Board Thread:Speculation House/@comment-27186569-20170521134631/@comment-27144409-20170606181543

The problem though, is that this means that with sufficient resources, Aura generating androids, and by theoretical/hypothetical extension, "normal" robots, mechs, and maybe vehicles that bear no resemblance to humans or animals can be produced indefinitely.

If the minimum requirement for Aura production are basic animal level intelligence, self awareness, and free will, then in theory, a flying dreadnought could have Aura if run by a sufficiently advanced AI, and it wouldn't even be as intelligent or aware as Penny.

If the Aura has to come from a living... Wait, Penny might not brothers and sisters so much as "evolutionary ancestors." Animals have Aura too, so they could have been  used first to make sure it worked. It occurs to me that this point may have been made, but if so, I don't remember it.

Anyway, if the methods used to create Penny required a "donor" (assuming her Aura came from a person), then there is a limiting factor that prevents an overabundance of self-aware androids with Aura.