“One of Descartes’ students asked the master how he would know when an automaton had become a true man.
“‘When he tells me so himself,’ Descartes said.”
– “Cybernauts in Cyberspace: William Gibson’s Neuromancer” by David Porush
Robots, androids (and gynoids), and other assorted automatons have been a stable of science fiction since before it officially became science fiction. They’ve been simple servants, “logical progressions of the refrigerator and the steam shovel and autopilot and the thermostat” says Noel Perrin. They’ve been guardians and saviors — rescuing human kind from their own foibles. And they’ve been the ultimate nemesis — seeking to destroy and/or enslave all of humankind.
According to H. Bruce Franklin, the machine was “the first great idol of science fiction.”
What it is about this archetypical character that intrigues us so? Could it be our desire to understand the creator by becoming the creator ourselves? Could it be our desire to understand ourselves through the eyes of a construct much like ourselves?
Tales from Isaac Asimov’s robot stories to movies like The Terminator series and The Matrix trilogy try to answer those questions. And maybe there is no one answer, as each tale only tackles one small aspect of the over concept of “human and machine.”
What are your thoughts?
