Well now I have to read this story myself. Great review. Speculative fiction is often informed by our current world. At first, I thought Samsara’s world of privileged citizens and toiling suffering immigrants was the US, but I think it resembles even more the Gulf petro states. The citizens live life of wealth and ease provided by petroleum profits while the work is done by immigrants often from Southeast Asia and Bangladesh who toil in the heat with no hope of gaining rights of citizenship. Perhaps this is our future made worse by climate catastrophe inspired migrations.
::Good robots unquestioningly give their loyalty and their lives to their human master, like Arnold Schwarzenegger in T2. Bad robots like Ultron resist.::
Reading this just now brought to mind the comment, "A hunter considers an animal 'vicious' that fights back when you try to kill it."
::"As a species you toil endlessly for total liberty, yet humans don't seem to do much with it," one not entirely trustworthy AI comments in Machine's Last Testament. "They want routine, safety, comfort."::
Now read that in Neil Patrick Harris's voice!
That sentiment seems to come up quite a lot lately in SF about robots and Artificial Intelligence, that Most Humans Don't Want Freedom, they want Safety and Comfort. I find myself wondering, "Is it really a zero-sum game, that you can have freedom or Safety and Comfort, but not both? And what kind of freedom is it if you have to struggle every day of your life to stay alive and well?"
Well, actually, I do think I know what kind of "freedom" that is....
Well now I have to read this story myself. Great review. Speculative fiction is often informed by our current world. At first, I thought Samsara’s world of privileged citizens and toiling suffering immigrants was the US, but I think it resembles even more the Gulf petro states. The citizens live life of wealth and ease provided by petroleum profits while the work is done by immigrants often from Southeast Asia and Bangladesh who toil in the heat with no hope of gaining rights of citizenship. Perhaps this is our future made worse by climate catastrophe inspired migrations.
Dear, I started reading, then I had a short circuit when I read this line: the plot-driven mechanical pulp contraptions of Isaac Asimov.
Gasp.
R. Daneel Olivaw is active for 20,000 years thru the Foundation Series.
He reprograms himself with the Zeroth Law - "A robot may not harm humanity, or through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm".
Then he meddles in the growth of humanity. Does quite a good job of it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._Daneel_Olivaw#
::Good robots unquestioningly give their loyalty and their lives to their human master, like Arnold Schwarzenegger in T2. Bad robots like Ultron resist.::
Reading this just now brought to mind the comment, "A hunter considers an animal 'vicious' that fights back when you try to kill it."
::"As a species you toil endlessly for total liberty, yet humans don't seem to do much with it," one not entirely trustworthy AI comments in Machine's Last Testament. "They want routine, safety, comfort."::
Now read that in Neil Patrick Harris's voice!
That sentiment seems to come up quite a lot lately in SF about robots and Artificial Intelligence, that Most Humans Don't Want Freedom, they want Safety and Comfort. I find myself wondering, "Is it really a zero-sum game, that you can have freedom or Safety and Comfort, but not both? And what kind of freedom is it if you have to struggle every day of your life to stay alive and well?"
Well, actually, I do think I know what kind of "freedom" that is....
https://youtu.be/hj7LRuusFqo?si=vEiKTYHqOHS_U9y8
“Discourse about AI has only become more urgent and more irritating…“
You’re hired.
And thanks for parsing out what is different about this different story.