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In Return of the Jedi (1983) the droid EV-9D9 is shown torturing a droid but should that even be possible? I don't see how unless the droid was assembled with built in pain receptors, and why would a manufacturer want to do that?

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    This seems to have been answered inadvertently in the least upvoted answer to another question, here: Do droids feel pain?. It seems to me that is shouldn't count as a dupe as that wasn't the question being asked there nor was it the accepted answer. Closing this as a dupe would bury the answer way down the page there where people are unlikely to find it. Any takers to write the answer up? Commented Sep 1 at 0:50
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    Pain would be as useful to a robot as to a human: it identifies something wrong and inspires the desire to change the problem. Commented Sep 1 at 4:29
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    Obviously the droids in question experience pain, so the best formulation for this question seems to be "why do droids feel pain?" Commented Sep 1 at 6:27
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    First step to torture a droid is to install the pain receptors? Commented Sep 1 at 17:31
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    Pain receptors would encourage a droid to avoid damage which might require costly repairs. Commented Sep 1 at 20:53

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I’ve got to rest before I fall apart. My joints are almost frozen.

Thank the maker! This oil bath is going to feel so good!

C-3PO, Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)

Ouch! Oh! Ah! That hurt, Bend down, you thoughtless… Ow!

C-3PO, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

It seems fairly clear that droids were constructed (by their maker) with the ability to “feel” their own physical condition and physical stimuli and perceive them as pleasurable or painful. This presumably motivates them to pursue appropriate maintenance and avoid physical harm: the same reasons we have similar senses.

Although C-3PO’s exclamation “Thank the maker!” is probably more a figure of speech than something intended to be taken literally, it still strongly implies that C-3PO considers pleasure and his ability to feel pleasure to be something innate—something he was “born with” or that is just the way things are. He does not say “I’m so glad I had these pleasure sensors installed!” or anything like that, that would suggest that these abilities were augmentations. Similarly:

We seem to be made to suffer; it's our lot in life.

C-3PO, Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)

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  • Is that n = 1 that is then being generalized to all Droids? C-3PO is a specific droid made to interact with people. And himself is a bit different to his own series. There are two alternative explanations: * He has pain receptors wired in a similar way as humans and thus comments similarly as humans would do * He doesn't have pain receptors; he just mimics human behaviour to make himself more human-like and relatable, according to his programming. Personally, I find the later quite plausible. If he said "My hard ache", that doesn't mean that he has a hearth with pain receptors installe Commented Sep 3 at 2:03
  • d, doesn't even mean that he has a heart. And it doesn't mean that when humans say that we are in physical pain either. It is just a figure of speech that people say in certain situations. And as a protocol droid, all he really need is to know what to say in certain situation to be useful. Commented Sep 3 at 2:04
  • Just to add to Columbo's point, K-2SO in Rogue One does not make any pain noises nor complain when repeatedly shot. Apparently he lacks something that would prompt this - casting doubt on the possible explanation that all droids feel (or can express) pain. Commented Sep 3 at 2:12
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    @Colombo I see no reason to imagine that “ouch! That hurt” should not be taken literally. Commented Sep 3 at 2:55
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    @JiminyCricket. If I recall correctly, K-2SO had been extensively reprogrammed. So if anything, it would make sense to guess that he had his standard pain receptors disabled. Or perhaps he stoically kept his reaction to himself: an impulse foreign to Threepio’s personality. In any case, I think abundant examples in the original movies make it clear that we are intended to consider droid pain something normal and straightforward, not some mystery that needs deep lore to resolve. I think the evidence is plain and the OP’s doubt is, frankly, misplaced. The real puzzle is: why torture a droid? Commented Sep 3 at 3:04

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