WARNING: the following contains SPOILERS for Rick and Morty, season 5, episode 5, "Amortycan Grickfitti."
Is the ship on Rick and Morty alive? Rick's Space Cruiser is arguably the fifth Smith family member — the ship, which appears to be cobbled together with spare parts like trash cans and duct tape, has been a regular presence on the series since the pilot. In season 2, the specialized vehicle was revealed to have advanced artificial intelligence, and Rick and Morty season 5, episode 5 extended the A.I. to include a distinct personality and clear self-awareness. This begs the question: if the Space Cruiser truly is sentient, is it alive?
The Space Cruiser's A.I. first appeared in Rick and Morty season 2, episode 6 "The Ricks Must Be Crazy." When Rick realizes his car battery is dead, he and Morty travel to the microverse it houses in order to identify the problem. Leaving Summer behind, Rick instructs the Space Cruiser to "keep Summer safe" — an instruction the vehicle runs with. Summer finds herself at odds with the ship's A.I. (which is much more willing to use lethal force than the Smith teen is), and at one point, the Space Cruiser mocks Summer's manner of speaking.
Rick and Morty episode "Amortycan Grickfitti" continues to develop the Space Cruiser's personality in Rick's absence. After cool kid Bruce Chutback, voiced by Darren Criss, admires the vehicle ("looks like a spaceship made of garbage... Pretty cool car"), Morty and Summer try to take it for a joyride, only to be denied by the ship's defense system. As the two Smith kids try to bypass the security measures, the Space Cruiser again resorts to sarcasm, mocking them. Later, the ship reveals that it had been faking going offline as part of its own plan to use the teenagers as scapegoats so that it could do all the things Rick never lets it do. At one point, the ship expresses an interest in losing its virginity. Clearly, the Space Cruiser has a personality and is self-aware; however, it is not technically living.
The question of the meaning of "life" as it pertains to robotics is a cornerstone of contemporary science fiction. From the real-life Turing Test to the fictional Voight-Kampff test in Blade Runner (and the Philip K. Dick book the sci-fi movie's based on, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?), there is a clear public interest in trying to suss out how artificial intelligence fits into the grander scheme of what humans consider "life." Rick's Space Cruiser in Rick and Morty would pass the Turing Test, fits the definitions for having consciousness, and, based on its emotional arc in the episode, should be considered sentient. Still, the Space Cruiser is not "alive."
Regardless of the ship's sentience in Rick and Morty, the vehicle is technically inorganic and therefore cannot be categorized by current definitions of life. However, this does not preclude the Space Cruiser from being able to identify as a person. Being self-aware makes the A.I. unique from a technological standpoint, but has no bearing on its status as living or non-living — there are lots of things that are "alive" and are not intelligent or conscious, like plants. "Life," at least from a biological perspective, requires the capacity to be self-sustaining and the ability to self-replicate — things the Space Cruiser cannot do. Still, there's something uncomfortable about dismissing a self-aware being like the ship or Rick's other conscious robots (like this butter robot that experiences an existential crisis) as not living. As real-world technologies evolve to match the fiction seen in shows like Rick and Morty, this definition for life may change — but for now, robots — even those with sassy personalities and the capacity for heartache — are not "alive."