Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-4830106-20140808001942/@comment-66.249.83.89-20140809205943

I'm just going to say that when it comes to AIs and Robots, the questions we shouldn't be asking are "do they have a soul?" Or "are they alive?" What we should ask is, "are they sentient?" Sentience is what makes us humans different from animals, and it's what makes Penny different from the AKs.

A sentient being is capable of thinking beyond their basic instincts and desires (programming in Penny's case) consciously overiding it certain situations, learning, and pondering ethics. In the 'Mass Effect' series we see EDI do all of this.

It doesn't matter if one is organic, synthetic, or some kind of cosmic or energy being, without sentience they can be little more than an animal, machine, or force of nature respectively. Sentience is what makes someone a person, and I firmly believe that Penny is sentient.

In closing I say asking 'does Penny have a soul?' Is only asking is she has an aura she can use without going into the can of worms that are our diffrent religious views(Hell, different religions have different definitions of what a soul is). Regardless of whether or not she has what we call a soul, Penny is a person and should be treated and regarded like one and not like she's just another AK.

-Defcon Deceiver