Proposal: "Fitting in: An AI Story"

The topic which, as of now, I am interested in pursuing is that of Robot Rights, simply put, it's a relevant topic to discuss in that it will most likely be an arising issue in the future. I chose this topic not only because of its pertinence, but because it interests me, which I believe to be the best reason, because how great could an uninspired research paper really be?

The only hindrance I can see in choosing this topic is the lack of physical data or evidence, in addition to our current progress, or in depth lack-thereof, in robotics. It's a lot of assumption and opinion, and a lot less empiricism. However, what is science fiction but a hulking educated guess? I believe tracing the timeline of human rights can show a decent picture of when (or if) sentient automatons will one day have their own individual rights. As of yet, I have not decided to do this on a global or regional scale, the choice depends on how much research I do and the volume of information I need to mull over. I am a big history buff, so I have a general sense of when, where, and who were 'granted' their rights, so I am confident in my capability to find information on the subject.

First I will try to briefly define what being human entails, so as to provide a general comparison, you could see it as the threshold our automaton friends have to meet (or surpass). For brevity, I'm going to consider all humans equal, regardless of race, age, gender, class, nationality, etc. in terms of rights, so I can focus more on the human vs android aspect. I WILL discuss the progression of rights, however, when the time for comparison comes, it will be simpler to avoid the nuances of modern equal rights and place our comparison in a future where all humans are considered 'equal'.

Next, I will aim to discuss not only the projected, but the potential, capabilities of automatons, which will aid in showing that although the exterior (and parts of the interior) may be different, under the hood they are just the same as us (or rather, will be). With a bit of actual real world evidence and a bit of educated guessing, I believe I can prove that automatons have the capability to 'earn their rights'. I find it sort of despicable that a group has to 'earn' something they should inherently possess, however, I think the term earn in this case is applicable since robots/androids will have to technologically and mechanically advance to a point where they 'earn' their rights, or rather, develop to a point where they can rightfully assume their rights. Basically, this is our automaton's attempt to reach the threshold established in the first section.

The next goal is to trace the lineage of human rights, in order to project a time frame for when our robot friends will be considered 'equal' in the eyes of humans. History has already confirmed numerous times that it repeats itself, so I believe it to be a good indicator of future trends. I believe this part is quite self explanatory, so I don't really see the need to elaborate much more. Basically, this section will be a general briefing of human rights history.

The last section will be the projected time frame, in addition to many of the questions I will try to answer.
Questions including but not limited to:

Why wouldn't androids be considered equal, even if they had sentience and intelligence?
Why would androids be discriminated against?
Will androids have a 'voice'?
Will progressivism and activism cover androids?
What different taboos will arise with the coming of the sentient automaton?
How will these taboos affect androids and their attempts to 'earn' rights?
Will progressivism even be able to address the issues android rights poses in the midst of future moral and ethical issues?

And finally: When will androids/robots change from a mere utility to actual 'people'?

This is my projected paper in a nutshell, there is still much room for revision, adaptation, and change, so I consider this entire post to be a transitory entity, in that you shouldn't expect me to hold true to it, although I probably will retain the general idea. I am confident in my research topic, and think it will not only be an interesting paper, but a provocative on as well.