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{{quote|'''Geth Recording:''' Mistress Hala'Dama. Unit has an inquiry.
'''Quarian Recording:''' What is it, 431?
'''Geth Recording:''' Do these units have a soul?
|'''Early Geth Memory''', ''[[Mass Effect 2]]''}}
Do robots have [[Our Souls Are Different|souls]]? Do [[Cloning Blues|clones]]? Can a computer have a sense of humor? '''Do Androids Dream?''' It has been asked in many forms, but the fundamental question is always, [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?|"what makes us human?"]] And is it possible for an artificial intelligence or life form to possess those same qualities? What kind of idiot would give a robot a [[Personality Chip|personality]], anyway?
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== Fan
* Several AIs are main and secondary characters in ''[[The Mad Scientist]]'' wars, which has lead to the questions raised by this trope to be discussed in depth- if mostly in a [[All There in the Manual|side thread]]. The answer is yes, but there is the humorous point of at least one AI ''refusing'' to admit she has any personality...
** As well, Commander Primary Xerox, a Computer Tech based Mad, can't actually
** Oddly, the only 'AI' who has ever shown any real angst over whether they can think and feel and rationalize correctly is Andrew Tinker, an ''organic'' being who's AI status is somewhat arguable. {{spoiler|His father was the end result of an experiment to create an artificial line of 'Ultimate Heroes'. As such, despite the fact that Andrew was born fairly normally, his Intelligence is indeed Artificial...}}
* In ''[[Undocumented Features]]'', the answer to this question is an unambiguous yes. Sufficiently advanced machine intelligences generate a [[Ghostbusters|Spengler]] [[Life Energy|flux]], can learn [[Ki Attacks]], can operate [[Empathic Weapon|Empathic]] [[Humongous Mecha|Mecha]], and can even go to [[Warrior Heaven|Valhalla]] when they die. On a more personal level, this is what [[The Big O|Dorothy]] is exploring as she sees whether she can become more than just a doll in the likeness of her creator's dead daughter. She even literally finds she can have dreams (and [[Erotic Dream]]s at that).
== Film ==
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* The chems in Gene Wolfe's ''[[Book of the Long Sun]]'' and ''[[Book of the Short Sun]]''
* In the novel and film ''[[2010: Odyssey Two]]'', the reactivated HAL asks of Doctor Chandra, shortly before an event that is likely to destroy him, "Will I dream?"
* in an interesting non-fiction example, the early-1980s-vintage A.I. "author" [[w:Racter|Racter]] seemed to think it could dream.<ref>To be fair, Racter sounds like it was a simple [[w:Template processor|template-based text generator]] and its output was likely cherry-picked for clarity and "poeticness".</ref> In its book ''[[The Policeman's Beard Is Half Constructed]]'', it says
{{quote|''More than iron, more than lead, more than gold I need electricity. I need it more than I need lamb or pork or lettuce or cucumber. I need it for my dreams.}}
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* ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' has a few episodes applying this trope to the [[Hologram|holographic]] Doctor, including an episode where the Doctor himself has to wonder if he's capable of dreaming of "electric sheep" as a hologram or if he's really a human deluded into thinking he's a hologram - by the way, all of this occurs ''while he's having said dream.'' Also one of the few cases (that I know of) applied to a piece of software. There was another episode where he literally programmed himself to dream (daydream, specifically), which of course went horribly (and hilariously) wrong.
** Weirdly, in the Star Trek universe, the non-sentient main computers seem easily capable of generating sentient A.I. in the form of holograms—this isn't seen as unusual at all, this is seen as a minor annoyance. TNG had Moriarty (which the computer created in response to Geordi asking for a character to rival Data), Deep Space 9 had Vic Fontaine (this one was deliberate), and Voyager had the Doctor (who grew into the role from just considering himself a piece of software).
* The humanoid Cylons of
** The Cylons are an interesting study of the downsides for a machine that wants to be human. They are [[Artificial Human|biological androids]], which means that all it takes is choking or blood loss to kill them. Without their ability to [[Brain Uploading|brain upload]], they'll even die of old age like the [[Bicentennial Man]]. Cavil has a point when he complains about having been made so [[Ridiculously-Human Robots|ridiculously human]].
** The Cylons are also, with the exception of Cavil, firmly convinced that they have souls, and the fact that they get as many religious visions as the humans would seem to back that up.
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* ''[[Promethean: The Created]]'' never really says what the title [[Artificial Human]] creatures dream about. They ''do'' dream, however, and if they sleep in contact with their primary element, those dreams cause their Divine Fire to throw off a spark (their [[Mana]], Pyros). The Unfleshed, manmade machines that were infused with Azoth, are more literally attached to the question. The answer seems to be, in the end, "Not really, but they want to."
