Question/discussion about the conscience of droids!
So, it's no debate that droids are sentient in Star Wars, they have personality, fears, aliances, morals, and personal goals. But I don't quite understand how this conscience comes to be, is it programmed from a factory? Do all droids have it? Can it be created, reset, or limited?
In my headcanon, droids are "born" without a conscience, just programming, but the more time they exist and interact with the world the more this sentience grows until they start to develop a mind of their own. Case in point: C3PO! When we meet him in Anakin's room, he has a very robotic behavior and doesn't show much personality, he introduces himself and that's it! But in the next movie, he is already calling Anakin his creator, and in a New Hope he shows a complete personality, to the point he follows R2 out of sheer self-reliance. And in The Rise of Skywalker, he decides to sacrifice himself and when losing his memories goes back to a very blank state.
So, sentience grows in droids in my book, even a B1 will develop one if given time, i.e Bones.
But it's just me who thinks that way?
Posted Jul 9, 2023, 12:41 PM UTC
I think you're on the right track. There's a canon comic where R2 goes to save C3PO who's been caught by Imperials. The narration as he does so talks about the astromech droid's capabilities and how if it get's attached the other droid's a memory wipe is recommended. Juxtaposed with the feats R2 can pull of because of his upgrades and his extensive time without a memory wipe.
That said, C3PO did received one at the end of ROTS, but he seems to have still developed a similar personality to what we see in the prequels and Clone Wars. That may mean the foundation of a droids personality could be based on their specific programing and capabilities.
Yeah, I thought about C3PO memory wipe, 20 years seems about right for a full development sentience.
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