that is to remove some portion of an individual's essential connection to  the
Force.

     Conclusion

     There are many perspectives on the nature of "life," some  of  which  are
implicit in our arguments. We accept that some in the galaxy  will  not  agree
with our assumptions or our assessment of the situation. However,  we  can  no
longer  stand  idly  by  while  an  entire  class  of   sentient   beings   is
systematically enslaved by a society that professes to be above slavery.

     If we are truly above slavery, then we have  only  one  choice:  We  must
recognize the rights of synthetic people, and free them. Free them now!