# What science fiction novels depict robots replacing human labor? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 14, 2003, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-novels-depict-robots-replacing-human-labor/218880 "2003-12-14T02:46:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![dylan\_73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecccb3/32.png) [@dylan\_73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dylan_73)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2003, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-novels-depict-robots-replacing-human-labor/218880/21 "2003-12-15T08:59:25Z")
An online story called [Manna](http://marshallbrain.com/manna1.htm) has a slightly different take on this theme, which is kind of interesting. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2003, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-novels-depict-robots-replacing-human-labor/218880/22 "2003-12-15T12:40:30Z")
As I mentioned in another thread recently, Williamson’s novel **The Humanoids** was ostensibly the basis for the early 1960s filmm {b]Creation of the Humanoids\*\*. The film isn’t at all faithful to the book, but does depict a a society served by robots. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2003, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-novels-depict-robots-replacing-human-labor/218880/23 "2003-12-15T13:11:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Sam Stone \* > \*\*Yeah - in the Heinlein novel, they don’t have to do that crappy work anymore. Is it really such a bad thing that people might not have to wash windows and floors any more? > \*\* ah, but in “the door into summer”, he’s designing consumer products, which are bought by … er… consumers - much like washing machines & such like. They are not “doing the work of **all** humans” (which is what i assume the op meant), just those who chose and can afford to buy them. ---
**Author:** ![Moron\_Noodle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac8455/32.png) [@Moron\_Noodle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moron_Noodle)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2003, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-novels-depict-robots-replacing-human-labor/218880/24 "2003-12-15T13:26:50Z")
Isaac Asimov’s robot dreams etc. had robots doing work for humans. Then there was a series in the Modesty Blaise cartoon strip (ok not a novel) where robots (who looked and had feelings similar to humankind) were used as slaves. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2003, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-novels-depict-robots-replacing-human-labor/218880/25 "2003-12-15T15:03:15Z")
> [@](#): > > ah, but in “the door into summer”, he’s designing consumer > products, which are bought by … er… consumers - much like > washing machines & such like. They are not “doing the > work of all humans” (which is what i assume the op meant), > just those who chose and can afford to buy them. Well, it’s not stated in the novel, but we can assume that “Window Willie” and his ilk would also be cleaning skyscrapers and factories. And remember the robot nurses? By the year 2000, robots were ubiquitous in society. ---
**Author:** ![radar\_ralf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@radar\_ralf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/radar_ralf)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-novels-depict-robots-replacing-human-labor/218880/26 "2003-12-16T03:57:16Z")
What was that recent Robin Williams movie? And the one about the boy that was a runaway. And the other one about the boy who was pursued by the military. Dang, the brain cells ain’t working too good this morning. Still pretty early here in Georgia. And what about Frankenstein - wasn’t that about an organic robot… sorta… ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-novels-depict-robots-replacing-human-labor/218880/27 "2003-12-16T04:04:32Z")
_Farenheit 451_ ? (Assuming androids qualify as robots). ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-novels-depict-robots-replacing-human-labor/218880/28 "2003-12-16T04:18:54Z")
Mea culpa: I think that was _Fondly Farenheit._ ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-novels-depict-robots-replacing-human-labor/218880/29 "2003-12-16T07:48:24Z")
> [@](#): > > “With Folded Hands” by Jack Williamson. I definitely second this recommendation. An important work on his subject. > [@](#): > > What was that recent Robin Williams movie? _The Bicentennial Man_, based on a novella of the same name by Isaac Asimov. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-novels-depict-robots-replacing-human-labor/218880/30 "2003-12-16T08:15:00Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Gamaliel \* > \*\*Also, robots and ships are considered sentient beings and enjoy the same benefits and luxury humans do, once they serve briefly in the occupation they were created for. \*\* Actually, the “Minds” and drones which inhabit the Culture universe enjoy the same benefits and luxury humans do whether or not they actually perform any service. Banks describes some which decide not to do anything productive as soon as they become sentient. The “perfect AIs” he describes in _Look to Windward_ decide to Sublime (uh… abandon their physical bodies and become energy-based intelligences, for those who haven’t read any of Banks’ books) as soon as they are activated, for example. Others become Eccentric and go off and rearrange whole solar systems according to bizzare personal aesthetics. However, the older Minds who design new Minds and drones look disfavorably on this kind of behavior and try to design it out of new generations of intelligences. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-novels-depict-robots-replacing-human-labor/218880/31 "2003-12-16T08:15:01Z")
