History WhatMeasureIsANonHuman / WebComics

* Played for laughs in ''Webcomic/ManlyGuysDoingManlyThings'' with SuperSoldier {{Cyborg}} [[Franchise/MetalGear Raiden]]'s struggles with [[http://thepunchlineismachismo.com/archives/comic/the-straw-that-broke-the-robocamels-exoskeleton captchas]].

* In ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'': [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20031130.html "Food that talks is not food."]] If it's talking to you, odds are that it's going to get treated as having the exact same rights as everyone else, whether clone, artificial intelligence, or alien. Given the subject matter, those 'rights' include the right to be blown to fine chunks by the HeroicComedicSociopath protagonists or whoever the current baddies are. There's still the question if a goon doesn't get a chance to [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20040307.html say anything]] before being eaten.

** The 'food that talks' thing is taught to a race of alien hunter-gatherers who are encountering aliens for the first time, when the other guys are known to be hostile, then all stops are out. Besides, a lot of the antagonists are humans, while a fair few of the crew are alien.

** Florence identifies her [[MadScientist creator]], [[UpliftedAnimal Dr. Bowman]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02546.htm as human]]. She's [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02563.htm not the only one to do so]]. Bowman has made this a [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02547.htm standard feature of all of his AIs as a safety measure]]. And even then, it seems his code has made the robots well-behaved enough to deal with genuine non-humans, as Sam successfully argues that if robots were a threat, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02513.htm they would have killed him off a long time ago]].

** Florence identifies her [[MadScientist creator]], [[UpliftedAnimal Dr. Bowman]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02546.htm as human]]. She's [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02563.htm not the only one to do so]]. Bowman has made this a [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02547.htm standard feature of all of his AIs as a safety measure]].

* ''[[Webcomic/{{Goblins}} Goblins: Life through their Eyes]]'' is about a clan of Goblins who have to deal with the fact that they are essentially walking chunks of [[ExperiencePoints XP]] for [[CharacterLevel first-level]] heroes.
* Aversion: In ''Webcomic/ItsWalky'', when Joyce kills her EvilTwin (who has only existed for hours), her friends in SEMME are forced to eventually arrest her for murder. She eventually gets off of it, but not because of the value of the clone's life.
* Turned upside-down in [[http://www.drunkduck.com/I_Was_Kidnapped_By_Lesbian_Pirates_From_Outer_Space/index.php?p=205599 this]] page from ''WebComic/IWasKidnappedByLesbianPiratesFromOuterSpace''; the pirates fatally shoot what the narration assures us is "really an unfeeling, heartless android. It's OK to kill him!" But in the last panel, it shows an alien woman sobbing over the dead android.
** Hey, that's an expensive piece of equipment! If someone shot a hole through my Unimog I'd probably cry too!
* The ''[[Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick Order of the Stick]]'' prequel book, "Start of Darkness" [[spoiler: reveals that the gods really did create humanoid races such as goblins and kobolds purely as a source of XP for the 'proper' races. Understandably, they're pretty pissed about this, and the antagonist Redcloak's plan involves holding the gods to ransom to try and get a better deal for all 'savage' races.]]
** Another Redcloak example: Redcloak is a goblin, eventually leading a hobgoblin army (the "hob" bit makes a big difference when you're a (hob/)goblin), and he's willing (and eager) to throw away their lives since they're just hobgoblins. Then one of them sacrifices himself to save Redcloak, and he realizes the insanity of throwing away their lives, since they're goblins just like him. (So not "What measure is a non human?", but "What measure is a hob goblin?")
** In a later comic we have Celia calling Haley out for using this trope. After Belkar kills one of the hobgoblins in the group [[spoiler:keeping them from leaving Azure City]], Haley rationalizes the act, saying that it's one less Hobgoblin for [[spoiler:The Resistance]] to fight. Then Belkar knifes a random benign gnome and Haley freaks out, prompting Celia's response.
--->'''Celia''': "Wait, Haley! I have a solution. We paint the corpse orange and sharpen his teeth a little. You know, so you can rationalize it more easily."
*** They (The hobgoblins) were part of the invading army, and in uniform!
*** Haley, Belkar and Celia were not.
*** Even when not, [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0707.html the only Good goblins]]...
---> ...[[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness do I not often expound on the one quality, without which, no goblin can be truly Good?]]
*** That one was a bit of a subversion, since one of the human rebels notes "I don't think we need to bother [[KnightInShiningArmor Thahn]] with the particulars of this..."
** We also have the character of Miko. As a stereotypical "[[KnightTemplar detect first, smite second, ask questions never]]" Paladin, she makes it quite clear that the value of an Evil creature is zero. Even if it is human. Even then her opinion of Evil by the end becomes "Anyone who doesn't agree with her".
** The usage of this trope and the effects such a mindset has is a constant theme in the comic. In one storyline, [[spoiler:the mother of the black dragon the Order killed in the starmetal arc wants revenge on Vaarsuvius for her son's death. It's revealed she lost his father in the same manner--killed by adventurers for treasure and XP.]]
*** [[spoiler:And then Vaarsuvius uses an attack called "Familicide". [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Yeah.]]]]
*** And the implications of ''that'' one are examined ''[[MyGodWhatHaveIDone very]]'' thoroughly.
** Tsukiko, a mystic theurge who joins Team Evil, believes and treats undead like people, and, ahem, [[ILoveTheDead loves them]]. She even calls them her "children." Redcloak, however, points out that the undead are just "weapons" made of bones and flesh and dark energy. He proves his point by [[spoiler: seizing control over Tsukiko's "children" with Command Undead, ordering them to restrain and drain her life, eat her corpse, and then destroy themselves. They happily comply, leading to some pretty [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0830.html nightmare-inducing lines]] from Tsukiko.]] However, there are many kinds of undead in the setting, some sapient like Xykon and some just the magic equivalent of machines, but as far as Redcloak is concerned [[JustAMachine the only difference is the methods needed to control them.]]

