"This is the Greatest Example of Wanton Cruelty ...." Topic

….in All of the Star Wars Universe.

"Once you start really thinking about it, the Star Wars universe is a pretty grim place. Not only is the entire galaxy always seemingly mired in a destructive, pervasive war, but there's dramatic levels of income inequality, extreme poverty, and, perhaps worst of all, widespread slavery of sentient beings. Even with this rich background of suffering and general shittiness, there's one fact about the universe that is uniquely and disturbingly cruel. This quality is probably best demonstrated in a clip from The Return of the Jedi:

Here's the clip I'm talking about:…."
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Amicalement
Armand

How do we know that the droids are feeling anything? It's quite possible that they are just programmed to act in specific ways, such as making certain sounds, when predetermined criteria are met.

It just sounds like earth.

Someone needs to look at a good farrier at work. Looks horrendous but really necessary for the horse to be able to move around and feed if its in a pasture without lots of rocks. Less needed in wild horses.

I think the author may have missed the entire point of why the sensation of pain exist for ANY self-aware entity. You could just as easily ask: "why do humans feel pain", come to exactly the same conclusion, and be correct for both humans and droids: pain is nothing more than a mental interpretation of sensory input that is designed to allow the entity to recognize when it is in a situation where physical harm will be done to it's body, so it can avoid or escape that situation. Philosophically speaking, it MUST be an unpleasant sensation by definition, as it must be something the entity seeks to avoid.

The droid's feet can melt or break or abrade just like organic feet, even if it takes much more extreme damage to do it. So why is it not logical for the droid to have an aversion response to stimula that indicate impending damage?

Now, is there a reason for the droid to *scream* like a biological? Not really. The most efficient response they could be programmed with is simply to remove themselves from the source of potential damage as quickly and efficiently as possible. *edit* Actually, now that I think about it, screams of pain from droids are ALSO helpful, and again, for exactly the same reason they exist in biologicals: to alert people around you to the danger so they can either assist you or flee the hazard. There's no evolutionary advantage to self for biologicals to scream in pain either; it almost certainly evolved because of the group advantage it gives to the species population at large, not because it helps the individual who is in pain.

But the notion that droids would feel a sensation analogous to "pain" is by no means "wanton cruelty", it's simply effective self-preservation processing.

I think maybe the author was just trying a little too hard to be philosophically "deep".

It was a throw-away joke. Reading more into it than that is silly.

(smile)

Amicalement
Armand

The droids didn't scream, that was the sound of the electrons escaping.

You may find screaming helps release stress that may otherwise damage the brain or other organs.

Lots of machines make noises. Some sound like the are talking or humming or screaming. This may be the case here.

Also, as with C3po, some droids are programmred to speak and act, even look like people. This may also be the case.

At the end of the day a machine, by design, is only an artificial alternative, not a living creature. Perhaps the scream is to conjour sympathy from the audience, nothing more.

Or it could be that some droids are drama queens and just want attention… ;-)

But it could be worse; We could also be subjected to droids experiencing pleasure and vocalizing it (e.g. overacting in pr0n movies… ;-)

Ha-Ha-Ha…!

Amicalement
Armand

@Zehpyr1: Droid porn is actually a thing. It saves the producers a lot of money compared to hiring living beings as actors.

There are two main forms of droid porn: pseudobiological and natural. Pseudobiological droid porn uses droids that look, act, and sound like living beings. Natural droid porn involves droids that look, act, and sound like droids.

Actually most droids have live actors in suits or as effects people controlling them.

R2 and C3po had an actor in them. As did many in Star wars. Silent running had amputees in theirs.