(urth) AI souls

[Roy C. Lackey]

Crush wrote:

>I agree with Roy that Sidero expressing genuine regret for his actions does
>suggest that Sidero might have a soul. But it isn't necessarily so. I'm a
>bit at a disadvantage since I'm currently working a contract in Savannah
and
>all my books are in storage in Austin. Before I continue. Could someone
post
>the relevant text?


>From Chapter XIII, Sidero speaking:
---------------------------------------------------------

"Let me explain before we argue again. I hurt you. It is
my right and duty to correct and chastise. Then I had joy of it."
      I asked him if he referred to his striking me when I lay
unconscious, and he nodded. "I must not." He seemed
about to speak further, but did not. After a moment he
said, "I cannot explain."
      "We know what moral considerations are," I told him.
      "Not as we. You believe you do. We know, and yet often
make mistakes. We may sacrifice men to save our own
existence. We may transmit and originate instructions to
men. We may correct and chastise. But we may not become
as you are. That is what I did. I must repay."
------------------------------------------------------------

Sidero considers himself and his kind the moral superior of men. When he
took pleasure in inflicting pain in Sev he crossed a line he shouldn't have
crossed--and he knew it. He felt he must make recompense, in this case by
excusing the dragooned Sev from the looming battle. He was pissed at Sev in
the first place for Sev having tricked him and then put him on like a suit
of armor. Sev was killed in a fall a few minutes later.

-Roy