Upon reading The Bicentennial Man, I was immediately reminded why I love science fiction and Asimov’s style of writing. The pace he sets connects well with the story, and he very clearly understands his character’s motives and actions. There is almost a biblical parallel to a Jesus-like figure that Andrew Martin portrays; an immortal being that has chosen to live with and understand humans and ultimately experiences all that makes one human, flaws and all. That being said, the character of Andrew Martin could not have been crafted without at least a basic understanding of morals and ethics, especially Kantianism. Andrew suffers from elements of the second maxim of Kantianism, not manipulating another being, at the beginning of the story when he is ordered to dismember himself by two other humans. Andrew is also not very comfortable with his case against the Smythe-Robertson firm as Paul Martin essentially asks Andrew if he agrees with the rule-bending decree of pushing for the firm to create android parts. There many other examples of Kantianism throughout the story, and Andrew himself may be categorized as a Kant-follower given the emphasis he stresses on himself and what he can do for himself to be more human. Andrew is ingrained with following the Three Laws, but gradually bends and sheds those laws, especially towards the end when he unknowingly gives an order to a human. It is in these small moments throughout the story where Andrew forms small opinions like his thoughts on Paul Martin’s makeup, his choice to agree with Paul Martin’s somewhat manipulative dealing, and in his choice not to give up in the face of defeat to achieve his human status he so desperately craves that Andrew becomes human.
Sure, we are human based on phylogeny, taxonomy, biological and genetic makeup, etc., but what truly makes us human beings? Is it our emotion? Perhaps not, as we know many of the emotions we experience daily can be deduced to a set of neurotransmitters fired out through a sequence of neurons. Things such as happiness, sadness, even love. Is it our seemingly unique intelligence? Perhaps. After all, our current state of evolved brains can be linked back to the moment in time where man discovered fire, cooked raw meat and thus unlocked many nutritious elements that helped our brain develop and become capable of such complex thought. So what does make us human? What defines the line between a form of life arising from a single cell over eons ago and developing into a multicellular, sentient being and an artificial creation of circuitry and robotics that are both capable of the same level of thought? We may never have a concrete answer, only possible explanations, one of which may be how we perceive ethics and morals in our life. It is our distinguished, unique perception of right and wrong, no matter how distorted or virtuous given the context, that ultimately makes each human being different, each man and woman, human. Andrew over time, realizes that it is through flaws that makes him more and more human. Andrew gives up his strong, steel body, adds emotion to his face, and ultimately solidifies a point in time in which he would die and experience mortality. In these ways, yes. Andrew becomes almost identical to a regular human on a physical level. However, it is in his thinking and judgement, which become nonbinary as the story progresses, that he truly becomes human. Andrew begins to truly think for himself, how to obtain his own personal goals. He distances his thinking from the Three Laws, adopts Kantianistic-like thinking, and achieves what he truly desires. He may have seen planning his death as his penultimate release from being a robot, but I think he achieved human status much earlier in the story, through small moments of change in his morality and ethics.