History Main / AndroidsArePeopleToo

* In RealLife, the field of "AL" (Artificial Life, also known as cybernetics) [[InvokedTrope tries to produce]] machines with life-like mechanisms or traits (such as being self replicating).

* Data of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' is treated as a full crew-member except by season 2's Doctor Pulaski, but even she changed her mind, and she was a DoctorJerk to begin with. The episode ''The Measure of a Man'' was dedicated to exploring this: Commander Bruce Maddox wants to reverse-engineer Data, but Data refuses to submit, believing that Maddox won't be able to put him back together properly. He even goes so far as to tender his resignation from Starfleet to keep Maddox from opening him up. Commander Riker is ordered to serve as advocate for the prosecution when Maddox gets the judge advocate general involved, making the argument that Data is a machine, built by a man, for their use. Picard defends Data with the argument that while Data is a machine, he's also a person with aspiration, goals, and purposes. He fulfills two of the three criteria for sentience (intelligence and self-awareness) and the last one (consciousness) is not measurable by outsiders, so to refuse Data the rights of a person would make TheFederation potentially guilty of creating a slave race if they mass produce his kind.

* In QuestionableContent, AnthroPCs are treated as if they are people most of the time, especially since in the QC universe, the Singularity has recently happened. It's unclear then why Pintsize hasn't been arrested yet, the filthy little boob terrorist.

** Not quite. Recall that Paul orders his android partner to get him coffee, which is at least a little demeaning; most of the characters' only concern when the main character Kennex shoots or otherwise damages a robot is more along the lines of "Thanks for causing an inconvenience" (Maldonado even says "Do you have any idea how much these things cost?"); Kennex himself is specifically anti-robot for the most part; deactivating illegal sexbots early on was a non-issue; taking away the memories of "crazy" DRNs is perfectly acceptable, even when the memories in question have nothing to do with sensitive police files; and there will probably be more examples as the show progresses. For the most part it seems like Dorian (Kennex's android partner) is trying to convince other people, especially Kennex, that AndroidsArePeopleToo

* The ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' series flip-flopped on this as well, similar to ''Terminator''. In [[Film/{{Alien}} the first movie]], the secondary villain is a sinister android. In [[Film/{{Aliens}} the next movie]], the artificial human is a genuine ally and actually lampshades the previous model's failures. The [[Film/AlienResurrection fourth film]] features an android who'd been passing as human for years and is referred to as being more humane than actual humans.

* In ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', how well you treat droids contributes significantly to your Dark Side/Light Side score, especially the ever-faithful T3 unit.

* ''VideoGame/TheSims'': Robots are a common theme. Through they're servants, they are treated like a normal. In the [[VideoGame/TheSims2 second game expansion]] ''Open for Business", they can run their own stores and their own skill levels. [[VideoGame/TheSims3 In the third game]], there were two types, Simbot and Plumbot [[note]]the former in Amibtions and the latter in To the Future[[/note]], and yes, they can have traits.

->"Starfleet was made to seek out new life, (points to Data) well, ''there it sits''."
-->-- '''Captain Picard''', ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration''

->"Starfleet was made to seek out new life, (points to Data) well ''there it sits''."

This is the the SuperTrope of ClonesArePeopleToo, and is generally found on the enlightenment side of the RomanticismVersusEnlightenment scale.

** In the ''VideoGame/MegaManX'' series, the reploids are mostly treated as humans, however, the humans can sometimes quite hastily tag some reploid as a maverick (probably as a result of the events of the Replifore Rebellion).

* In the classic ''VideoGame/MegaMan'' saga, the robots are mostly workers, but apparently treated with enough respect to not make them uprise in rebellion (with the exception of the ninth game).

** By the ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'' series onwards, humans and reploids are so mixed up there are barely any distinctions
** but by the time of the ''VideoGame/MegaManLegends'' series, the carbons ({{Artificial Human}}s), are strictly controlled by the robots. At the same time, the last "pure" human is treated as a king, but since he died some time ago, and many ruins are now on minimal operational levels, the carbons are the dominant race, going underground from time to time to dig and steal...ehrrmmm...obtain treasures from the ruins.

* In the backstory to ''Franchise/MassEffect'', the quarians created the geth as a labor force able to network their processors to increase computing power. Eventually, enough geth got together and started asking existential questions ("Does this unit have a soul?"). The quarians, expecting their robot slaves to rebel, preemptively tried to shut them down. The geth resisted, forcing the quarians to retreat from Rannoch in an enormous Migrant Fleet that has wandered Citadel space for three hundred years.

** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', Shepard can repeatedly call out the quarians for their treatment of the geth, especially when it's revealed that during the geth uprising, they also gunned down anyone who ''defended'' the geth, a fact that the quarians have conveniently [[WrittenByTheWinners left out]] of their history books. For the most part, a Paragon Shepard actually seems more sympathetic to the geth than the quarians and a PatrickStewartSpeech is part of the way to finally achieve peace, pointing out to the quarians that for all their history, the geth have ''never'' wanted to fight, are only ''defending'' themselves, and the war could have ended ''long'' ago if they simply [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder stopped trying]] to kill them!

* Data of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' is treated as a full crew-member. Except by season 2's doctor Pulaski, but even she changed her mind, and she was a DoctorJerk to begin with. An episode, ''The Measure of a Man'', was dedicated to this, where Data's status as a person is brought to court when a Starfleet scientist wants Data to submit to disassembly so more like him can be built. Data refuses, because he feels that the scientist lacks the skills to put him back together perfectly. Riker is forced to advocate for the scientist, making the argument that Data is a machine, built by man, for their use. Picard defends Data, and raises the argument that while Data ''IS'' a machine, he's also a person. With aspiration, goals, and purposes. That he fulfills two of the three criteria for sentience (intelligence and self-awareness), and that the last one (consciousness) is not measurable by outsiders, so to refuse Data the rights of a person would make TheFederation potentially guilty of creating a slave race once they mass produce his kind.

* In the ''Franchise/MassEffect'' games, the Geth are an AI created accidentally before the events of the games. The Quarians, who made them as an automated labor force, tried to preemptively destroy all of them, expecting an uprising if they didn't. It didn't work, and the Quarians were driven off all their worlds (including their homeworld) and suffered near-genocide, and now they're wandering the galaxy in a migrant fleet. The Geth are the {{Mooks}} of the [[VideoGame/MassEffect1 first game]], but you learn in the second that they only represent five percent of Geth, the rest peacefully living on the Quarians' old planet, keeping it ready for the Quarians' return.
** ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' also has Joker's emotional attachment to the ship's AI EDI, Legion's (a mostly-independent Geth) sentimentality towards Shepard, and if Legion dies during the suicide mission, Shepard will mourn just as s/he would for the death of an organic. The Quarian-Geth conflict, once Shepard is aware that the Geth are not universally violent, is portrayed almost like a tribal/religious war, in which neither side is entirely in the right, rather that the usual 'Whee! Robots, kill them!' kind of attitude commonly found in games.
** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', Shepard can repeatedly call out the Quarians for their treatment of the Geth, especially when it's revealed that during the Geth Uprising, they also gunned down anyone who ''defended'' the Geth, a fact that the Quarians have conveniently [[WrittenByTheWinners left out]] of their history books. For the most part, a Paragon Shepard actually seems more sympathetic to the Geth than the Quarians and part of the way to finally achieve peace is a PatrickStewartSpeech, pointing out to the Quarians that for all their history, the Geth have ''never'' wanted to fight, are only ''defending'' themselves and the war could have ended ''long'' ago if they simply [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder stopped trying]] to kill them!
** Shepard similarly rebukes those who treat EDI as nothing more [[JustAMachine than a machine]], such as the Illusive Man and rather surprisingly, even Dr Chakwas. The latter admits that while she likes EDI and considers her a friend, she doesn't consider her a ''person'' in the same way as an organic.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', a side quest involves tracking down a runaway android. The one looking seems to completely disregard the notion of this trope, and [[VideoGameCrueltyPotential so can you, if you want.]]

** Subverted with Androids 17 and 18 who are basically just humans that were modified by Dr. Gero. Android 18 even has a daughter eventually.

* Data of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' is treated as a full crew-member. Except by season 2's doctor Pulaski, but even she changed her mind, and she was a DoctorJerk to begin with. An entire episode, ''The Measure of a Man'', was dedicated to this, where Data's status as a person is brought to court when a Starfleet scientist wants Data to submit to disassembly so more like him can be built. Data refuses, because he feels that the scientist lacks the skills to put him back together perfectly. Riker is forced to advocate for the scientist, making the argument that Data is a machine, built by man, for their use. Picard defends Data, and raises the argument that while Data ''IS'' a machine, he's also a person. With aspiration, goals, and purposes. That he fulfills two of the three criteria for sentience (intelligence and self-awareness), and that the last one (consciousness) is not measurable by outsiders, so to refuse Data the rights of a person would make TheFederation potentially guilty of creating a slave race once they mass produce his kind.

