#853 The Love Machine- Julia Elliott

#853 The Love Machine- Julia Elliott

The story is told by a robot inside a college laboratory. It is a project on Artificial Intelligence and we see the process from inside the head of the one being experimented on, or built, or evolving depending on how you look at it. It has been programmed to “feel” love, or something closer to infatuation. First, it “loved” a lab assistant but when that got violent, it was reprogramed to “love” a toy dog.  

As it is being taught more about the world and the human condition, its ability to grasp what love is, and its reaction to it gets more intricate. Like humans, at first the feelings are basic, and their manners mimic those it learns from others. Later it gets more individual, and instead of seeing the programming, it feels more like self-determination. But as it gets more complicated, it boils down one basic idea:

“Nevertheless, I wanted to fuse with her in some meaningful way.”

Love among robots seems pointless, and teaching a robot to learn to love like a human does seems cruelly unfair, since the anatomy isn’t there to ever completely sate those “desires.” But, it begs the question: Isn’t human love itself pointless and unfair even to humans?

Notable Passage: “What are the relationships among love, knowledge, language, and consciousness?”

Rating: 7-8-8-7 Total= 30

#300 Caring Sharing- Will Self

#300 Caring Sharing- Will Self

This is a very fun kind of Speculative Fiction. We are in a post-sexual world, where adults spiritual and emotional needs are taken care of by "emotes". These are human-like creatures two or three times larger than their “grown-ups”. They follow their human around, often dressed alike, and when needed, they offer a supportive word, or give them a loving cuddle.

It has been four years that either Karen or Travis have been on a date, and much longer since either one has had physical contact with someone other than their emoto. So, its with trepidation that they decide to meet up. They are perfect for each other, the conversation is good, and the company is comforting. It is all they might ever ask of each other.

Their emotos however, get along famously.

Rating: 8-8-9-7 Total= 32

#49 Second Variety- Philip K. Dick

#49 Second Variety- Philip K. Dick

In an alternate Cold War outcome, the earth has been mostly destroyed by nuclear bombs.  Two sides still battle on “terra” near Normandy, France.  The Americans have designed AI creatures called “claws” that have decimated the Russian defenses. In a familiar arms race refrains they justify it by:

“If we hadn’t invented them, they would have.”

“It was interesting, the use of artificial forms of warfare. How had they got started? Necessity.”

We learn that the Claws have started designing their own AI machines that can’t or don’t care to discern between American or Russian troops, and will kill any human they find. The first variety is The Wounded Soldier designed to make real living soldiers open the bunkers for the Claws.  The third variety looks like a human child and is called David Edward Derring (D.E.D or dead). As they wonder what the missing Second Variety is, the trapped humans turn on each other in a paranoid state.

There is a lot of Cold War symbolism in this story, marveling at the chilling effectiveness of the robots, a Russian solder says: “It only takes one of them. Once the first one gets in it admits the others. Hundreds of them, all alike…Perfect socialism…the ideal of the communist state. All citizens interchangeable.” A perfect statement of the communist stereotype that American’s feared during the “Red Scare.”

There was a nice symbol of the gray lizard that masked itself as the color of the ash, calling it the “perfect adaptation.” Overall a good story, extremely predictable now, but I’m sure less so in 1953. It probably could have been 20 pages shorter. 

Notable Passage: “Your creations are your greatest achievements.”

Rating: 7-7-6-8 Total= 28