Their rights...

[Lunar_Drifter]

I would first call them androids, not robots. But I would give these androids the same rights you might expect any citizen of a given culture to have. After all, if these androids are as intelligent and human-like as you claim, won't you give them the same treatment? I would, seeing as the only distinction is in their hardware.

 

 

 

Not giving them these rights would be just the same as not giving an intelligent race of any kind the rights. What is there to define who you give rights to, really. If you think about it, we give rights to anything that can speak and has a conscience.. in layman's terms. It doesn't matter what they look like; if they're considered human, then they should have those rights. So these androids would be considered human since they speak and have a conscience (albeit robotic).

 

 

 

As an example.. we discover a small, underground civilization of some sort of sub-human race. They have adapted to live in the tight tunnels and rugged terrain, so they are short and stout. Now, we bring these sub-humans to the surface and into our culture. Do they not have the same rights? Would it be OK to beat them for no reason other than what they are? I'll leave that up to you to decide.