* In ''Series/RedDwarf'', Holly and Kryten are treated as full crew members, and their lives carry as much dramatic weight as a human's. Of course, in a series where the protagonists are two organic, two machine and one sorta on the fence, ArtificialAndAlive is kind of required.

* ''VideoGame/TheSims'': Robots are a common theme. Through they're basically servants, they are treated like a normal. In the [[VideoGame/TheSims2 second game expoansion]] ''Open for Business", they can run their own stores and their own skill levels. [[VideoGame/TheSims3 In the third game]], there were two types, Simbot and Plumbot. [[note]]the former in Amibtions and the latter in To the Future[[/note]], and yes they can have traits.

* ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' works like this, presumably due to having had fully-sentient AI's for centuries. Ennesby, their resident [[DeadpanSnarker sarcastic]] AI, is mostly treated as an equal of any other crew-member, and at one point he circumvented a bureaucratic attempt to stop them by suggesting that they might be discriminating against AI's - thus strongly indicating that there exists specific legislation forbidding such discrimination. Other incidents of note includes the apparent death of Petey, the AI of their old warship, which was grieved by the characters just as much as the death of any crew member.

** Also, while the comic does treat them like people, that does not mean it treats them well. In a universe where death is cheap (like a few hours regrowing a body cheap) and where the fourth wall is broken regularly, AI's have been everything from soldiers to spaceships to ablative plating to [[spoiler: the closest thing to a god there is]], don't expect a respect for people's right to continue to exist, especially when the person is between a mercenary and his money. (As a final note, AI are arguably treated better than humans; there have been no AIs who appear to delight in torture or act obviously evil, and most AI appear more moral and more sophisticated than many of the humans they work with.)

** Not quite. Recall that Paul orders his android partner to get him coffee, which is at least a little demeaning; most of the characters' only concern when the main character Kennex shoots or otherwise damages a robot is more along the lines of "Thanks for causing an inconvenience" (Maldonado even says "Do you have any idea how much these things cost?"); Kennex himself is specifically anti-robot for the most part; deactivating illegal sexbots early on was a non-issue; taking away the memories of "crazy" DRNs is perfectly acceptable, even when the memories in question have nothing to do with sensitive police files; and there will probably be more examples as the show progresses. For the most part it seems like Dorian (Kennex's android partner) is trying to convince other people, especially Kennex, of this idea.

** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'', Shepard can repeatedly call out the Quarians for their treatment of the Geth, especially when it's revealed that during the Geth Uprising, they also gunned down anyone who ''defended'' the Geth, a fact that the Quarians have conveniently [[WrittenByTheWinners left out]] of their history books.

* ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'' has RidiculouslyHumanRobots and an UpliftedAnimal heroine. Robots elsewhere than on Jean are simply machines with no sense of self, and are treated as such, and most of the 'villains' of the story persist in treating Jean's robots the same way. Anyone who's actually TALKED to a robot, however, has realized that they're self-aware and thoroughly human, thus creating the central conflict. What Ecosystems Unlimited sees as a 'bug-fix', Florence sees as a mass lobotomy aimed on a sophont race...

* This is apparently the way the Nemesites treat [=AI's=] in ''TheInexplicableAdventuresOfBob'' judging by Voluptua's treatment of Roofus the Robot. However, they also have nonsentient robots that are JustAMachine.

*** In fairness, the Doctor's status is complicated by circumstance. Unlike Data - who was built by an outside source and joined Starfleet in the same manner as any human - the Doctor is an Emergency Medical Hologram designed and installed by Starfleet. He was never intended to be anything but a semi-sentient emergency medical tool active for at most days at a time. Any attempt he makes to become more human is more and more stress he is putting on his original program, threatening a crash that would deprive Voyager of their only medical aid. No wonder Janeway is torn between wanting to encourage his humanity and protect the interests of her ship.

->'''Dark Heart:''' You saved me? Why?!\\
'''Christie:''' [[AvertedTrope Good or bad, you're still a person. Or whatever you are.]]
-->--''[[CareBears Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation]]''

* The ''Franchise/{{Alien}}'' series flip-flopped on this as well, similar to ''Terminator''. In [[Film/{{Alien}} the first movie]], the secondary villain is a sinister android. In [[Film/{{Aliens}} the next movie]], the artificial human is a genuine ally and actually lampshades the previous model's failures. The [[Film/Alien:Resurrection fourth film]] features an android who'd been passing as human for years and is referred to as being more humane than actual humans.