Farspeech stones

[forwearemany]

(It's an abrupt decision to voice the question that has been plaguing their thoughts over the stones.)

How is synthetic life treated in your universe of origin?

Comments

[want_to_belong]

Do you mean, like, robots?

[forwearemany]

Yes, though we are also curious about artificially created organics.

[want_to_belong]

Umm...

[A little close to home.]

Well, we have something like that on our world. They were used as fodder for the Empire's army, so we didn't really have much choice but to fight them. I'd like to... not fight them, though.

[journalname]

Do you mean robots? There was only one in my world that I knew of - my Royal Scientist created him! His name is Mettaton, and he is very popular on the television.

[forwearemany]

We are curious both about robotic and artificially created organic life.

Did Mettaton have a choice in his career? Was popularity what he desired?

[triggerhappytraitor]

Synthetic in what way?

[forwearemany]

We are interested in the rights afforded both mechanical lifeforms and artificially created organics.

[enhancements]

[His first thought actually trends toward organic things, rather than mechanical; they don't actually have any sort of truly intelligent robotics, where he's from.]

We've created several things by way of bio-organic engineering, if that's what you're asking about. Clones. Alterations. New species altogether. We've artificially enhanced humans by way of synthetic means, as well - mostly cybernetic implants.

Most of the world doesn't know about it. Just one specific group of people.

[forwearemany]

Though the nature of the lifeforms and the technologies involved are of interest, our question is about the rights afforded to intelligent synthetic lifeforms.

(Well he's just encountered a truly intelligent robot. Perhaps the obviously mechanical sounding voice will tip him off.)

[counterblows]

It...depends.

Most of our synthetic life consists of Artificial Intelligence, which kind of has a shaky track record. There are technical laws in place to keep people from misusing them, but it has less to do with their rights and more to do with safety. Like...equipment maintenance.

[He doesn't sound particularly pleased about any of this.]

[forwearemany]

(Legion doesn't sound particularly pleased either.)

Previously, you spoke of torture.

[wanderingdoctorfaust]

"...where I am from, our world is highly populated by these creatures called Gears. A Gear is defined by being an existing species that has undergone significant genetic alterations - typically wild beasts that have been mutated into hulking, violent masses that only exist to destroy and kill."

There's certainly a lot more to it than that, but for now...

"A select few of those to have undergone such a process were once human. Whilst we don't have any mechanical or robotic life per se, I do have some knowledge regarding how the Human Gears are treated, if that'll be helpful."

It helps that said Human Gears are people he has interacted with multiple times in the past.

[forwearemany]

"Acknowledged. Though not precisely synthetic, data on the treatment of Gears would be valuable."

Even if it's probably horrible. That's what they're starting to expect.

[prettypurpleparlor]

[Muffet pauses for a long moment, quietly considering what to say- or even whether to say anything at all- before she answers. It's still something of a bitter topic for her, but... from what little she knows of their past, Legion has a right to be interested in that.]

If by synthetic life you mean any artificially created life at all, I believe there have been experiments into cloning non-sapient beings, farm animals and the like. But as far as I'm aware, there's only one known sapient artificial lifeform on my planet at this time.

[She sounds... reluctant, as she continues. As polite and calm as ever, but there's some hesitance in her tone that hints she's ever-so-slightly uncomfortable on this particular topic.]

His name is Mettaton. He's a robot, an Artificial Intelligence built by the former Royal Scientist of our kingdom.

[forwearemany]

Acknowledged. Asgore has spoken of him.

He is treated well?

(It seemed so, but they'll try and confirm.)

[everylittlesecret]

An expensive novelty or automated workforce. AI's are around, but they're mostly just used to do tasks people don't want to do anymore if you can afford one. Or be a gimmick to sell technology. Like... we have one called Cortana that helps you like a search engine does, or Alexa that is supposed to be like a very fancy calendar, music player, or shopping list keeper.

[forwearemany]

Are they sapient?

(The important question.)

[jagarico]

In my world, I don't think we really consider synthetic life a possibility. There are robots and artificial intelligence but many might not think of such things as life.

[Considering he's talking to someone he knows is a synthetic life, this might not be the most tactful way of handling this.]

[forwearemany]

Acknowledged.

(Honestly, it's better than a lot of what they're hearing.)

Sapient intelligences have yet to be invented?

[atailoftwoworlds]

Uh....you mean artificial people, right? [Welp that is very familiar territory. Well, waaaaaaay too familiar for Zidane.]

Well, we do have that. And uh.....they aren't exactly treated very well by most people. [Considering how Vivi and the other black mages are treated.] But maybe that will change one day. Hopefully, anyway. [Vivi thinks it can happen at least.]

[forwearemany]

Affirmative.

(They chatter.)

Available data indicates poor treatment of synthetic lifeforms is common.

[onegreeneye]

Mine didn't really have synthetic life, but... someone in the last place I was in told me about how robots were treated in his world. I could relay that, if you want.

[He can easily see, though, how Legion would pass on information filtered through a third party.]

[forwearemany]

Yes.

(They're interested, even if the information is unlikely to be perfectly accurate.)

this is so late, you don't have to reply if you're not accepting tagins anymore sorry!

[crosslaced]

There is no- "synthetic life" where I come from. However- the kind of behavior people describe still happens. Without machines, humans simply turn their cruelty towards other humans.

Cruelty is the constant. It's just a matter of how a society picks its scapegoats.

It's fine

[forwearemany]

Acknowledged. This fits established data.

We do not understand this tendency.