Until now, robots in Star Wars films were basically slaves. They were barred from certain places, and other characters bought, sold, and destroyed them at will.

In real life too, we tend to see machines as things that only exist to help us. As artificial intelligence advances, however, people are asking whether they may one day experience exactly the same things as humans - and how we should treat them if they do.

People already feel empathy for some machines. In one study, people refused to beat small robots to "death". Like
Star Wars, recent TV shows Westworld and Black Mirror look at the ethics of hurting and abusing human-like bots.

Such robots are still a long way off. If they become a reality, should they get the same rights as humans?

No. Even if they act all clever and emotional, robots will still just be objects, created by us. They will never have the
consciousness that makes humans so unique. Sadly, many people are still mistreated in our world. We should focus on spreading human rights - then animals rights - rather than be tricked into feeling sorry for machines.

Wrong. We only think we are unique because we do not yet understand our own brains. One day, we will realise that they are basically just machines too. If robots can feel real love and pain, they should be allowed to marry and be protected from harm. If we do not give them those rights, how can we expect to treat each other with respect?