Could you love an android child?

I certainly wouldn't be mean to him, but I think the others have a valid point:If you had both a human child and an android child and they were both drowning, I think the natural instinct would be to save the human child first. For me it wouldn't be because I didn't have an attachment to the android, but a human life is harder to repair than an android one. With the android, you just need to replace a few parts and maybe restore from a backup. You can't do that with a human (at least not yet).
Both of them could be considered "alive", but only one of them is able to be permanently dead in that scenario.
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Yes, I do agree. They keep backups of the child's brain once in a while, too, so you could get part of the android back. You can't get a real child back at all.

 
A very similar premise, the movie, A.I. (2001)
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I haven't seen that in forever... It was one of my favorites back then though. All I remember now is aliens at the end and some kind of android gigolo at the beginning though. For some reason, in my mind, the gigolo is played by Christopher Eccleston?

 
Ok, first - I love this thread.

View attachment 108My question to you is: Could you love an android child, or would it be just a robot to you?
Thoughts?
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I'm almost positive that I would really love them. From a religious perspective, I see no reason they could not be imbued with a soul, which makes a difference to me. Weird, I know.

I loved that show. The android child seemed real enough to me.But I definitely see a potential market here. Why restrict the androids to just child companions? Why not have full featured adult companions as well?
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Oh, my, this is going holodeck/ Blade Runner very quickly.

I see in the future......Stepford Wives, for the men, and yes Stepford Hubbies for all you Lasses! Wheeeee! Now, let me ask this. Your two children, one your own flesh and blood, the other comes with a charger, are both drowning. You automatically, without thinking, are going to save the real child first. Then, after proper CPR and such, you'll tie a rope around the android's foot, at the bottom and drag, or vehicle tow him out. You'll take him back to the factory and get another just like he was. And just Luv, Luv, Luv that new baby.
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Yesterday, my wife and I teared up over our cat who has been gone for 7 years now. It's generally accepted that the loss of a child is the most devastating psychological event one can live through. I don't know that losing an android child would be much easier. Reprogramming a new one would seem hollow and an affront to the lost "child" in my mind. But I would probably do it anyway! Who wouldn't get their lost child back any way they could, even if only in part?

If you want to adopt a child,better take a real one. If you take a robot, one real child remains without adopters.
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Seivtcho, I take back any negative insinuations I ever made regarding your ethics. Beautiful thought. However, what if the choice were between an orphan and an android orphan...

Sure, a man that puts the toilet seat down, doesn't complain, takes out the trash, and likes hugs. I suppose that could work out very well.
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I am quickly becoming obsolete. Even though I do lower the lid and remove trash on occasion. Who doesn't enjoy hugs?!?

If a virus wiped out most of the people, I could see those left making androids to fill in the gap as babies, children, teens, adults. I guess you could bond some if you were left with no other alternative.
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But what about software viruses for the androids?? They could do permanent damage...

And the Androids take over. They would appear just like humans but never die. Just keep getting their parts replaced.
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That is one issue in the show Extant. Some people are afraid Androids will eventually get too smart and simply destroy humanity, so there are people on the show wanting to destroy the child android. It's a valid concern. After all, it would still be a machine basing all decisions on pure logic, wouldn't it?
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I think I could grow to love an android child, as long as it didn't turn on me or anyone else. haha
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I think I've mentioned it somewhere on the forum before, but the man who invented the software that is the underpinnings of all Apple products and a lot of the world's webservers has expressed serious concerns over this Terminator-type of takeover - http://archive.wired.com/wired/archive/8.04/joy.html
There seem to be a number of issues a midst these questions; control and the sanctity of "natural" human life to be certain. Good job making us think, all!

 
Oh, my, this is going holodeck/ Blade Runner very quickly.
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With cloning and android men, women no longer have to deal with the typical relationship. B.S. We won't need real men! And he can
be put on mute or pause when needed! Sounds like a win/win to me! :D I think I said this already. Deja vu, or am I really hoping it will happen???!

Yesterday, my wife and I teared up over our cat who has been gone for 7 years now. It's generally accepted that the loss of a child is the most devastating psychological event one can live through. I don't know that losing an android child would be much easier. Reprogramming a new one would seem hollow and an affront to the lost "child" in my mind. But I would probably do it anyway! Who wouldn't get their lost child back any way they could, even if only in part?
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It depends on the bond. If you have a bond, you will experience loss and mourn, unless you are a sociopath.

I am quickly becoming obsolete. Even though I do lower the lid and remove trash on occasion. Who doesn't enjoy hugs?!?
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I can name at least one!!

But what about software viruses for the androids?? They could do permanent damage...
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Norton for Androids would slow it down to a crawl, that's for sure.

 
With cloning and android men, women no longer have to deal with the typical relationship. B.S. We won't need real men! And he canbe put on mute or pause when needed! Sounds like a win/win to me! :D I think I said this already. Deja vu, or am I really hoping it will happen???!
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Muting :sick: <shudder>

It depends on the bond. If you have a bond, you will experience loss and mourn, unless you are a sociopath.
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I am most definitely a sociopath. :whistle:

I can name at least one!!
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:( :(

Norton for Androids would slow it down to a crawl, that's for sure.
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:eek: :zzz::zzz:

 
....Seivtcho, I take back any negative insinuations I ever made regarding your ethics. Beautiful thought. However, what if the choice were between an orphan and an android orphan...

.....

But what about software viruses for the androids?? They could do permanent damage...
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Why not to think more combinativly? Take them both. The real and the android one. Taking the android, you are actually given for free a very complex electronic computig system. Maybe you will be able to watch youtube by connecting your android child to the television.... The android child will need only electricity to live, which elecricity may be taken from a solar battery. Thus it will not waste your resources for growing the real child. Thus you will be able to have them both. I also imagined how android children may coexist together, without causing the human race to die out - you will be allowed to have an android child, ONLY if you have a real child.
Viruses for the androids? Since androids can replace parts, no virus will make them a permanent damage. You will change its hard drive for example.

 
Viruses for the androids? Since androids can replace parts, no virus will make them a permanent damage. You will change its hard drive for example.
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It does pose a new type of danger. Computer viruses were programmed by humans, and I'm sure there would be some anti-android humans out there that want them destroyed, thus creating viruses. Wouldn't surprise me at all! History repeats itself.

 
.... Computer viruses were programmed by humans, and I'm sure there would be some anti-android humans out there that want them destroyed, thus creating viruses. ... History repeats itself.
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Hahahaha. OK. Do you mean the conspiracy about the ebola, deliberately used to reduce the population? :)

 
Yup, but if some intellect gets to them, you may have a dying human society.
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That is always the fear, but you have to program limits and safeguards into them. The movies tend to show that someone corrupt gets a hold of them, though, and the limits and safeguards are removed. I suppose there is that type of potential, but if we are already creating walking robots, I'm sure people are going to try to build an Android just to prove they can.

 
That is always the fear, but you have to program limits and safeguards into them.
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The problem is not only in the agresion against the humanity. If enough number of people choose to have an android child, rather than to have a real child, then the humanity is doomed (Except if we are not immortal - see my Immortality through time travel topic).

 
I think if androids become popular, the institution of marriage may become obsolete. Cheating becomes a thing of the past. A woman may be free to choose multiple mating partners for the real thing for procreation. Androids can take on the responsibility of raising the young. The world would definitely be a different place.

 

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