Damaged Goods
an excerpt

Dolls. Androids. Artificial humans. Artificial intelligence. Beyond specific technologies, beyond the details of circuits and synth skin, what are these entities compared to us, the humans who dream them up and bring them to life? Are they mere toys, or sentient beings with the right to be treated as our equals?

And when it comes down to it, does it matter? Humans – of all ages – have been anthropomorphizing their dolls and toys for millenia, giving them names, personalities, clothes, and little lives of their own. If the details of a doll’s story extend to personal traits, hopes, and dreams, does it really make a difference if that information happens to reside in the the mind of a nearby human?

It may be simply human nature to mentally and emotionally give life to the lifeless things around us. Whether from loneliness or a desire to simply make more connections to the outside, we all find ourselves talking to inanimate objects. What human hasn’t said hello to a familiar statue, or held heart-to-heart talks with a stuffed animal?

Scientists, philosophers, and computer programmers can argue about sentience and AI until the e-mail comes home, but the human reaction to human-like objects is undeniable. And in a world increasingly filled with such things, from realistic collector dolls to life-size sex dolls to androids and AI, one has to wonder if their presence could really affect the workings of the human mind.