sci-fi essay #1
TRANSCRIPT
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Hall 1
James Hall
Mr. Blockus
English 4 Science Fiction
August 22, 2013
Humans and their Relationship with Technology
Many people say that humans are too dependent on technology in todays world, and it
is apparent in many science fiction genre short stories, that the authors of the 1900s felt the
same way, even before the invention of many of the things we take for granted today, as in
Isaac Asimovs Little Lost Robot, and E.M. Forresters The Machine Stops. There are people
however, that see technology, and a human dependence on technology, in a different aspect, a
more positive aspect, and that is also apparent in such short stories as Slow Sculpture by
Theodore Sturgeon.
In the story Slow Sculpture by Theodore Sturgeon, the human race is not over-
dependent on technology, in reality, the human race portrayed in this story is not dependent
enough, in fact, it seems as if the people in the story (with the exception of one or two
characters) are scared of technology, and unable to see what technology could be used for to
better their lives, and the lives of many of the people around them. The author makes this point
very clear when the woman is ready to be injected with the miracle serum that will stop the
wild cells in her breast from making the cancer any worse. When she sees the laboratory of the
doctor that is supposed to be curing her, she seems to get a little uneasy, shying away from
the technology that could be used to save her life. This feeling goes away as the story progress,
and she becomes more open to the technology and the advances that this doctor has made in
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his one shot cure for cancer. In all, this story sheds a very positive light on the use of
technology to make life better for everybody.
A story with a very different point ofview is E.M. Forresters The Machine Stops, in
which the human race has been forced underground and forced to become dependent on
technology to live, most prominently, The Machine that takes care of their every need. Some
way or another, in this story, the surface of the earth has become toxic, and driven the people
of earth underground, into isolation from everybody else. They are dependent on The
Machine and are very wary about saying anything bad about The Machine, or going against
what The Machine wants for them. When one of the characters in the story decides that he no
longer wants to be dependent, and that he wants to go to the surface of the earth, he is
scolded by his mother, whom he has not seen in person since birth, who says that he must not
say or do anything about or against the machine. He does not take this into consideration, and
visits the surface anyway, and discovers that the human race really does not need to be
dependent on the machine, but does not take into account that people cannot be on the
surface of the earth for long periods of time, and eventually causes the downfall of mankind
when he begins his movement to liberate the humans from the machine. In this story, the
authors attitude about technology, and humans being dependent on it, is quite the opposite of
that of Sturgeon, in that Forrester is saying that if we become too dependent on technology, we
may, through human nature, cause the downfall of mankind.
The third and final story is Little Lost Robot by Isaac Asimov. In this story one robot of
twelve robots that were manufactured without having to follow the three laws of robotics gets
lost, and threatens humanity with a robot revolution of sorts. When the robot gets lost, the
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lead doctor on the project using the robots, does not know that the twelve were manufactured
without having to obey the three laws of robotics, and goes into a long-winded explanation of
how, if this robot were to escape, and make it to earth, that it may threaten humanity, because
it has free will, and does not have to follow any of the three laws of robotics, making it a danger
to humans, because it can freely cause harm to anything in its path, and still want to protect its
own existence. In this story, the author is trying to say, if we become so dependent on our
technological creations that we begin to have the need or desire to change it, then our
creations may no longer become dependent on us, and that could pose a big threat to
humanity.