I've been thinking about this for a while now, and thought I should get others' opinions about the matter. Warning, potential Fridge Horror ahead along with possible Portal/Portal 2 spoilers.

So in Portal 2, it is revealed that Cave Johnson wanted to put a human conscience into an operating system (which ultimately resulted in GLaDOS). Obviously, you're not going to jump straight to putting a human mind inside of a massive sentient OS that has control of an entire secret facility. You take baby steps, of course. Start small. Small computers that still need human-like thoughts...see where I'm heading with this?

Now imagine this: you're an Aperture Science test subject and, shucks, you've failed your test. You are now useless to the company. They couldn't just release you back into the world, as you might reveal sensitive information. But why kill you when you could still be of use to Science? So they invite you into a room where they try and take your conscious mind and put it into a computer. And they keep trying, and trying, and trying, eventually creating hundreds of these prototype genetic operating systems. What do with all of these failed trials?

Well, Black Mesa might infiltrate the facility. Why not make some nice talking turrets out of them?

And so the turrets (with human minds inside of them, aware of everything going on) are laced throughout the facility, standing eternal guard over a now-defunct building. You cannot die, as you are a robot now, but you have absolutely zero free will. Truly terrifying.

But ah, you are not alone! A woman in an orange jumpsuit with that fancy portal gun comes hopping by. You want to warn her of the immense danger she is in, but you are programmed to shoot "hostiles." So you shoot at her and she ducks behind a corner. Obviously you are concerned for her safety, so you ask her "Are you still there?" You're asking because you secretly want her to still be alive.

So she knocks you over with the Companion Cube. As your power system goes off, you tell her "I don't blame you." Of course you don't. Once upon a time, survival was on your mind as well.

Look back through the lines the turrets say and you'll see that they have varied personalities that often feel bad about their own fate and/or Chell's. Anyway, I feel like I rushed my thinking but so what. What do you think?