Prompt 13 - To Be Human

Sometimes R2 wondered what exactly it was that separated droids from humans. It seemed to be something different from what separated humans from other species – while organic creatures came in all different shapes and appearances, humans still seemed to treat them like equals most of the time.

Not like how they treated droids.

So the line between humans and droids wasn't appearance. It wasn't speech, either – though R2 and other astro droids couldn't speak Basic, other droids like 3PO could. Humans would carry on conversations with protocol droids as if they were equals even though they weren't.

So where was the line? Just what gave organic creatures authority over droids?

Of course R2 knew he was built by humans, but humans also made their offspring and they were treated as equals. The offspring started out vulnerable and in need of guidance, but after they had grown and learned enough to function on their own, the humans who made them no longer had authority over them.

Unlike with droids.

R2 also knew he was lucky to have such a benevolent owner as Master Luke. Master Luke was kind to him and 3PO – in fact, if there was any human who treated droids almost as equals, it was Master Luke.

In fact, Master Luke probably inherited his kindness towards droids from his father. R2 remembered how Master Anakin had once risked everything to save him even though most humans would have just left their droid to its fate.

But even though Master Luke talked to his droids as if they were friends and repaired them and cleaned them and took the best care of them, he was still Master Luke (as 3PO never let R2 forget). R2 was still bound to serve him and do his bidding, and the fact that his bidding was always reasonable didn't change that.

Humans and other organic beings often talked about being "sentient." Maybe that was the line between droids – to hear them talk it sounded like they didn't think that term applied to droids. From what R2 could gather, it meant "self-aware," though R2 wasn't sure exactly what "self-aware" meant or why it applied to organic beings and not droids.

Did it mean, "aware that the self exists"? If that was so, then R2 certainly knew he existed, so it would apply to droids.

Maybe it meant "aware of the self's inner mind." Well there were certainly organic beings such as Jabba the Hutt who seemed to think droids had no consciousness (although Jabba didn't seem to care much for organic beings either), but R2 knew he had inner circuits that worked much like the human brain. He was also as aware of his surroundings as any other conscious being.

In fact, R2 couldn't think of any interpretation of the term "self-aware" that wouldn't apply to droids, but maybe that was because he was only a droid. Maybe it was a concept that droids couldn't understand no matter how much thought processing they put into it.

But even if that was the case, R2 would keep pondering it.

What did it mean to be human?