Final answer:
Lanning and the Corporation's motivation to create androids with positronic brains aims to challenge the notion of a unique human consciousness and explore if human-like intelligence in robots can force society to confront its nature.
Step-by-step explanation:
Quinn likely believes that Lanning and the Corporation's motivation to create humanoids with positronic brains is to challenge the notion of a unique human consciousness and the existence of a non-physical mind or soul. By developing androids that are indistinguishable from humans in terms of behavior and expression of thoughts and feelings, the boundaries between human and artificial intelligence start to blur. This concept leans into philosophical discussions around consciousness and whether a sophisticated robot-android can truly emulate human minds or if the latter possess some non-physical aspects irreplicable by technology.
The desire to create such androids may also stem from exploring human predictability and laws governing the human brain, as well as long-term aspirations of the human species to better understand themselves through reflection provided by these technological mirrors. Driven by underlying philosophical, psychological, and ethical inquiries, the development of androids with human-like intelligence could push society to confront fears about the true essence of human nature and our place in the evolutionary hierarchy.