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"Do Androids Dream?": Personhood and Intelligent Artifacts

Identification

Public canonical key
openalex:w1549508546
Authors
F. Patrick Hubbard
Reported year
2010
Reported language
en
Source type
article
First detected
2026-11-09T19:04:47.916064+00:00
Last metadata observation
2026-11-09T19:04:47.916064+00:00
Last HTTP verification
Not checked

Institutions reported by the source

University of South Carolina

Reported affiliation countries

US

Documentary abstract — original language

This Article proposes a test to be used in answering an important question that has never received detailed jurisprudential analysis: What happens if a human artifact like a large computer system requests that it be treated as a person rather than as property? The Article argues that this entity should be granted a legal right to personhood if it has the following capacities: (1) an ability to interact with its environment and to engage in complex thought and communication; (2) a sense of being a self with a concern for achieving its plan for its life; and (3) the ability to live in a community with other persons based on, at least, mutual self-interest. In order to develop and defend this test of personhood, the Article sketches the nature and basis of the liberal theory of personhood, reviews the reasons to grant or deny autonomy to an entity that passes the test, and discusses, in terms of existing and potential technology, the categories of artifacts that might be granted the legal right of self-ownership under the test. Because of the speculative nature of the Article's topic, it closes with a discussion of the treatment of intelligent artifacts in science fiction.

Identifiers

OPENALEX
W1549508546

Documentary context

Documentary family
Scholarship
Source-reported types
article

Entity mentions are not evidence of legal recognition. Jurisdiction studied is separate from author affiliation country.

Sources

OpenAlex · Record 1

Documented bibliographic relations

Source-declared references and links; they do not establish legal support or UGLC qualification. Up to 20 outgoing references are displayed.

    7 incoming references within the detected corpus

    Documentary field provenance

    Source-backed values and values with unresolved provenance are kept separately. Bibliographic provenance validates no legal claim.

    Title
    Documentary source reported
    Publication
    Documentary source reported
    Authors
    Documentary source reported
    Document type
    Documentary source reported
    Jurisdiction
    Not recorded
    Court
    Not recorded
    Issuing authority
    Not recorded
    Publisher
    Not recorded
    DOI
    Not recorded
    ISBN
    Not recorded
    Official identifier
    Not recorded
    Source URL
    Documentary source reported
    Source-reported status
    Not recorded
    Amendment / repeal
    Not recorded

    Cite this reference

    F. Patrick Hubbard. "Do Androids Dream?": Personhood and Intelligent Artifacts. 2010. https://www.declarationuniverselledesdroitsdelarbre.org/global-rights-of-nature-radar/reference/r-0655d9b96bfa5bf4cbbdeef24788e786/

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    APA, Chicago, ISO 690: bibliographic formats using available fields. OSCOLA / Bluebook: structured data only; full legal citation compliance is not claimed without verification of required elements.

    APA
    F. Patrick Hubbard. (2010). "Do Androids Dream?": Personhood and Intelligent Artifacts. https://www.declarationuniverselledesdroitsdelarbre.org/global-rights-of-nature-radar/reference/r-0655d9b96bfa5bf4cbbdeef24788e786/
    Chicago
    F. Patrick Hubbard. "Do Androids Dream?": Personhood and Intelligent Artifacts. 2010. https://www.declarationuniverselledesdroitsdelarbre.org/global-rights-of-nature-radar/reference/r-0655d9b96bfa5bf4cbbdeef24788e786/
    ISO 690
    F. Patrick Hubbard. "Do Androids Dream?": Personhood and Intelligent Artifacts. 2010. https://www.declarationuniverselledesdroitsdelarbre.org/global-rights-of-nature-radar/reference/r-0655d9b96bfa5bf4cbbdeef24788e786/

    UDTR Global Rights of Nature Legal Library. "Do Androids Dream?": Personhood and Intelligent Artifacts. Documentary record: https://www.declarationuniverselledesdroitsdelarbre.org/global-rights-of-nature-radar/reference/r-0655d9b96bfa5bf4cbbdeef24788e786/ · Last HTTP verification: not performed

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    Field provenance and record version

    Version f1c759d3aa09f6fd · udtr-reference-1.1.2

    Title
    OpenAlex · 2026-11-09T19:04:47.916064+00:00
    Authors
    OpenAlex · 2026-11-09T19:04:47.916064+00:00
    Year
    OpenAlex · 2026-11-09T19:04:47.916064+00:00
    Identifiers
    OpenAlex · 2026-11-09T19:04:47.916064+00:00

    History tracks record metadata and does not certify the state of the law.

    56271ef9cc8ba48d · 2026-11-09T19:04:47.916064+00:00

    6057e872bca36393 · 2026-11-09T19:04:47.916064+00:00

    53618e66489e6b82 · 2026-11-09T19:04:47.916064+00:00

    f1c759d3aa09f6fd · 2026-11-09T19:04:47.916064+00:00

    Frozen-version metadata

    Research dossiers and documentary relations

    University of South Carolina

    F. Patrick Hubbard

    Source roles

    Discovery source · https://openalex.org/W1549508546

    An authority link alone does not verify a legal claim. Abstracts and full texts remain subject to their source terms.

    Documentary status

    Relevance pending

    Library

    This identity is not yet included in the Legal Library.

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