socrowdedinhere | Woo, Zero got wordy on me. (Reply)

Zero: Heart is tied to life as much as spark or...*rolls a wrist as he looks for the right word.* soul. I don't see much difference unless you're talking about the organ that pumps fluids through the body of many organic life forms.

Deckard: We mimic life, Subzero. It's not the same thing. *had that drilled into him far too many times* Ultimately, we're little more than highly advanced programming.

*As unhappy about as they are, the others agree, looking down or away with various frowns or scowls on their faces*

Zero: .......You're wrong. You don't just mimic life. You're self-aware. You /feel/. Drones mimic life, give the impression of emotion, but the looks on your faces tell me you /feel/ emotion.

Dmps: Yeah, but that doesn't make us /alive/. We're still just robots.

Zero: *raises an optic ridge at him, he's really going to use that argument on Zero?* Just because you don't have a spark like I do, does not mean you're "just" a robot, Dumpson. I saw the robots on your home planet that were /just/ robots, drones. You're not.

GM: *wry grin…with some bitterness behind it, shrugs* We have Super AIs. That's all that sets us apart. Stick a Super AI in one of them and they'd be the same.

McC: Assuming their systems could handle the strain of so much added processing load.

GM: *shrugs* They could be modified to take it.

Duke: Thank you, Subzero-san, for thinking of us. But we already know we are not equal to those who are alive.

PJ: *arms crossed, /huffs/* Had that proven enough times already, thanks. Don't need the lesson again.

Alem: ......Subzero is right. Whatever happened to make your AI chips "super AIs" gave you life. What is life if not a compilation of data and the /feeling/ of the emotions that go with these memories?

Duke: *shakes his head* By that definition, why is a tree considered alive? Plant life is accepted as being living, but plants don't build memories or feel emotions.

Zero: Here...let’s put it this way. The accepted dictionary of your world says many things about life. Keeping in mind that the world your from is biased to organic life forms because they are unfamiliar with other life forms, such as myself or Karaf, let’s look at this. Life is, and I quote, “manifested by growth through metabolism, reproduction, and the power of adaption to environment through changes originating internally.” Frankly, with the /limited/ experience with life humans have, no offence Alem-

Alem: None taken.

Zero: -They kept the scope rather narrow. You and I do not change physically, but we change mentally. We grow, we adapt to our environments and the changes that we go through shape who we are. Tell me, are /any/ of you the same bots you were when you first woke up? Have you /not/ built relationships? Have you /not/ grieved the loss of loved ones? Have you /not/ endured physical changes that have forced you to adapt, think of new ways of solving problems, perhaps find new reasons to keep pushing on? ...Reasons to /live/? I’m not saying the definition you’ve known of life is wrong, I’m saying it’s too narrow for the universe that is out there. You accept I’m alive because I say I have a spark. My spark is /me/, the same way your Super AI chips are /you/. Without a spark I’d be nothing more than a drone with programming to do whatever job was might be given. My spark is what allowed me to develop feelings, a personality, a /heart/. Your Super AI’s allow the same for you, don’t they? *a pause* I’m not expecting you to just accept the opposite of what you’ve been told since you were spa-brought online. You’ve been an anomaly in a world that has a narrow view of what life is allowed to be defined as. I’m no different from any of you...without that /one thing/ that allows me to adapt, grow, and change according to my experiences and relationships, I’d be “just” a robot. Think about it...accept it or don’t once you’ve thought it over, but at least think about it, and be open to possibilities.