* Completely averted in ''Webcomic/AMiracleOfScience''. Artificial Intelligences are considered people, both legally and ethically. Especially notable since the EvilPlan of the MadScientist they're hunting is to TakeOverTheWorld using a robot army. Even though he's a villain and thus exempt from the moral standards held by the protagonists and society in large, he still treats his creations with respect and actually listens to their advice]
** Further respect for the AIs: Benjamin and Caprice are getting shot at by an army of robots. They grab a motorcycle and run for it, until [[HiveMind Mars]] can determine that their pursuers are simple robots, ''not'' Artificial Intelligences, at which point Benjamin makes quick work of them with his [[MoreDakka pistol rail gun.]]
* {{Lampshaded}} in [[http://nonadventures.com/2008/05/31/bad-to-the-clone/ this strip]] of ''Webcomic/TheNonAdventuresOfWonderella''. Wonderella's a HeroicComedicSociopath, and Dr. Shark is a [[FriendlyEnemy Friendly Villain]], so this type of behavior is perfectly normal for them. A clone [[http://nonadventures.com/2008/05/31/bad-to-the-clone/ is fine too]].

** [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20040105 Othar Tryggvassen]], GentlemanAdventurer! is far from a normal human. Klaus already had a good reason to kill him--his "Mission" of [[spoiler:exterminating Sparks]]--but was too pragmatic and curious to do it without learning anything.

* Despite featuring a wide array of non-human creatures and plenty of violence, ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'' usually avoids this issue by treating ''all'' life, human and non-, with varying degrees of respect and irreverance [[MoodWhiplash depending on the tone of the story]]. It ''is'' parodied in [[http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=010717 these]] [[http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=971012 strips]], however, and gets played straight in the "Aylee" chapter, where, even though most ghouls seem only semi-sentient and attack humans on sight, Aylee still feels uncomfortable with the [[ComedicSociopathy lethal practical jokes]] she and Torg play on them. [[spoiler:This is made worse for her when she discovers that the "ghouls" are actually aliens of her own species.]]
* From ''Webcomic/TheAdventuresOfDrMcNinja'': "And because you're all cold, soulless robots, you won't mind if I snap into your robotic spines like a Slim Jim!" ...Despite the fact that said RidiculouslyHumanRobots are shown having thought balloons and responding to fear.
** Dr. [=McNinja=] also plows mercilessly through zombies.

