Book Review: Robots Through the Ages

A machine is a Man turned inside-out because it can describe all the details of a process, which a Man cannot, but it cannot experience that process itself as a Man can.

Months ago, I saw a travel documentary about a hotel in Japan that ran exclusively using robots. Receptionist, waiter, roomboy, chef, and laundry man—all were robots. Once you check in, you won't see a human being until you check out. It was an immensely entertaining spectacle and, at the same time, a deeply profound one. Robotics and AI are growing by leaps and bounds, but we are still unsure about the dynamics of our relationship with a non-human intelligence that doesn't need our intervention for sustenance. The only sure assumption is that our future is going to be totally and radically different from the way we have lived until now.

Robots Through the Ages is an anthology of science fiction short stories and novelettes, written by stalwarts, that deals with robots and AI. There are 17 stories in it, arranged chronologically, except for the first story, which is an original, unpublished one. There are two more original stories in the collection. From the vast ocean of good, bad, and ugly science fiction stories dealing with robots and androids, it is a daunting task to select a few that represent most of the different subgenres and also put forth relevant queries that a life with them poses. To the credit of the editors, Robert Silverberg and Bryan Thomas Schmidt, they have succeeded in their endeavour. I would rate the stories of Robots Through the Ages from above average to excellent in terms of quality, with many of them inspiring the reader to mull over the ramifications of the life-altering technological advancement that we now encounter even in our daily lives.

The book opens with a wonderful introduction to the volume by Robert Silverberg, which explains the need for such a venture. It is followed by the story Perfection by Seanan McGuire, which subtly points out the basic principle of robotics: attaining clinical perfection that is impossible for ordinary humans. It paints a grotesque picture of how an unnatural desire for perfection strips us of our humanity. Most of the stories in the collection gaze at this dilemma from different angles and in varying tones. Then we have a spooky story from 1899 by Ambrose Bierce about the creator who secretly built a machine that could think without a brain. Most of the initial stories are highly pessimistic about mixing thinking machines with human beings, like Jack Williamson's With Folded Hands, in which self-thinking humanoids that are bound to serve and guard humans wipe out the entire human industry, or Philip K. Dick's Second Variety, in which robotic warriors get so advanced that they forget which side of the war they are fighting for.

There are stories with an unpredictable twist in the last sentence, like Goodnight, Mr. James by Clifford D. Simak, in which a clone has to think of saving his skin while trying to kill a runaway murderous telepathic alien, and Instinct by Lester del Rey, which is about a robot in an apocalyptic world hell-bent on cloning a man, going against its superior, but having no idea what to do with him once cloned. A Bad Day for Sales is a satire about an automatic robotic vending machine finding himself in a nuclear blast. Another laugh-out-loud story is The Golem by Avram Davidson, which is about a robotic demon with murderous intentions and a retired couple who don't give a hoot. For A Breath I Tarry by Roger Zelazny is a profound existential thriller about a sentient machine that probes what it is to be a man in an apocalyptic future, with a beautiful ending.

The editor of the book, Robert Silverberg, has contributed an interesting and humorous story titled Pleasent News From the Vatican, about a group of people waiting for the election of a new pope with the possibility of a robot being elected. That Must Be Them Now is a story about a lowly robotic junk-collecting drone with ambition trying to hustle his way up against formidable competitors. There is a humorous play by Suzanne Palmer titled R.U.R.-8? (referring to Karl Capek's play R.U.R. that introduced the word robots) about the introduction of robots making humans too lazy to pursue anything meaningful. Today I Know by Martin L. Shoemaker is a wonderful, warm, and feel-good story that is the most recent one in the collection, about the relationship between an empathetic robot and a suicidal girl.

There are certain stories that did not work as well for me as the ones that I mentioned above, though even in them I could spot flashes of great imagination and genius. Dilemma by Conie Willis felt like a fan fiction story about Asimov, though it is eminently readable. The Robot's Girl by Brenda Cooper, which dealt with a couple trying to rescue a girl in their neighbourhood who is brought up by robots alone, was repetitive and ended up as an ordinary story. The climactic twist in Robinson Calculator by Paul Levinson didn't work for me, though the story until then was delightful. Ken Scholes has contributed an original story titled Of Homeward Dreams And Fallen Seeds And Melodies By Moonlight, which is a prequel to the world he created in his novel series. I feel someone who is more familiar with the lore will appreciate it more.

I believe we are at a crossroads as humans, and the possibilities and dangers of our next step forward are to be known, discussed, and resolved by the time we traverse the point of no return. Robots Through the Ages works as a collection of short stories due to its sheer diversity of themes, which make the reader think about the issues and opportunities created by a technology that has the power to permeate every dimension of human life.

All Systems Red by Martha Wells: Adventures of a Binge-Watching Robot

An AI SecUnit construct, which provides security to interplanetary explorers, hacks his governor module, effectively becoming free from any human interference in its working. He could do anything, but finally chooses to download hundreds of hours of entertainment media illegally and watch. His clients, a team of explorers, are mounting expeditions on a remote planet when things start to go wrong. Every system is trying to kill them on the strange planet, and their only hope is a serial-watching rogue AI construct, which calls itself Murderbot.

