Maybe it's me, but my first impression of the Brotherhood of Steel--a giant armored zeppelin flying in out of nowhere declaring that it will now be occupying the Commonwealth on an ostensibly peaceful mission--was not all that favorable. Indeed, it was quite ominous.

Some people. Other people of the Commonwealth (namely synths) are going to be completely boned.

Over whom, exactly, does the Brotherhood dictate?

Synths aren't people though. No matter how much RR sympathizers want to kick and scream and say they are. They are sophisticated technology built with the express purpose of mimicking people. It's easy to understand why people are easily mislead and confused.

Citation needed.

Fallout 4

The guys who created them outright tell you that they aren't people. But you know, your feelings trump fact every day of the week, etc.

And if you want to get meta with it the RR saying that synths are "alive" and "people" is anologous to you saying the NPCs in your PC/XBO/PS4 are "alive".

These are the same people that are part of an organization that disappears people for convenience and engages in mass murder on the regular.

That they are untrustworthy narrators goes without saying. Hell, Mama Murphy gives you more accurate information over the course of the game.

Synths are not people, but are they persons? Do they possess their own feelings or are they just complex programmed mimics.

Even if they are persons, does this not make them an even greater threat to people?

In game, my character has witnessed a Synth murder a human with the clear intent of taking the place of the human. Much of my sympathy for Synths evaporated at that point.

Was it just following orders, or following its programming? Which is worse?

To me it wasn't ominous, it was salvation. Finally someone with some firepower that I can have faith in the fact they can actually get something done. Seeing the zeppelin gave much needed hope.

Seriously. How do you argue with a watch maker that his watch isn't a watch, even if he made the watch to look like a ashtray?

Actually, some of them are saying that it's pretty damn clear that they are people, an argument you can listen in on.

Patriot programmed them to desire freedom as a joke and then got swept up in the lie of it. It became a self fulfilling prophecy.

This. It's a kids' prank gone wrong.

And citation needed again.

I have the screenshot saved on my pc at home. Will post it after work if you keep this thread alive

I will eagerly await.

That said, I think I may have figured it out. I'm going to guess that this information comes up during the quest Plugging a Leak, which you can't get if you've completed Tradecraft, hence I haven't seen it. And if that's the case, it means that the pure Institute path and the Railroad path each give contradictory information about and by the same person. Which in turn means that either the universe itself differs depending on what path you take, or (much more likely) Bethesda screwed up.

It is generally safe to bet on a Bethesda screw up.

Unless of course its the same thing viewed from different faction's points of view.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/439516/Fallout%204/synth1.png

Wait. In context, that's him releasing synths that already wanted to be free.

Hmmm, guess I'll have to do another Institute play through.

Liam was the one who programmed them with the desire to escape. They didn't want to leave before he altered their will, which was never free to begin with.

You know metaphorically speaking Glory's last words pretty much proved that Synth are not living beings. You know the game designers put that in there for a reason.

What are they?

Ah, yes. Then I shall assume that Matriarch Benezia from Mass Effect 1 was also not a living being.