Should killing droids be murder?

If killing droids was murder, then the Jedi of the PT should all get the death penalty. Wait...they already did.

 

That's different those droids were trying to kill them of course they are only doing what they are told. I know they don't have feelings but they do contribute to society most are productive. It may not be murder in the sense of living beings but in the world of droids some are programmed to react as though they do fear it To them termination is death. I think of them kind of like pets of course pets are living but they are thought of as lower beings some are servants that help disabled people some are just treated like a piece of furniture it's the only comparison i could think of right now to describe droids in GFFA society to if destroyed.

 

That was my attempt at a bad joke.

 

And as we have at least a couple of instances where droids show that they dread destruction, I'm going to give them the benefit of the doubt and say they feel by any definition and they are self-aware. I'm not even sure they need to be part of the Force to acquire the right not to be killed/murdered/terminated.

I'd say we've seen more than just dread at the thought of their own destruction. In ANH in the scene where Luke stumbles across Leia's message to Obi-Wan, at the end of the scene Artoo sounds genuinely dejected when Threepio tells him that he doesn't think Luke likes him. Though he is unable to show emotions via facial expressions, Threepio's body language later in the movie when he hears Artoo has been hit is highly suggestive of his mourning what has happened to his best friend. Whistler and Gate's plans to get the guys who tormented them while trying to get a message back to the NR in Isard's Revenge is suggestive of droids seeking to avenge a wrong done to them. We could go on and on with various examples from the movies and books of droids demonstrating clearly that they appear to have emotions of their own rather than a program to merely show compassion to their masters in the face of certain emotions. Two of the examples I gave here pretty much do not have a living being present, or even able to understand what is being said, to witness such displays, something that would no doubt have to be a triggering requirement if it were a mere program. And the third there are living beings around but none of them are paying attention to the droid's reaction.

 

Um, on the force lightning not affecting Vong.

It has.

Jaina blows a hole through a Vong with Force Lightning in Star by Star, IIRC.

Yet Jacen can't in Traitor. Interesting, huh?

 

Killing droids is not murder, more 'destruction of someone elses property'. Yea, you can get attached to certain droid (like R2), and you can feel like someone close to you died, but legaly it's not murder. (of course, it depends of the Galactic Penal Code

I still don't understand that whole Luke NJO whinning 'if Yv are not in the Force, meybe we don't owe them nothing else but death.' They were/are alive, the Jedi just aren't able to sense that. And why Vergere says she wanted to kill Yv when she first encountred them. Is absence from the Force a crime?

 

When did Katarn massacre MSEs? Are they the mouse droids like the one you could remote in Jedi Outcast? They were so fun.

 

personally i don't think killing droids is murder droids are machines robots they have no feelings

 

It depends whether the droid has developed true sentience - a'la 3po and R2, or merely mimics it like most droids do.

 

personally i don't think killing droids is murder droids are machines robots they have no feelings

Some of the more advanced droids do appear to be programmed with simulated emotions in an effort to make them more able to interact with living beings. But for droids that recieve regular memory wipes that is all their emotions are, simulated. The question becomes if such emotions remain simulated when a droid is allowed to develop an actual personality, rather than remain with the basic factory programming they had off the assembly line, when they go for long periods without a memory wipe. People can argue that because something says a droids personality is basic, advanced, complex, etc. that not all droids leave the factory with a basic personality. This is not true as what that is saying is that the basic personality programming for that droid model is designed to make it better to handle the tasks it was programmed for. Yes, a complex personality is more advanced than a basic personality, but it is still a basic programming, one which a droid allowed to go without memory wipes for long periods can advance beyond. And if their personality can advance beyond that with which they were initially programmed with, then perhaps it is possible for droids to actually learn emotions. That is the real question with artifical intelligence.

 

Murder, probably not.

First degree droid-slaughter, however, may be a more proper classification.

 

If killing droids was murder, then the Jedi of the PT should all get the death penalty. Wait...they already did.



Wow, that's a great question...

I think it wouldn't be murder because they are not flesh and blood and never were. I don't think they have brains or a real mind.


God bless,
Malz

 

Wasn't that Dorsk 82? Being a clone he would probably have a significantly different perspective based on his own experiences.

 

What the YV were doing was senseless destruction (in the point of view of our GFFA). The Jedi don't believe in that...there was no reason the droids should be destroyed besides the fact that the YV didn't like them.