* Deconstructed in ''Webcomic/AlienDice'' as more of a 'what measure is a sentient being with free will?' The Dice (semi-sentient creatures such as cats who are transformed into self aware creatures), despite sometimes displaying intelligence greater than their owners, are used, recycled, and in some cases destroyed because it's convenient for the owners. Even more atrocious is the dehumanization of the Indentured Players (who are sentient aliens turned into Dice), who ''lose the right to choose mates or claim their offspring'', among other things. Some characters see the Dice as ''sentient'', but others see them little more than objects to be used at will.
* A major portion of the backplot of ''Webcomic/{{Terinu}}'' as one of the secrets of the rebellion against the Varn was the destruction of their source of power. Which just happened to be composed of cute little humanoids uplifted from animals. Though designed to be subservient, the Ferin were sentient beings, and the wholesale slaughter by the humans was essentially a genocide.
* The rights of non-humans are an important theme in ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'', with a [[StarfishAliens squid-like alien]] protagonist, an anthropomorphic, intelligent, genetically engineered wolf who is technically still ''property'', and a host of apparently sentient robots struggling with or ignoring the three robotics laws. In one story arc, [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1300/fc01277.htm robots have been dismantled against their will]]. As Sam asks: is this a crime or simply overly aggressive recycling? (cue the IronicEcho two strips later)
** Most robots, it should be noticed, do NOT have the three laws. This is because the Laws have a major flaw- the laws are phrased in absolute terms and incautiously throw around the word "human." Thus, force a Three-Laws compliant robot to choose between committing genocide of a nonhuman race and letting a human's feelings get hurt...
*** There were [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1200/fv01193.htm other quirks]] as well.
** In an [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff600/fv00589.htm earlier scene]] Sam is surprised to learn that robots are taking an interest in religious texts. "What do they want with those?" he wonders. "Robots do not have souls. Or do they?" To which the bible salesman answers with a wry smile: "I think that is what they are trying to find out."
** There's also a strip where Sam calls Florence a slave, and mentions that in his home planet such thing wouldn't be allowed; Florence angrily argues that she is not a slave, but concedes that she technically has no right to property, free travel or vote. As for robots, some consider ''themselves'' property and would gladly argue against anybody trying to free them.
*** Although that would only apply to robots [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1300/fc01292.htm before scrapping time]].
** Florence identifies her [[MadScientist creator]], [[UpliftedAnimal Dr. Bowman]] [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02546.htm as human]]. She's [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02563.htm not the only one to do so]]. Bowman has made this a [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2600/fc02547.htm standard feature of all of his AIs as a safety measure]].
* In ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'': [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20031130.html "Food that talks is not food."]] If it's talking to you, odds are that it's going to get treated as having the exact same rights as everyone else, whether clone, artificial intelligence, or alien. Given the subject matter, those 'rights' include the right to be blown to fine chunks by the HeroicComedicSociopath protagonists or whoever the current baddies are. There's still the question if a goon doesn't get a chance to [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20040307.html say anything]] before being eaten.
