Argument

I already sort of gave a synopsis of my essay in another post, and it hasn't really changed much since then, however, I will sort of try and elaborate a bit more.

Essentially my paper will tackle the future concept of Robot Rights, or the lack thereof. In an attempt to predict the actions of humanity in the future, the lineage of rights and human heuristics will be traced, in order to give a sufficient backdrop. A brief discussion on the progression of AI and human like robotics will take place, in order to estimate a time period in which we may see androids present on this planet.  The next portion will focus on the novel/s in question (ex. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, or another, yet to be determined), portraying the situation which the android exists in this period in time. Based on what the initial paragraphs discover, the last portion will be a juxtaposition between the situation in the novel and the projected futuristic situation. The conclusion portion will discuss any more predictions or potential outcomes.

This will be the general flow of the paper. I will begin writing the paper soon, after I finish collecting all the information and reading some more. In general, I am confident with the topic which I have chosen, it is not only a relevant topic (or rather, will be), but also one which can be predicted semi-accurately, to an extent.

Tentative Thesis:
Since the dawn of civilization, humanity has struggled with the concept of rights, not even giving 'human rights' a definition until the late 20th Century. Now, with the coming of the Futuristic Era, the Era of the Android, comes too a plethora of questions concerning rights once again, the Rights of the Robot. How will humanity react when its creation asks for the right to vote, to marry, to own property, to adopt a child, to live a life wholly similar to an organic human? How will the volatile, caustic, yet at the same time, sympathetic, human react when androids ask for independence? With the help of history and a little bit of prediction, this paper will attempt to address these questions, and determine when, or if, androids will have rights of their own one day, and at what cost.

All in all, I think this paper will be a lot of fun to write. Not only am I interested in the topic at hand, but I am also interested in its historical aspects. I expect this paper to be a great success and am looking forward to your review of it.

Challenges

There's not many challenges that I've encountered, besides a bit of procrastination and slight ill preparation. Other than that, I think things are going smoothly. Even if there were more problems, I wouldn't be too frustrated with them. Foreseeable problems for my paper could be a slight deviation from the directions, but I think I will be able to sculpt it to fit the topic anyway. Not much more to say or emphasize other than that, so I guess this post will be very short.

Progress

As of now I am focusing my research on the historical foundations of rights and their progressions through time. This is going to be the foundational tenet of the paper, so I thought it would be pertinent to begin researching it first.

For the most part it is just a refresher and a fact provider which I can reference in the paper, because I already know most of the information, however I think its a good investment of my research time because I'd rather have accurate information than information I "think" I remember.

As I've said before, although this paper is rooted in the abstract and the theoretical, history tends to repeat itself quite frequently, cliches, although seemingly hackneyed, do hold much truth, which is why I believe researching the past can help accurately predict the future, that is, the progression of rights (natural law, natural rights, human rights, etc) from our current human rights to the next step in rights.

So far, the research I have done shows a quite grim forecast. Although we've made great strides in developing a sense of human rights, we are largely unable to enact them in places other than developed nations. Underdeveloped and Semi-developed nations widely lack a defined grasp on our current 'human rights', or rather, our human rights doesn't have great enforcement. The United Nations, although greater than its predecessor, The League of Nations, still constantly finds itself ineffectual on a global scale, which is a severe hindrance to rights on a global level.

However, I think I want to focus this paper more on the American aspects of rights and how we react, as our course is American Science Fiction. Not only is it fitting to do so, but it allows a bit more specificity in research, which correlates to a more potent and poignant paper, in addition to being relevant to the course.

Looking at the United States, in its state today, the forecast looks less grim, but still a challenging one. Although we consistently grow more culturally and socially progressive, there are still many conservative and austere aspects which may prevent androids from being considered something more than just machines or utilities. In addition, there are still many issues which call for action, and the robot/android issue may be placed on a back-burner for a human issue (abortion, genetic engineering, stem cell research, cloning, etc).

http://www.harvardlawreview.org/issues/126/may13/forum_1006.php
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCQWwkERit4
http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/edumat/hreduseries/hereandnow/Part-1/short-history.htm
http://www.humanrights.com/what-are-human-rights/brief-history/cyrus-cylinder.html