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