** To Schlock himself, food that talks ''can'' be food. Then again, that's just one of his many ways of disposing of his enemies.
** The 'food that talks' thing is taught to a race of alien hunter-gatherers who are encountering aliens for the first time, when the other guys are known to be hostile, then all stops are out. Besides, a lot of the antagonists are humans, while a fair few of the crew are alien.
** This serves to make [[WrenchWench Ventura's]] views on robots all the more disturbing. In that she probably won't mind doing the same to organic folk if she could.
-->'''Para Ventura''': It sounds like you treat robots as if they're ''people''.
-->'''Ennesby''': Oh, I don't know. He treats people like they're robots, so it gets kind of hard to tell what he's thinking.
-->'''Para Ventura''': [...] You treat your machines well. I think I may have to ''like'' you.
** AIs are also regulated [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2003-02-23 a bit more heavily]] than humans apparently, since no humans have yet been sued for being too intelligent.
*** Although they are [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2001-02-11 kept from breeding]] if they're too dumb.
* Subverted in ''Webcomic/{{Minus}}'' [[http://www.kiwisbybeat.com/minus38.html here]], where she ends up apologizing.
%%* ''Webcomic/SamAndFuzzy'''s "Edwin" storyline. Sam gets called out on this by Detective Morris.
* In ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' the main restriction aliens and magical creatures deal with is their respective {{Masquerade}}s. Ellen bears the brunt of this trope, having been created by magic. While the main cast readily accepts her as one of their own, the wizard who enchanted the artifact that created her awakens to hunt her down. His reasoning? Anything created by the artifact is unnatural, and therefore must be destroyed. Even though Ellen has been treated as a separate person ever since her creation and developed a distinct personality to separate herself from Elliot. Nanase sums it up pretty well [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2009-10-20 here]] and [[http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2009-10-22 here]].
** Also played straight for the first boss, the goo.
* [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=706 This page]] of ''Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt'' shows Jack Hyland brutally wrecking a robot security guard, much to Antimony's horror. His response is a callous "So what? It's just a dumb robot." Even though the series has shown that robots are quite clearly sapient and capable of emotion. It also shows his increasingly deteriorating mental state as he was [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=619 far nicer to robots earlier in the comic]].
** According to [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=663 the student handbook]], it's official Court policy to "Remind the robot that you are a higher order of being, while it is merely an appliance." Annie and Kat are [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=744 among those]] who consistently view the Court robots as people.
** Also, according to Muut and then [[WordOfGod Word of Tom]], there is no {{psychopomp}} for robots. By contrast, there ''is'' a psychopomp for [[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=335 insects]]. However, it's revealed in a later chapter that robots don't have the same concept of "death" as flesh-and-blood beings, considering themselves to be "dead" whenever they are shut off. If robots do have souls, then, like [[spoiler:Annie's mum]], there may be no ''reason'' to take the soul of a being who can, in theory, resurrect indefinitely.
--->'''S13:'''[[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1293 This is not a collection of broken circuits. It is not a battered hull. It is not shattered silicon. This is the first of us to die a proper death.]]

