It is a common belief among humans
that that our use of tools or machines makes us more efficient, proficient and
successful. Whether it is a physical tool such as a pencil or a mental tool
such as the scientific method, they very often make us more effective humans. I,
Robot offers exciting commentary on our human use of tools simply because
the robots are written as intelligent beings. However, if the robots are examined as competitive
beings, or perhaps as administrative beings, the role of both simple and complex
tools comes into question. Will the overuse of machines remove us from our humanity?
The end of the book certainly suggests
there is a danger to humanity in creating advanced machines, yet the ending
maintains that humans have ultimate control because we are the creators of
these machines. When examples such as Gloria and her pet robot are scrutinized,
it seems that Asimov is not suggesting that humans should not use tools or even
that we should limit the use of our tools; rather, he is suggesting that we should
appreciate our humanity and make informed choices about our use of tools.
I think your description of the robots as "tools" is really interesting. They are built for the purpose of helping humans, so they are clearly tools in that sense. On the other hand, the "humanity" of the robots make them seem to be more than that. We have talked a lot in class about the eventual abilities of the robots to lie and feel emotions, traits that we consider to be "human", and how that is breaking down the barrier between robot- and human-kind. I am also wondering if the very shape of the robots to look like humans makes them more than simply a tool. We have tools that are superior to ourselves, in some way--our computers. They have a processing and computing power that we could never hope to have, yet they are clearly tools and we do not really fear them becoming the dominant "species" on the planet. Robots are similar to these computers, but they can walk and talk and be made to look exactly like humans, and all of a sudden we fear their ability to dominate us. I am wondering if the very shape of the robot is what separates them from our own computers, and if their similarity to human beings makes them more than a tool.
ReplyDelete