posted January 15, 2018 03:48 AM            

As for spirits possessing them, if you want to go there then I'm sure angelic beings could possess them as well. Heh, blessed robots...

I do not find it sinister to think of having an android body. It might be, and space travel to another star system could be horrific as well, it just depends on how it's done, not if it's done at all. In our society, we're practically cyborgs already who couldn't live without our computerized cars, phones, automated systems, and various implants are becoming more common, from artificial hearts (careful with the microwaves!), a bionic eye, a spinal implant that can allow paraplegics to walk, to even birth control implants. And one should not romanticize the filthy, violent, vulgar, brutal past we came from. For all the troubles and violence of our world, our species (at least in first world nations where we're completely dependent upon technology already, and implants continue to become more common) has never had it better (at least generally speaking).

And I do see humans as being controlled by software already, and think the term "mind virus" is an apt one. And there are reasons why even some scientists aren't dismissing outright that we live in a virtual reality (or at least a reality that is very much like a virtual one). However, we (at least some of us) do have the ability to learn and adapt, and that is sentience and intelligence. I really don't know what machines that develop true sentience (and ability to adapt) will be like, but don't see them as automatically being evil (but there's no better way to turn someone, or a demographic, into a monster than to treat them as one from the start).