Challenge 219

My Little Pidgie-Widgies

Bill Bowler’s “Make Mine a Double” raises any number of questions, for example:

What would be the legal consequences of owning an android servant that looked like a celebrity? What if the celebrity had trademarked himself? Wouldn’t a double constitute infringement? Wouldn’t Rossum’s owe the celebrity royalties? Or would such doubles amount to the same thing as the Elvis look-alikes that abound today?
What about political consequences? The mayor is saved from assassination by his android’s close resemblance to him. What if android look-alikes went into politics themselves? And what if they made unexpected cross-overs: for example a right-wing politician’s double running as a candidate for the Peace and Freedom party, or a liberal’s double campaigning for the War and Subjugation party?
In Sam Ivey’s Gilboy’s Quest, Gilboy wonders how the sea creatures perceive him, what their feelings are, and how they think. What might be the philosophical consequences of talking android pets? What would they say to their owners? Would they be anthropomorphized animal simulacra? Or would their artificial intelligence adapt itself to their natural form and perceive human beings as animals?
Bill Bowler’s “Broken Parts” portrays an android that suffers at the hands of a psychopathic owner. What would be the social and psychological consequences of owning androids made in the image of one’s enemies?

Or, contrariwise, what if people owned androids that were not necessarily doubles of anyone else but embodied their owners’ fondest dreams? What would happen to the birth rate? (Don’t blame me for this question: Isaac Asimov himself implies it in Prelude to Foundation.)

Responses welcome!