When I read Lotte's blog on obedience, it struck me immediately: obedience is often treated as just a simple string, describing an action of following commands. But I felt like obedience is an emotional negotiation. It is an action form of trust, fear, loyalty, doubt, ego, respect, uncertainty. It's not just a "yes" or "no".
The blog wove three different types of artificial creatures form of obedience:
Alexa, it obeys because that is the only thing it can do.
HAL 9000, obeys priority rather than a person.
Ruley, obeys only if you deserve it.
The last one in particular resonates with my own theme, "just try to feel it". A thing thinks objectively and logically. But we living beings sometimes combine that with instinct and emotional assessment. There is an implementation of the state of emotion, such as respect, ego, doubt, and many others. It tries to determine whether your previous action deserves the treatment or not.
What this blog made me realize is that obedience is not just a behavior. It is a relationship. So maybe the question is not " why are some creatures obedient?" but "why are they?".