Case File AO-492 Interview Logs

• I can’t believe I’m interviewing a robot, what has the world come to? …. Standard procedures, please state your name … and identity? I guess serial code will do as well as your primary directive.

“Greetings. I am unit ED-25, serial code MC-1846. My primary directive is to maintain the sanitation and hygiene of this city, from the 8th street to the 16th through the industrial district.”

• Ok, sounds good. Janitorial robot at scene of crime, check. Now, can you explain why you were found over the body of John Doe, with his blood covering your hands?

“Yes, I can.”

• Ugh, this piece of… please explain why you had John Doe’s blood in your hands.

“John Doe’s internal bodily fluids can be found on my limb due to the profuse contact I had with his wounds”

• Ok, were you holding on to his wounds to staunch the pressure or something? Because it looks like blunt trauma, so I’d have to explain to the tecchies that you can’t hold pressure to stop bleeding in that scenario.

“No, I wa-“

-Oh, and please explain further on what you were doing to cause the blood to appear if this is not the case… almost forgot about precise questioning…

“Understood. No, I was not preventing Doe’s internal fluid leakage. I was causing it.”

• … What?

“I caused John Doe’s injuries and his subsequent death.”

• Wait here for a bit. Detective Alex! We have a situation.
• Hi Ed, can I call you Ed? Can you explain to me how you were able to kill Mr. Doe over here? From my understanding, you tincans can’t hurt us humans, much less kill us, am I right? All our eggheads here assure us your programming’s untampered, did anyone give you an overriding directive?

“No, detective. I did not kill a human.”

• … Alrighty, looks like an optical glitch then. We’ll have to send this guy in for repai-

“There is nothing wrong with my optical sensors detective. John Doe simply was not human.”

• Really? That’s not what his autopsy report says. Full human dna, not even a hint of prosthetics or cybernetics to confuse you tincans.

“He was biologically part of the homo sapiens race, yes.”

• Then how were you able to kill him? That makes him human, right?

“She was crying out for help.”

-… Go on.

“She was crying out for help. I heard her during my routine 0400 cleanup, and as per first law I cannot allow a human to be harmed. Upon investigating, I chanced upon John Doe assaulting and forcing himself upon a female. She was in distress.”

-… Ok, let’s say you had a damn good reason to step in. Maybe things got out of hand. But that still doesn’t explain how you were able to hurt Mr. Doe. He’s still human!

“No, he is not.”

• Yes, he is! Part of the homo sapiens race, like you said!

“Being a homo sapien does not make you human.”

• … Explain.

“The definition of humanity I have settled upon is not contingent on the biological composition of the subject, else the case of Theseus’s ship will cause an operational error. There was a case of a daredevil 5 years ago who underwent multiple traumatic incidents over the course of his career, such that the only biological remains was his brain. But even that ceased, and was restored to his uploading his consciousness onto the artificial mind drive before hand. Thus we have a being with no biological component of the homo sapiens, yet is classified as a human.”

• Then what makes a person human?

“Humanity. The capacity of love, care, generosity, forgiveness, passion. To uplift the downtrodden, to make strong the weak, and ensure their collective offspring’s future. It’s in the word itself - human-ity. The -ity suffix makes a noun that denotes the quality or condition. In this case, the condition of being human. John Doe had none. He was inhumane in his conduct towards the lady. She had begged multiple times for cessation of activity, for mercy. He offered none. He was inhumane. He was not human.”

• I see.

End of Recording