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I was waiting for the author of the article to mention Asimov, but he never did :( It's too bad because Asimovs Three Laws of Robotics

1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 2) A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws

do answer many of OP's points about goal oriented behaviour.

I think that if the show spent time covering how the tech came to be, it would just dilute the philosophical concentration of the series, which in my opinion, was extremely stimulating and appropriately delivered for television's standards. No I do not believe that Mr. Ford developed sentient beings with the help of just one other person, but who's to say he didn't just fork some open source framework (in his backstory, of course) and spend some ridiculous amount of an inherited wealth to make it all come true?

I had my share of disappointment as the show progressed, but it definitely added something to the mix that I was not expecting.