A/N: I know this doesn't really poke around deeply at the true meaning behind Ghost in the Shell...but even so, I thought it might be fun to type this up. Again, just a little musing the Major has.

Human or Inhuman

What is living?
Furthermore...what is dying?
When is it considered the end of a life, if that life, just so happens to be a machine?

In my line of work, these questions are no longer simple little things a person jots down during their university entrance exams. It becomes a moral issue, founded by the very principal that has governed many a riot, and a plethora of wars. In an idealistic view, we can call a machine strictly that...be happy that it has malfunctioned...a term coined for something breaking, the ideal not only completely redundant, but also emotionally bankrupt on so many levels. I have a few examples of this, but I fear that all of them have no real proof. Besides a few abstract, and extremely questionable situations, I'll never be able to back up the things that I say.

I will say for the record, that we must first let go of the idea of what being alive actually means...then, after that, we must accept that cyborgs are machines, even if they were at one point strictly considered human. Once we do that, we can look at the true depth to the issue at hand. It was a lingering case that sparked the entire idea in my mind to begin with, it wasn't however, something definitive at the time.

We were told to go investigate a string of odd behaviors found in only one model of robot. It seemed like another case that no one could figure out, so, like most under questionable jurisdiction, it was sent our way, and landed in our laps. It was a quandary of sorts, that these machines were doing insane things, such as jumping off of buildings, or sinking themselves underwater.

Needless to say, we took the case with a spoon full of salt, and dash of incredulity.

The Jerry units had all malfunctioned, and it brought up this very sensitive topic. Some people were saying they were committing suicide...others were claiming it near impossibility, pointing to the internet to blame. Then you had the people in white lab coats saying self destructing robots could be considered normal, if not an expected outcome sooner or later. The Jerry units were clumsy, and had more problems than the average machine of the era. Now, the units in and of themselves were clunky, bothersome things, but that didn't seem to have an aversive effect, even as they grew older, and questionable.

Then again, I'm opposed to the so called units, I always will be.

They were robots, sexual dolls, used mostly to fulfill fantasies. Outdated, and overhauled, it was left to the radical fans of the units to care and protect their precious machines. This however, is when I bring the questions into play.

We call it artificial, something man made. Fully owned and operated by the creators who invented such a thing...however, the Jerry units were not completely inhuman, they did get a virus that caused malfunctions, but that's merely the surface. There was evidence, that while now completely rendered useless, had hinted at the fact that even something as primitive as the Jerry could harbor something as complex as feelings.

It honestly doesn't matter now, either way, but supposing that such a thing could be possible...

A human can't accept that. It's in our nature to believe life is an organism, and a robot is an inhuman thing...a thing, and not a person. However, the Jerry case was not the only hint that something has begun to evolve without our knowing it. Awareness, something that should never be apart of any robot, or their generalized capacity, had begun to take shape even within them, though at best, one could still call it artificial. There was one Jerry that proved this, the ability to quote a movie wasn't exactly unfounded, but to use it in the right context, and to go as so far as to tack on an extra line or two...well I'd say that is a phenomenon.

It's a catalyst for one, at the very least.

I have seen robots act like children. Tanks meant for war yet another in the exceedingly long list oddities I've witnessed. Retaining childlike innocence, begging for gifts, and engaging in playtime, these are things that robots, tanks made for battle, should have absolutely no interest in. The mere idea unfounded, even with a chip installed for personality...a chip can only go so far, and it most certainly can't evolve beyond capacity.

However, that was in essence, what happened.

They would question god, and the world around them, harboring individuality. One was obsessed with books, another consumed free time with news and other media. There was also a little delinquent, who not only went wandering off, thinking that I wasn't looking, it would also spy on us, as if wondering what we were doing. As if lobbying for a movement, they would act out with emotion, saying that they had civil rights. These are things a robot shouldn't do, unless ordered to act accordingly. Even when we would connect their memory together, each of them seemed to retain their own personal perspective of the story...sometimes, they would even fight about who went on what mission. The fact they took it upon themselves to act in odd ways...it boggles my mind.

It also begs the question...where do we draw the line?

What is a living thing...what is a non-living thing...when can something considered 'non-living' garner enough experience, personality, and even humanity...to be considered a life form? A lower one perhaps it would be, but it would still be living, and thus, it would still have rights. What laws would protect these machines? What equality would they be given? In times of duress, we draft for our military. Would robots be included in the draft? Chosen first perhaps, as a way to cull their numbers...a way of murder that would not be considered blasphemous?

One must consider the following, if they are indeed to make a rational statement.

I am a fully cybernetic person, with a brain case...that means however, that I do not need food, or water. I don't even need an electrical outlet, all I require is sleep, and the occasional tune up. I don't breath, even if my mind thinks that I do. I don't need to use the rest room, unless I've eaten, and my artificial organs tell my brain that it needs to be done. I'm in such a state that I could live fully, as a robot, or as a human. The differences are in my mind, not my body. I can have sex, but, I can't reproduce...not in the body I'm wearing at any rate...there are however, chassis, that allow for things of that nature. Even fully cyborg, a woman can carry a baby to full term, however, the mere idea is still not widely accepted.

Science plays god when people do that.

Even so, in an era when you can grow your own organs, keeping them as spares for yourself or family...being able to clone a child, or reproduce entirely outside of the womb...being able to remove a person fully from their human body, and putting them in a metal casing that is completely unlike their mortal shell...when technology such as that exists in our world, you begin to understand the plight of the robots, even though, as humans, we find it difficult to accept their plea and ongoing cries for help. Still, even I am not mortal, not like I used to be, and that's possibly why I feel as I do, when I ponder things of this nature.

So when all of this twirls around, morality, and mortality comes into play.

Am I human, or inhuman?
Am I living, or dead?
Am I a person with rights and equal values?
Or am I a thing?
A machine, without a voice?
Without rights that humans have?
Where do we draw the line?

I can't say that I know offhand. I doubt I ever will, and asking such questions for the ideal of research will prove fruitless. However, I can offer one undeniable fact. Birth is the construction of a shell, human or inhuman. In that one thing, humans and robots are alike, even if the creation of the two bodies differ at the start.

I believe that's for the individual to decide, development critical for anyone human, or machine. I'd like to think, that even something man made, something that was never born as a living, breathing person, can at least become human mentally...they can learn, they can grow. A robot, if given a chance, can learn true, honest feelings. I've begun to believe that individuality is not only a learned behavior, but also one that can't be copied, duplicated, or even written as a program prompt. It can't be installed, and it can't be erased...

Once something has gained that awareness, they've already begun to live, and thus, they've begun to become human. It's the only conclusion I can draw upon, but, if that is indeed the case, an new era will likely be founded upon that principal, somewhere down the line.