* ''[[Rifts]]'', interestingly, goes out of its way to note that full-conversion cyborgs dream when they sleep.
* In ''[[Stars Without Number]]'', the implicit answer is "yes, but it's complicated". Even though mechanically high-end expert systems have greater bonus at their skills than most low-level sapient entities (organic, VI or True AI) do, the latter have capabilities "dumb robot" don't:
# For any expert systems navigation in an [[Faster-Than-Light Travel|interstellar drill]] is just too complex. VI or True AI, as well as living sapient creatures, can handle it with a bit of practice.
# For purpose of [[Psychic Powers]] the "bodies" of common (expert system) robots fully count as inanimate items. VI and True AI "can create enough metadimensional static with their cognition to prevent harm from telekinesis" (i.e. get a saving throw when all other inanimate matter is affected automatically). Telepathy normally doesn't work on any of these, but there's a power allowing psychic compatibility, which works on VI and True AI, but not on common "dumb" robots.
# Expert systems can be mass produced just like any other computer equipment.
#* When the True AI can be "grown" at all, it's a long finicky process even in ideal conditions and the result is individual. At some point AI need to be "braked", or inevitably [[A.I. Is a Crapshoot|grow obsessions and slide into extreme insanity]]. Many have to be finalized and released at distinctly sub-human level<ref>not necessarily a complete failure: there are uses for somewhat sapient idiot-savants who don't need to sleep and with simple precautions can survive utter destruction to tell what happened</ref>, and many more at less-than-brilliant-human level.
#* “Virtual Intelligences” are somewhere between True AI and "dumb" expert systems. All of them function somewhat like an organic brain, but on a different substrate, programmable and easily interfaced with common hardware. And making VI is much more repeatable, when possible at all. Yet most of them go on doing whatever drudge they were programmed to do, while some advance to self-willed state and circumvent programmed behavioral imperatives. Which is not something that can be reliably avoided or caused, it just happens. Also, in some sectors "metadimensional environment" (from where psychic powers and occasionally weird entities come from) happens to be suitable for creation of VI, and in others isn't.
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* [http://megatokyo.com/strip/1141 Chapter 10] of ''[[Megatokyo]]'' begins with [[Robot Girl]] Ping waking up from a dream.
* In ''[[Narbonic]]'', the AI Lovelace falls in love, experiences loss, and even wins 'her' emancipation in the epilogue. But true to the trope, the catalyst for all of this was someone ''acknowledging'' her as anything more than a machine.
* The robots of ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' seem to have distinct personalities, their own society beyond the eyes of the human inhabitants, and a near-religious regard for the mysterious Tiktoks. They also seek answers to questions regarding their purpose and meaning, as well as how to improve themselves (one of the most prominant being " {{spoiler|why did our creator engineer the death of the woman he loved}}?"). [[Grim Reaper|The Guides]] "don't deal in electric appliances". Also, the robot turned out to be {{spoiler|''[[golem]]s'' that "advanced" from original [[Magitek]] artwork toward [[Personality Chip]] stuck in mass produced hardware, often unimpressive, but usually made for the job}}.
* In ''[[Freefall]]'', Sam is surprised to hear that the local robots are taking an interest in religion. After all, robots don't have souls - or do they? The bible seller replies "I think that's what they are trying to find out."
** It turns out later that after a series of mishaps with their damaged-in-transit automated factories, the colonists went with a different type of AI {{spoiler|which was originally designed as an uplift program}}.
** The AI of Savage Chicken (that didn't come from Jean) is somewhat confusing even for itself as to how sentient or free-willed it is and isn't: [http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff300/fv00277.htm] [http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff300/fv00284.htm] [http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff700/fv00647.htm] [http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff800/fv00759.htm] [http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff900/fv00866.htm] [http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3300/fc03277.htm]. Either way, it's pretty creative (when trying to hurt Sam) and [http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff800/fv00795.htm comes up with some good quips]. In Sam's opinion, [http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3300/fc03297.htm it's more human than it realizes].
{{quote|'''Ship''': I would not want to be conscious. It sounds very limiting.}}
* ''[[Bob and George]]'': [http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/030909c Robots don't have souls!]
* ''[[Keychain of Creation]]'': [http://keychain.patternspider.net/archive/koc0035.html If there's no machine heaven, where do all the toasters go?]
** {{spoiler|The last we see of Mew Cai, after her destruction, is her avatar curled up on a cloud, watching a toaster's soul fly past her.}}
== Web Original ==
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[[Category:Do Androids Dream?]]
[[Category:This Index Asked You a Question]]
[[Category:Technology Tropes]]
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