On the Goodness of Daleks

Any sufficiently complex organism, has the simulacrum of free will - that is, it feels, its action originate within a gestalt formed by its memories, its present desires, and its culture: so long as its actions are not impelled except at these levels, it will model itself as a free agent.  When Daleks are stripped of the biomechanical imposition of their culture of obedience, when they can ask why, or marvel at the birth of a star: they are not necessarily becoming good. However what they are doing, which is a precursure to such change, is to widen exponentially the circle of their possible actions. Even in a universe in which free will may be an illusion, some wills can be more constrained than others, and to step out of the constraints of imposed cultural (machine re-inforced) obedience is to be freer. Free Daleks would have been a terrifying adversary.

The Book Of The Peace.