Questions for Bicentennial Man

1. Do you think that Andrew is a “person”? If so, do you think that he was a person from the
moment that he was activated, or do you think he obtained personhood somewhere along
the way? If not, why not?
2. Do you think that Andrew is conscious? Why or why not?
3. Do you think that we could know if a robot or an alien was conscious?
4. What qualities do you think are necessary to be a “person”?
5. Do you think some non-human animals should be considered persons? If so, which ones
and why? If not, why not?
6. Do you think a chimpanzee would be more or less qualified than Andrew to be called a
person?
7. Do you think that all human beings are qualified to be considered persons?
8. Do you think that non-human aliens could be persons?
9. Do you think there could ever be a robot like Andrew?
10. Do you think that robots could ever attain the status of personhood? What would it take?
11. Do you think that Andrew needs to give up his potential immortality to be a person?
12. Do you think that society would be unable to accept an immortal human being?
13. Do you think it is unnatural or wrong for people to live indefinitely?
14. If you were potentially immortal, do you think you would give it up in order to grow old
and die naturally?
15. Is imperfection an important part of being human?
16. What sort of rights do you think a robot could or should have?
17. If humans created intelligent robots or intelligent genetically-enhanced animals, would
we have responsibilities toward what we have created? If so, what kinds of
responsibilities would we have?
18. Do we have responsibilities towards animals that we breed and raise for our own benefit
(e.g. farm animals, zoo animals)?
19. Do you think it would be wrong to keep conscious, intelligence robots as slaves, if the
robots themselves didn’t mind?
20. If people have sufficient artificial parts (e.g. artificial hearts, artificial brain implants), do
they risk losing their personhood?
21. Why do you think Andrew wants to be human?
22. Have you watched another movie that deals with the possibility of non-human
personhood? If so, did you like the way that movie dealt with the possibility better or
worse than the way Bicentennial Man deals with it?
23. Do you think Andrew has free will?