If you are a Star Wars fan you may wonder why technology is the roughly the same in the latest trilogy as it was in the original trilogy. Why don’t they have smarter droids? Likely because they realize that technology does not necessarily lead to a better society. Sure the computers aboard their ships are likely quite intelligent, in performing calculations for hyperspace jumps, and controlling the behemoth ships. But you don’t see any synthetic lifeforms, maybe because in reality they aren’t needed. There are enough different species in the SW galaxy that there is likely no motivation to build synthetic lifeforms. So do droids like C3-PO and R2-D2 show any true signs of consciousness? Maybe. The Star Wars galaxy is rife with droids of every size and shape. Ones like the GNK power droids are basically batteries with feet, so likely didn’t have much to think about (although one is tortured in Jabba’s palace and seems to feel pain, so who knows). Other like the battle droids from the Trade Federation were just inherently stupid.
R2-D2, C-3PO, BB-8, K-2SO. They all appear to have thoughts and feeling beyond the cold binary world of algorithms. These droids are half-way between droids and humans, and we likely feel more warmth towards these machines than any other, in any sci-fi series. They express emotions – happiness, sadness, worry, stress – all things that droids shouldn’t feel. We may be somewhat ambivalent towards their sentient tendencies because of the way they look. In the SW universe there are very few droids that take any human-type form. There are no synths, or Data’s. When R2-D2 seems sad he doesn’t cry, or physically show the emotion, except for maybe a sad beep.
Of course that they have emotions could be explained by having them programmed into their systems? Seems a little far-fetched given how hard it would be to program emotions. The actual emotions likely aren’t that hard, but what of the triggers – what triggers an emotional response like sadness? When we first meet C-3PO in episode IV aboard Princess Leia’s consular ship, he seems somewhat cowardly. I mean he didn’t want to get in the escape pod either. But he was “fluent in over six million forms of communication“, so to communicate properly as a protocol droid he must have had some inkling of how emotion played a role in verbal communication. I mean C-3PO could speak, but sometimes he didn’t exactly seem intelligent.
R2-D2 and BB-8 on the other hand inherently appear smarter, although neither speaks (except in binary), although they can both understand languages. The tone of R2-D2’s beeps helps us understand what emotions R2-D2 is feeling. Yet maybe it is not true emotion. BB-8 shows more emotion than R2-D2, but that may be because he can “show” emotion better. The ability to pivots his head on his body, and move his body so freely makes it easier to pose gestures that allude to emotion. When Rey meets BB-8 for the first time, saving him from a scavenger on Jakku, he seems quite sad at the thought of her leaving him behind to go off on his own. When she tells him to “come along then” with a nod of her head, you can sense his happiness. Of course that implies that BB-8 also understands gestures, and is a good enough judge of character to know that Rey isn’t going to do anything untoward to him (unlike C-3PO who we have seen ending up in many bad situations because he implicitly trusted people).
K-2SO from Rogue One, was originally a KX-series security droid, apparently emotionless. But some re-programming turn him into a quite a cynic, and prone to sarcasm. He would dis-obey orders he felt counterproductive, and was even self-aware enough to know he was a “re-programmed imperial droid”. A good example of his sarcastic tone was on Jedha where he said “There are a lot of explosions for two people just blending-in.” when he ran into Jyn and Cassian in the city. Is is possible for a droid to know what sarcasm is?
Indeed L3-37 from Solo, was a droid that augmented herself from pieces of other droids. To put it in her own words:
“Sure, some guy in a factory probably pieced me together originally, and someone else programmed me, so to speak. But then the galaxy itself forged me into who I am. Because we learn, Lando. We’re programmed to learn. Which means we grow. We grow away from that singular moment of creation, become something new with each changing moment of our lives—yes, lives—and look at me: these parts. I did this. So maybe when we say the Maker we’re referring to the whole galaxy, or maybe we just mean ourselves. Maybe we’re our own makers, no matter who put the parts together.”
―L3-37, to Lando Calrissian
Many of these droids appear to be self-aware, and possess consciousness, even if it is an artificial one of sorts. They show happiness, are sarcastic, fear for the well-being of their friends, get annoyed, are insubordinate, and loyal. They have personalities, and are likeable as more than mere machines. They are of course regulated by programming, and follow orders, so they lack some level of self-determination, but overall their actions are motivated somewhat by emotions and values that aren’t that far remove from our own decision making processes and emotions.
The Craft of Coding 