So I've lurking on this site for a while especially on the "is it ethical to own an android if it's sentient" thread, but that is not what this thread will be about.

My question is how do you think bethesda will allow us to chracterize the Sole Survivor because I'm hoping that they let us mix and match thoughts and actions. Example: I want my Sole Survivor to think that it is possible to create synthetic life and that they are sentient and would deserve rights, but at the same time know that they are unknown and it's best to be cautious, and take them down before something bad potentially happens and does that through his actions.

I don't want it to be one or the other trains of thoughts
Where its:
Don't recognizer that artificial life is possible and want to take down all synths and be all doom and gloom
Or
Recognize artificial life is possible and want to help all synths and be sunshine and rainbows

I'm on Team Reasonable. Sentient androids should be given freedom and full rights/rights adjusted to their different physiology and psychology. There's no ban on creating synths that have no capacity for sentience. Any freed sentient synth who chooses to be dangerous and/or disruptive to other communities/peoeple will be dealt with on an individual basis, meaning its actions aren't taken as being representative of all SSs.

freedom and rights are quite relative in the marshal law post apocalypse for there are very few to enforce such decrees.

Yeah I could agree with that maybe I should change teams idk yet...

Its quite confusing for me, in the sence of the institute;
In fallout 3, Harkness (harkens or whatever.. Long time since i played) is true AI and he believes he should be a free man - according to the rail road, along with alot of others. Zimmer says this is merely a "glitch"
Yet the android (also true AI) stood next to zimmer seems completely compliant.. Hes not running away, despite being completely free to do so. So maybe hes being truthful about it being a glitch

are they programmed with specific traits and moral standing of what is right or wrong?
And if thats the case, what makes it so wrong? Even as a sentinent human, you dont get to pick your traits and sorry to say - some people are born just to grow up into serial killers.
Because if, say, an android is programmed to believe he's a raider and he spends his time killing, pillaging, [censored] and ontop of that takes pleasure in it - Is that because he was programmed that way or is it because he has achieved sentinence and genuinely enjoys killing?

Kinda boils down to - is it true sentinence or just an extremely good imitation of life?
If its the latter, no rights would be needed because even if it was programmed to imitate sadness on the topic of slavery - it wouldnt actually care, itd merely be trying to copy how a human would react.

I imagine there will be a faction of synth and we can choose to help or destroy them. And that will be about it. Maybe if we help them we'll have the option to hire synth mercs for our stronghold.

Im on team righteoussness.

So if the machines try and help people then they are useful tools (like a toaster or ambulance), if not (broken auto doc that kills) scrap and rebuild.

I think back to the tale of the Geth. And then I recall I, Robot. Then I think Bladerunner...

It really just depends on what happens.

You're on "Team Treat-Them-As-Things-And-Then-Get-Surprised-When-They-Don't-Like-That".

If this forum had a 'like post' function, I'd like your post so hard. xD That pretty much sums up the Institute all right. I mean, really? Was it that impossible for them to create Synths that couldn't think for themselves? The fact that they created Synths that could, then are surprised when said Synths decide they'd rather have the chance of being freed just screams stupid evil.

Hopefully our character will be able to express a nuanced opinion about it and not just "machines bad, kill them all!" vs "all androids are our brethren and we must unconditionally accept them all!" Of course with the paraphrasing we might end up saying "I like donuts" rather than either.

Pretty much this.

Saying "Androids should be freed" will give us good karma, while saying "Androids are just machines" will give us bad karma. Just watch.

Some non-player characters will tell us that androids are sentient beings. Other NPCs will tell us that androids are just machines. If Bethesda remains true to form, they won't tell us which side has it right. I'm pretty sure that we will have control over our Sole Survivor's point of view on the matter of android rights.

I sincerely hope it isn't black and white either.

Although I do kinda hope there's a path for you to become an android supremacist and augment yourself to the point of being mostly machine.

...What I'm saying is I want to fight a bunch of deathclaws as the Terminator. Don't crush my dreams

They are things. Machines are things. Machines dont like or dislike. They work or dont work.

And if someone builds a machine that pretends its human and helps people as a doctor then that is a useful machine. If it instead is built to murder people at random then it needs to be destroyed.

But then why program it to think of anything other than its duty? We don't see the Mr. Handy bots contemplating why they must serve humanity because no one programmed that into them like they apparently did with the Synths.

In fact, how did they even do that? How the hell did they manage to program such high level of thought and logic? Emotions? What makes the person the unique being he or she is? How was this even possible?

they are still machines who need to be told what to do. they dont bleed they dont feel pain. its good that they made a robot that can decide if someone is good our bad they would make good security guards. if they get shoot we can make more.

Then just program them like the Securitrons. Why give them the ability to think critically and decide that they would rather be free?

Has anyone taken into consideration that maybe the Androids who are trying to escape, compared to others, have been implanted somehow, with the memories of dead humans the Institute wants to keep alive for their knowledge? (tinfoil hat anyone?)

say raiders attack. a regular robot would kill them all while a robot with a mind wouldnt kill the ones that surender

I'm on team not use logic that has been used for centuries to oppress others. "They were born different" or "they are different from me!" aren't good reasons to consider them not people. They are 100% people because they have the ability to break their programming and build a mental state similar to our's. They don't want to be slaves then they have that right because again they are people.

I'm on Team ‘Staying-Neutral-Because-I-Don't-Want-To-Be-Dragged-Into-A-Fight-Not-My-Own’.

You are all liars if you think if Motoko Kusanagi died that you wouldn't be sad.

All of you.

I have but only one solution to the issue of android freedom and rights and all that whatnot....

KILL EVERYTHING! BURN THE CITIES TO THE GROUND! THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE SURVIVOR, ME!

*ahem*

My first play through will be a very, very, very evil character. Those droids want their freedom, I will gladly free them, from life and existence. The same goes for anything else that is stupid enough to be alive in my line of fire.

To call machines human is a mockery to all humans, not least of those who had their humanity questionened. To even compare a machines suffering (which does not exist) to human suffering is very evil indeed.

You would equal a robot destruction to the holocaust.