Rise of the Robots

acting-man.com / by Pater Tenebrarum / August 20, 2012

In the 1950′s to the 1970′s, robots were a major topic in speculative fiction. From Isaac Asimov’s robot-focused novels (the movie ‘I, Robot’ is based on Asimov’s work, taking its title from a short story collection published in 1950) to Philip K. Dick’s ‘Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep‘ (filmed in a rather mangled version as ‘Blade Runner’), ‘The Simulacra‘ and ‘We Can Build You‘, famous science fiction writers spilled a lot of ink on the robotic future.

They were however not necessarily interested in the question of whether or not there would be a world filled with robots one day – that was sort of assumed to be inevitable – they focused on how humanity would use its creation and interact with it. A major theme was always the question of what would happen if artificial intelligence (AI) were to evolve to the point of gaining self-awareness. The subject remains a staple of science fiction literature and movies to this day. Often the machines are portrayed as antagonistic to their creators, such as in the ‘Terminator’ series. In the ‘Culture’ novels of Iain M. Banks (space operas set in a distant future),  self-aware machines have partnered with humanity and are described as morally ambiguous – they exercise a kind of ‘benevolent hegemony’ over the galaxy, by way of covert and overt interventionism, often inviting unintended consequences – somewhat reminiscent of the role the US play today in the world.

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2012-08-20 10:05:09

Source: http://silveristhenew.com/2012/08/20/rise-of-the-robots/