I was reminded of the Outer Limits episode (Twilight Zone was only 30 minutes, so I believe it was the latter for the longer story line) of a man imprisoned on a habitable moon for life. On one of the yearly supply runs, included in the gear is a female human appearing robot. As time progresses, the robot's responses become increasingly human, and the prisoner is beginning to treat "it" as *her* (they say nothing about "conjugality" -- this was '60's TV.) But then the supply ship returns and the prisoner's sentence has been commuted, he can return home. But there is only room for one, and the robot must be left behind. No ship will ever be returning to this place. So what had been a life sentence for one becomes an eternity sentence for the other. Raised some troubling issues and dealt with them with considerable sensitivity.
I was reminded of the Outer Limits episode (Twilight Zone was only 30 minutes, so I believe it was the latter for the longer story line) of a man imprisoned on a habitable moon for life. On one of the yearly supply runs, included in the gear is a female human appearing robot. As time progresses, the robot's responses become increasingly human, and the prisoner is beginning to treat "it" as *her* (they say nothing about "conjugality" -- this was '60's TV.) But then the supply ship returns and the prisoner's sentence has been commuted, he can return home. But there is only room for one, and the robot must be left behind. No ship will ever be returning to this place. So what had been a life sentence for one becomes an eternity sentence for the other. Raised some troubling issues and dealt with them with considerable sensitivity.