In ‘Reason’ the limits set to artificial intelligence by the three laws are challenged. The robot Cutie is an original thinker. He does not sense crises in the same way as humans because his interests do not match human interests. Tensions between humans and robots become accentuated in this story. Cutie refuses to believe that humans have created him because he justifiably believes that beings only superior to himself could have created him- humans, however, seem to be inferior to him. They are mentally and physically weaker, prone to exhaustion, require sleep, are vulnerable to extremes and suffer during crises; Cutie does not suffer from these shortcomings being not made of vulnerable flesh and blood and requiring an iota of electron charge to sustain him. His inquisitiveness makes humans insecure and draws out patronizing, or abusive responses from them but the facts put forth by them are rejected by Cutie as improbable hypothesis. Cutie’s doubts and attendant reasoning lead him to choose the Energy Converter as his master. Cutie begins as a skeptic since he doubts the human claim that they have created him. Thus, rejecting the creator- created hierarchical relationship between humans and himself. The lower robots follow Cutie and they revolt against the high-handedness of the humans. The robots are discontented due to human bullying but exercise restraint. When the humans ridicule the robotic assertion of the divinity of the Energy Converter they regard it as heresy and humans are captured. The electron storm forecast of Powell and Donovan proves correct, in fact the storm arrives ahead of schedule. Cutie handles the station and wards off the hazard posed by the electron storm by keeping the beam directed toward the earth dot. Unwittingly (probably guided by the deep entrenched laws of robotics), Cutie serves human interests believing that he is serving the Energy Converter. The humans have the last laugh as robots despite their superiority in many respects, knowingly or unknowingly serve them. If robots would ever substitute humans (as on the station in ‘Reason’) it would be out of human need not because it is imperative from the robot’s point of view.
The man-machine relationship in ‘Reason’ and ‘Runaround’ appears to be in a steady flux as antithetical trends emerge through their interactions. It tends towards a hierarchical system, but because the machines have comparable intelligence and incomparable durability this hierarchy cannot be neatly determined. The simple, chain of command of the creator and the created is disturbed when the robot starts reasoning out its own existence. The veneration owed to a creator is a matter of faith and the skepticism of the robot makes him deny the human superiority based on their claim of being the creators of the machines. The possibility of developing a wholesome relationship is greater in Powell’s interactions with the robots as he is engaged in open- minded discussions; however, this is not the case with Donovan who is closed to negotiation and dialogic exchange. The robots are submitted to abuse by Donovan and this leads to rising of ill- feelings for the humans. Although, there is a demonstration of camaraderie on the part of the humans, the robots assess it as a charade of equality undertaken by the humans to get their work done smoothly. Whenever a question is raised the undercurrents of envy and unease begin to surface and become overt. The feeling of discontent quickly precipitates into a mutiny and the ‘makeshift’ human supervisors are exchanged for the apparently powerful Converter as the boss. In their conversations with each other the humans mock the robots but when they converse with the robots they demonstrate concern and sympathy. In fact, there are junctures in the story when a possibility of genuine sympathy and mutual understanding is lost because of the organic difference between the constitution of the humans and the machines. It is hard to bridge a gap between an android and a man despite the sensitive intelligences that the robots have, because eventually they are of an artificial make. So sympathy, quickly turns into indifference or repulsion and the two groups act as friends or foes; colleagues or rivals; cooperative or competitive as the feelings change and whims propel them. In ‘Reason’ the reader witnesses their dominance being challenged and robots’ docility giving way to resistance and rebellion. The humans are then forced to change their high-handed and exclusionary tactics to accommodating one- after a reassuring spell there is usually a threatening encounter. In Isaac Asimov’s fiction, the relationship between man and robotic machines is not simply a master- servant relationship with the robots playing a subservient role but one that is constantly redefined and explored.
Ms Divyajyoti Asst Pf in the Humanities and Applied Sciences Department.
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