R.U.R. by Karel Čapek

 

On summer holidays I take the opportunity to dedicate myself to some science fiction classics that I have pending to read. I had heard so much about this theatrical play written in 1920 but this has not prevented me from being surprised in some aspects.

The first part of the book is fascinating, I think it is the most worthwhile for today's reader, the creation of robots and their function to serve humanity. This part shows a clear influence of the current of economic thought of Taylorism and in turn it can be glimpsed a criticism of the unbridled production of consumer goods that ultimately, although it would not lead to a robots revolt, would be one of the triggering factors of the Wall Street Crash of 1929.

Also noteworthy, following the aforementioned industrialist ideas of the time -for example, Taylorism had great influence on the development of the Soviet State-, the dehumanized thoughts by the managers of Rossum Universal Robots and, in contrast, the most humanitarian and secondary role, absolutely sentimental, by the only woman in the cast; although in the end these feelings become more important as a path to a future redemption... I think this female role would clearly influence the woman/robot in the novel and film Metropolis (Thea Von Harbow, Fritz Lang, 1925/1927).

About the second and third parts of the book one must accept them as they are: some dialogues seem absurd to me, or at least incomprehensible in today stardards; it looks like an acid sitcom in which humanity ends up extinguished by its own creations.

In short, a worthwhile reading, a work of great influence on science fiction, inaugurating the subgenre of robots. For example, to take into account -with the permission of Mr. Isaac Asimov and his Laws of Robotics- the magnificent development of some of the issues dealt in this book in The Humanoids (1948) by Jack Williamson.

Made to Order: Robots and Revolution, by Jonathan Straham (editor).

(I know there could be some mistakes in this review. I’m trying to improve my English, thanks)

I received this book from Negalley in exchange for an honest review, so here we go:

Robots. A fascinating issue, but I must note in advance that half the stories - more or less- are about IA or artificial persons (by biologic, industrial and unknown procedures); that is, not as we understand the term, as a machine that operates with humanlike skills.

Briefly I review each of the stories:

A Guide for Working Breeds by Vina Jie-Min Prasad. The author repeats the style shown in the great Fandom for Robots, that is, a robot cyber-conversation. A curious mix with cybernetic IA logic and human imitation. For me it was difficult to understand all the argot. 

Test 4 Echo, by Peter Watts. In this tale he deals with a robot IA in the search for subaquatic life in Enceladus and about moral dilemmas. Typical of Mr. Watts, a story of disappointments that does not disappoint.

The Endless, by Saad Z. Hossain. An AI vengeance. The development is a bit tricky but it was a funny read:

Mi name is Suva. Like the airport, Suvarnabhumi. An odd name, you say? Because I am the airport, motherfucker.

Brother Rifle, by Daryl Gregory. A story about how an AI can help a marine do his work and then how the doctors with the aid of another one tries to redeem him. 

The Hurt Pattern, by Tony Onyebuchi. A police robot shot a thirteen year old black boy. Why? It is more complicated that it could seem. 

Idols, by Ken Liu. Idols wonders about the possibility that someone can construct a simulation of a persona based on all the feeds shared in the cloud (that is, social networks, media, works, etc.). This can be useful, for example, to interact with the deceased loved ones. A good story. Note: I read before about this captivating idea in a catalan written novel, El somriure d’un Eco by Jordi Gimeno.

Bigger Fish by Sarah Pinsker. The author of the excellent And Then There Were (N-One), shows here an asimovian crime story. Very good, one of the best in the book.

Sonnie's Union, by Peter F. Hamilton. A kind of chimera organic beings created for clandestine fighting.

Dancing with Death by John Chu. Planned obsolescence, but robots want to work, love… and ice-skating. Good. 

An Elephant Never Forgets, by Rich Larson. Bioengineered humans, Nexus 5 style. A person who does not remember anything wakes up in a kind of asylum...

The Translator, by Annalee Newitz. A future job: to translate IA messages to an understandable human language. By the author of Autonomous.

Sin Eater, by Ian McLeod. One of the best stories in the book. The last Pope and a robot. Amazing.

Fairy Tales for Robots, by Sofia Samatar. If you wanted to give humanity to a robot that is about to be born, how would you do it? Reading they fairy tales. A very well thought out story. 

Chiaroscuro in Red, by Suzanne Palmer. Very good! In a future, the rich do not own workers or slaves, they own robots. More robots, more wealth. Stewart is a short on money student who receives a second-hand robot as a birthday gift from his parents. What can the robot do for Stewart?. What can he do for the robot?

A glossary of Radicalization by Brooke Bolander. Artificial persons, cyberpunk & radical thinking. 

Overall it is a good anthology, although half of the stories are not strictly about robots, and neither strictly about revolution as indicated on the cover. However, in one way or another, the two issues are sufficiently addressed. For me, it was a good way to read about this fascinating topics and discover unknown authors (at least for me), and also to meet some of those I already know.

Thanks to Solaris and Netgalley for this book. It will be published on March 17.