History Main / AndroidsArePeopleToo

* All artificial humanoid constructs are treated as humans by default in the ''Franchise/LyricalNanoha'' universe, including cyborgs, clones with constructed personalities, [[PureMagicBeing living magical programs]] running off another mage's {{mana}}, and full androids whose creator accidentally gave [[PersonalityChip human-level personalities]]. The series actually takes it even further than most by having the {{Empathic Weapon}}s treated as people.
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* The ''ComicBook/AstroCity'' story "Ellie's Friends" has Ellie Jennersen, who runs a roadside museum of MechaMooks that serve as her RobotBuddies. She sees them all as close friends, treating them with as much love and care as she would to her own family.

* ''Fanfic/AvengerOfSteel'' sees a 'holograms are people too' variation, asClark prompts an interesting debate between Tony and Bruce about whether an artificial intelligence programmed with the personality of a specific person (Clark referring to the holographic interface of Jor-El that was sent to Earth with him) should be considered that person or not.

* The ''Film/{{Tron}}'' universe goes bonkers with this. While the films, games, and ''WesternAnimation/TronUprising'' series use the Programs' [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman non-human status]] and peculiar way of dying as a form of BloodlessCarnage (and a way to [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar depict some extremely violent and disturbing scenes]] in a {{Creator/Disney}} franchise), in-universe depictions portray the Programs and Isos as being every bit as alive and sentient as the Users who made them.

The SlidingScaleOfRobotIntelligence is a big factor here. Nobody's going to treat a 1970's digital watch as a person. If [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Data]] is at the other end of that scale, obviously there is a line between the two, but where is it and how blurry is it? On the other hand, A.I.'s might be based on a radically different technology than simple machines, making the line clearer: Isaac Asimov's positronic brains were not computers in any conventional sense (although Asimov himself disliked the idea of treating androids as people, rather than complex tools).

The SlidingScaleOfRobotIntelligence is a big factor here. Nobody's going to treat a 1970's digital watch as a person. If [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Data]] is at the other end of that scale, obviously there is a line between the two, but where is it and how blurry is it? On the other hand, A.I.'s might be based on a radically different technology than simple machines, making the line clearer: Isaac Asimov's positronic brains were not computers in any conventional sense.

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

** Ironically, Jim Hammond, the Golden Age Human Torch, rarely seemed to encounter such prejudices once his career hit its stride. It doubtless helped that he was a [[ArtificialHuman biological]] android who looked and acted completely human.

* In ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', after Penny's RoboticReveal, she laments that she's "not a real girl." Her friend's having none of it.
-->'''Ruby:''' You think just because you have nuts and bolts instead of squishy guts makes you any less real than me?\\
'''Penny:''' I don't... um... you're... taking this extraordinarily well.

The SlidingScaleOfArtificialIntelligence is a big factor here. Nobody's going to treat a 1970's digital watch as a person. If [[Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration Data]] is at the other end of that scale, obviously there is a line between the two, but where is it and how blurry is it? On the other hand, A.I.'s might be based on a radically different technology than simple machines, making the line clearer: Isaac Asimov's positronic brains were not computers in any conventional sense.

->'''Trunks:''' What you were doing was cruel, Pan!
->'''Pan:''' What are you talking about? It's just a dumb machine!
->'''Trunks:''' If he's scared to die, he must value his existence! His life might be different than ours, but if he's struggling to survive, then we have to respect that.
-->--''Dragon Ball GT: Retold Saga'', Chapter 4

-->--''Dragon Ball GT: Retold Saga, Chapter 4''

-->--''Dragon Ball GT: Retold Saga''

-->--''Anime/DragonBallGT''

->''"You see he's met two of your three criteria for sentience. What if he meets the third: consciousness, in even the smallest degree? What is he then? I don't know, do you?! ''[looks at the prosecution]'' Do you? ''[looks at the judge]'' Do you? Well that's the question you have to answer. Your honor, the courtroom is a crucible. In it we burn away irrelevances until we are left with a purer product: the truth, for all time. Now sooner or later this man, or others like him will succeed in replicating [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot Commander Data]], and the decision you reach here today will determine how we will regard this creation of our genius. It will reveal the kind of a people we are, and what he is destined to be; it will reach far beyond this courtroom and this one android. It could significantly redefine the boundaries of personal liberty and freedom, expanding them for some, and savagely curtailing them for others. Are you prepared to condemn him, and all who come after him, to servitude and slavery? Your honor, Starfleet was founded to seek out new life, ''[points to Data]'' well '''there it sits''', waiting. You wanted a chance to make law, well here it is, make it a good one."''
-->-- '''[[PatrickStewartSpeech Capt. Jean-Luc Picard]]''', ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E9TheMeasureOfAMan The Measure of a Man]]"

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* ''Series/AlmostHuman'': Due to the crime rate, police officers are partnered with an android, which are pretty treated the same way as the human officers.
** 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 regular androids aren't as self-aware as humans and aren't actually treated as "people". The [=DRNs=] are actually an ''earlier'' model that worked ''too well'': capable of near-genuine or genuine self-awareness, but this meant that they'd crack under the pressure just like a human put in the same circumstances (if a human police officer saw a little girl get shot dead, he'd have a mental breakdown too - the bureaucrats decided it was simply because the line was defective and "crazy" to begin with, so they shelved the whole line).

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* DetroitBecomeHuman: Pretty much the main premise of every narrative in the game, as the Androids are just evolving sentience and the Humans still treat them like slaves. How it goes from there...well, that's up to you.

->"You see he's met two of your three criteria for sentience. What if he meets the third: consciousness, in even the smallest degree? What is he then? I don't know, do you?! ''[looks at the prosecution]'' Do you? ''[looks at the judge]'' Do you? Well that's the question you have to answer. Your honor, the courtroom is a crucible. In it we burn away irrelevances until we are left with a purer product: the truth, for all time. Now sooner or later this man, or others like him will succeed in replicating [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot Commander Data]], and the decision you reach here today will determine how we will regard this creation of our genius. It will reveal the kind of a people we are, and what he is destined to be; it will reach far beyond this courtroom and this one android. It could significantly redefine the boundaries of personal liberty and freedom, expanding them for some, and savagely curtailing them for others. Are you prepared to condemn him, and all who come after him, to servitude and slavery? Your honor, Starfleet was founded to seek out new life, ''[points to Data]'' well '''there it sits''', waiting. You wanted a chance to make law, well here it is, make it a good one."

->"You see he's met two of your three criteria for sentience. What if he meets the third: consciousness, in even the smallest degree? What is he then? I don't know, do you?! *''looks at the prosecution''* Do you? *''looks at the judge''* Do you? Well that's the question you have to answer. Your honor, the courtroom is a crucible. In it we burn away irrelevances until we are left with a purer product: the truth, for all time. Now sooner or later this man, or others like him will succeed in replicating [[RidiculouslyHumanRobot Commander Data]], and the decision you reach here today will determine how we will regard this creation of our genius. It will reveal the kind of a people we are, and what he is destined to be; it will reach far beyond this courtroom and this one android. It could significantly redefine the boundaries of personal liberty and freedom, expanding them for some, and savagely curtailing them for others. Are you prepared to condemn him, and all who come after him, to servitude and slavery? Your honor, Starfleet was founded to seek out new life, *''points to Data''* well '''there it sits''', waiting. You wanted a chance to make law, well here it is, make it a good one."