I had been continuously reading books on serious topics for a while and desperately wanted something light for a change. Thus, I ended up picking All Systems Red, a science fiction novella by Martha Wells. This is the first part of an ongoing series of books called The Murderbot Diaries. But even if you read it as a standalone book, it stands tall. I was getting the vibes of the Indian movie series Drishyam while reading the book, because in that movie the protagonist, an illiterate cable TV operator, gets his ideas from watching movies, like our binge-watching Murderbot.

The narrator of All Systems Red is the Murderbot himself, a reluctant protagonist who seems not to care much and is happy when left alone. He doesn't like to show his face to his human teammates and mingle with them. He interferes only with the security details and is careful not to let them find out that he is now an independent entity. But when security glitches start to appear and things go for a toss, he has to reluctantly assist them, thus realising the values of camaraderie and bonding.

The most interesting aspect of the book is its depiction of the relationship between the robot and his human clients. He saves them during an initial attack from an unknown creature, sustaining injuries to himself, because it's his duty to do so, even though in the present state he has a choice. But later, when he gets to know them more closely and gets accepted into their group, the choice to help them survive the impending doom is independent. In this aspect, the book can even be thought of as a coming-of-age story.

All Systems Red is a short, fast-paced page-turner that, at the same time, touches very briefly on several interesting aspects of corporate culture, human greed, teamwork, and assimilation. It points out several pertinent topics with an amazing economy of words, which turns out to be more effective than long essays or philosophical dissertations. I enjoyed the short novel for its interesting portrayal of the AI protagonist, subtle humour, incessant thrills, and its potential to make the reader ponder the positive and negative effects of a technology that can alter the experience of being human.

Oryx and Crake: A Dystopian Novel About An Imminent Future

The whole human race has succumbed to a mysterious virus and possibly the only human survivor in an apocalyptic future is Snowman, who lives near an artificially engineered race of humans called Crakers, who believe him to be a prophet of their creators, Crake and Oryx. Once upon a time, when the world was divided into compounds by profit hungry corporates playing with genetic and bio-engineering experiments, Snowman used to be Jimmy, Drake his friend and Oryx his romantic interest. Oryx and Crake tells the story of how the world ended up with the extinction of humans and the survival of Jimmy.

Oryx and Crake is a novel by Margaret Atwood that was short listed for Man Booker on 2003. It paints a scary picture of a future that is possible due to the many long strides made by innovations in technology. It is the portrayal of a society that is on the hold of profit hungry corporates who are interested in using science for feeding off the worries of the public instead of helping them.

The novel is told from the perspective of Snowman. The narrative flips from his adventures as Snowman to his past as Jimmy told in flashbacks. This makes the novel structured like a jigsaw puzzle, where you fit each bit of information as you lay your hands on them and finally get the whole picture once you assemble all the individual pieces.

Oryx and Crake is an enjoyable apocalyptic science fiction, that succeeds in making the reader imagine a future where bio-engineering makes the life of humans and animals a means for profit generation and the horrible results of that.

BUY THE BOOK :

Arrival vs Other Sci-fi Flicks...

It was a coincidence that I watched Close Encounters of the Third Kind just a few days before I saw Arrival, the latest Hollywood science fiction movie that is making waves around the world these days. When I watched Close Encounters way back in time, I wasn't able to appreciate it for all its marvel. After watching Spielberg spectacles like Jaws and Jurassic Park, it was dampening to see a very sober movie about alien contact that's basically devoid of any violent confrontation. It felt then that the sole purpose of their visit was to conduct an orchestra with humans.

But the next time after years, after attaining a bit more maturity and understanding, I was able finally to get the movie, especially the climax that totally flew over me the first time I watched it. Another science fiction film that portrays mankind's encounter with a higher civilisation is Kubrick's 2001: A Space Oddesey. It had more philosophical undertones than any other sci-fi movies that I watched. Arrival for me is more of a cross between these two giants.

Arrival manages to convey the wonder and anxiety felt by alien contact and communicating with them like Close Encounters. At the same time, it makes philosophical statements concerning the linearity of time like 2001. Arrival was a very effective movie experience for me till it reached its climax, during which some of its effects kind of worn off due to the abrupt way in which the business was wrapped up and the lack of any tangible payoff.

The issue with Arrival was that it was not focused on a singular aspect of its plot. In every 20 minutes or so, the movie chucks off most of its build up and its philosophy till then and move on to something different. This is not a bad thing normally. Even 2001 had a similar approach. But after all that breach of viewer's patience, 2001 comes up with some visuals and a philosophical stand that is much grander than what it showed till then- the star child. That makes the investment of viewer's time and intellect worthwhile. Arrival on the other hand doesn't offer anything such and settles for an ordinary, convenient ending that may have looked good on an ordinary science fiction movie.

Even that is fine when we consider what happened in Signs, a movie with a similar concept where build up was too good but the ending was one baffling WTF moment. (Signs makes us feel it's a movie about alien invasion while in-fact it's actually about how the invasion resolves the personal issues of its lead). Interstellar is another example, but it got away by Nolan's persuading skills that made me feel that the climax made a very important point, which wasn't the case as I found out when I watched it the second time.