A few points that need to be addressed when it comes to slaves:
1. You do NOT have to pay medical bills for slaves. Even in real life, the slaves that were brought to america on ships were brought in 400 or more at a time and were NOT given medical attention. Half to 3/4 of them made it to America if luck held, half or less if it did not.
2. Food supply and other maintenance depended entirely on how the slavers valued their property. "Motivation" was never difficult and history has proven that provisions weren't exactly plentiful all the time.
3. The main difficulty with enslaving humans vs droids is that human slaves needed rest or died, but were less expensive to physically maintain than droids were in most cases. Food cost less than lubricant, especially if it's the slaves that grow it. Slaves were given scraps in the US to live on, which created alot of 'Soul Food' Cuisine such as Pigs Feet and Chittelins.
4. No education is NOT necessary, save training for the work you want done (not much in the case of labor) and the orders given to do it. "Pick it up", "Carry it over there", "Drop that and you WILL be punished" does not take much time or effort to teach.
Droids get less complicated in the case of skills that necessitated education because programming is not usually as expensive or time consuming as education. You do not need to repeat orders or 'train' them at all, just program it to do what you want. In this case, an educated slave gave the individual status due to the fact that they had the time and credits to waste to ensure compliance without payment. The more educated the slave, the more important the Master.
A heuristic processer would allow a droid to 'learn' new tasks, but without a mindwipe it could also 'learn' to rebel. Double-edged sword.
5. Legally, droids are easier because they are ALWAYS considered property in most organic cultures. The idea of 'rights' does not apply...EVER. They has never been and will never be (That I am aware of) a law made that allowed droid 'freedom' from ownership.
For those who would be offended, this is a practical look at the concept of slavery. I do not morally condone or enjoy the thought of slavery of any kind. It is disgusting, brutal, unconscionable, difficult to manage and inefficent. Better to look for service contracts or simply workers for jobs. People who want to do the work are far better at it, more efficient, more skilled, more adaptable and by far more motivated to do good work than slaves can ever be. Slaves or droids have no real 'motivation of any type to do well. They simply do what they are told (or programmed) to do.