* ''Webcomic/{{Newshounds}}'' has [[http://newshounds.keenspot.com/d/20100607.html Alistair, a cat, trying to get Sam, a dog, equal rights after Sam had a house arrest sentence extended]]

* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'': Dirk has an auto-responder program that's effectively a [[BrainUploading duplicate of his brain]] at age 13, and a lot of conversations about him revolve around the ethics of what one does when they have what is essentially a robotic clone of themselves. Dirk encourages AR to be as active as possible, as he considers stifling something that is very much alive to be AndIMustScream. Jake initially disrespects AR, believing it to not have feelings, but AR gets significantly offended by that, claiming that it is mentally as human as Jake is, and a later scene shows that AR might have genuine romantic feelings (though he admits that they might be fake just to fuck with Dirk).
** The comic in general heavily averts this trope. The numerous races that inhabit Skaia, Prospit, Derse, and the Lands (carapacians, consorts, underlings, etc.) are almost all just as sentient as the protagonists. The kids treat carapaces and consorts as equals (though it's noted that consorts, while sentient, aren't very smart) and are only shown attacking underlings like imps, liches, and ogres when they attack first (indeed there are several times where underlings are shown either choosing not to attack the players or actually befriending them and are thus spared).
** [[OurTrollsAreDifferent The trolls]] aren't so kind towards other sentients ([[CharacterDevelopment at first]]) but this is only because of their upbringing; [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen the Condesce]] essentially twisted her own race into a [[GalacticConqueror galaxy conquering]] [[AliensAreBastards race of xenophobes]] and casually genocides or enslaves every other sentient race encountered. In fact she doesn't even seem to consider some other trolls sentient or equal. Her FantasticCasteSystem created around the hemospectrum basically lets trolls with high-ranking blood colors do whatever they want to trolls with low-ranking colors, who are expected to just lie down and take it. Hell the Condesce goes so far with this as to declare the disabled and crippled to be unworthy of life; if you have even a tiny genetic defect in troll society you're culled before adulthood just because the Condesce doesn't want you breeding.
* ''[[Webcomic/VampireCheerleaders Paranormal Mystery Squad]]'' opens with the team hampered by "new regulations" against "cryptoslaughter"; even after this, Steph keeps killing cryptids willy-nilly for a little while, and the only consequence is a series of steep fines. This despite the fact that most cryptids are clearly sapient, and for most of the standalone series, there are two on the four-person team.
* The {{Mons}} featured in ''Webcomic/ButImACatPerson'' have personalities that change from owner to owner, limited free will, and compulsive obedience. Different characters may argue they should be given the same rights as humans, the limited protections of animals, or no more regulation than very sophisticated computers.
* In ''Webcomic/CommanderKitty'', [[http://www.commanderkitty.com/2012/05/20/no-one-will-ever-know/ Ace doesn't feel right just leaving a carcass made of living spacer parts lying around]], though he doesn't seem to care that the ''androids'' [[http://www.commanderkitty.com/2012/01/01/seemed-like-a-good-idea-at-the-time/ were all once organic]].
* Project ''Webcomic/SkinHorse'' exists to avert this trope. Their job is to ensure that nonhuman sapients get their civil rights too, although successes are... mixed.
* ''Webcomic/MagickChicks'' parodies the ''Manga/SailorMoon'' example when a former magical girl complains that she never understood ''why'' her evil nemesis's monsters always exploded after being defeated in a manner that makes it quite clear that she really wished they hadn't.
-->'''Dakota''': "I don't know why they needed to do that. I mean, they were creatures, but they were like people too. 'Nooo, you have defeated me...' Boom."
* Played for laughs in ''Webcomic/ManlyGuysDoingManlyThings'' with SuperSoldier {{Cyborg}} [[Franchise/MetalGear Raiden]]'s struggles with [[http://thepunchlineismachismo.com/archives/comic/the-straw-that-broke-the-robocamels-exoskeleton captchas]].
* In ''Webcomic/TheGlassScientists'', the police treats werewolf as a non-human beast that should be locked up and the mob tries to kill him even before that.
* The protagonists of ''Webcomic/DNATheWebcomic'' are genetically engineered furry children with super powers. They are considered experiments rather than people. This like likely part of the reason why the story takes place on an isolated island, so that the scientist can get away with not giving them the same rights as humans. Jay tries to keep them from being abused but he is far from being a good caretaker. Rigel admits that the reason why he bullies Orion is to feel better because he hates how he is treated.

* ''Webcomic/DaughterOfTheLilies'': Cave elves are written off as non-sapient monsters even though they have a language and an internal society. On the other hand, they're fine with [[ImAHumanitarian eating people alive]]. [[spoiler:As a cave elf herself, Thistle has a lot of anxiety over being a "monster".]]

* ''Webcomic/{{Kubera}}'':
** All magicians in the series have no qualms about killing sura. The racists have no qualms about killing Halfs.
** One of the reports from the aftermath of the attack on Kalibloom reveals just how bad Halfs have it, even in relatively Half-friendly cities. A Gandharva Half was killed during emotional resonance and the sponsor couldn't charge the killer with murder; the only thing they could be charged with was property damage.
** Maruna regards humans as humans would treat ants, but he considers Halfs to be sura, and treats them accordingly.
* Used against humanity in ''ComicBook/CleanRoom''. The Entities value Entity life too much to impose the death penalty even against their worst criminals, so they instead exile them to Earth where they torture humans. The Entities view this much the same as a human penal colony torturing an anthill.

* In the comic ''Webcomic/RocketMember'', [[LittleBitBeastly gijinka]] (which are humanoid beings with special powers and Pokémon traits) deal with issues concerning their humanity. TheYakuza[=/=]TheMafia Team Rocket outright use Poké Balls to enslave them. This is illegal but nevertheless widespread.

* WebComic/{{Paranatural}}

--->'''S13:'''[[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/?p=1293 "This is not a collection of broken circuits. It is not a battered hull. It is not shattered silicon. This is the first of us to die a proper death"]]