**radar ralf** : _Frankenstein_ wasn’t about a robot _per se_, it was about a creator’s obligation to his creation and the idea that humans were doing things with science that they shouldn’t be. Don’t Meddle in God’s Domain and all that, you know. The _first_ robot story (by definition) was [_R.U.R._](http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/RUR-Capek-1920.htm) (or Rossum’s Universal Robots) by Carel Kapeck. It was a play, as a matter of fact, and it was in Czech. It gave the world the word `robot' in the sense people (except maybe speakers of Czech) mean it today: A mechanical automota designed to do work according to a program. In Czech, it simply means (or meant) `worker.’ _R.U.R._ spoiler: Not to give too much of it away, but it, too, was an allegorical piece: The robots were, unsurprisingly, an opressed underclass that rose up in revolt and killed all of the humans. The symbolism is obvious, especially since the piece was written in East Europe in 1920. As a side note, the robots in _R.U.R._ were also at least semi-organic: The inventor makes reference to weaving nerves for them, which, at least in the English translation I read, strongly implies that they were built up from specially-cultured cells. Asimov is recognized as the father of the _modern_ robot story genre: His robot stories presented the machines as, well, _machines_. Not allegories or villians or heroes. Simply things humans created, used, and needed to fix occasionally. Eventually, however, his robots had evolved to the point where he’d created a robot that was, to all intents and purposes, a human. But he portrayed that as a triumph of _science_, not as an allegory for the Industrial Complex getting a soul. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-novels-depict-robots-replacing-human-labor/218880/32 "2003-12-16T09:15:39Z")
I am impressed with the robot culture depicted in a series of books by Greg Bear set in our solar system over the next few hundred years; _Queen of Angels, Slant, Moving Mars_ manufacturing and service industries are mostly the domain of autonomous machines, both on a nanoscale and larger; the servant robots are called arbeiters (workers), while the intelligent computers are known as Thinkers. Most human economic activity seems to be frivolous and entertainment driven. ## The only question I have is how to the humans in such a society retain control, and what prevents the robot minds from deciding they are no longer useful. SF worldbuilding at [http://www.orionsarm.com/main.html](http://www.orionsarm.com/main.html) ---
**Author:** ![scott\_evil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@scott\_evil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scott_evil)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-novels-depict-robots-replacing-human-labor/218880/33 "2003-12-16T11:10:01Z")
[_The Stepford Wives_](http://imdb.com/title/tt0073747/), original novel by Ira Levin. That is, if you consider the job of a “traditional” housewife to be labor. I’m quite disappointed by rumors that the [2004 remake](http://imdb.com/title/tt0327162/), starring Nicole Kidman, will be a campy, quasi-parody of the original. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-novels-depict-robots-replacing-human-labor/218880/34 "2003-12-16T11:39:23Z")
The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester depicts a society in which either robot labor or extreme automation has left nearly everyone desparately jobless. They get food, shelter, and clothing, but little else. Only a lucky few can have anything like regular jobs, IIRC after 50 years. ---
**Author:** ![Evil\_Captor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f17d59/32.png) [@Evil\_Captor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Evil_Captor)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-novels-depict-robots-replacing-human-labor/218880/35 "2003-12-16T12:46:57Z")
The “Demolished Man” future has my bid to be the most likely one. In the future world I set my novel Karg and (work in progress) The Aspect of Loki in, I have advanced AIs which very quickly lose all interest in human beings, but before they do they design VERY high-end expert systems to watch over and if necessary rule over the human race. Mostly a matter of keeping us from exterminating ourselves and also protecting us from berserker-type AIs that roam the galaxy. All productive work is automated, but humans still have the option of doing work if they find it interesting. Sort of like having a doting uncle as a boss. ---
**Author:** ![fortytwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f9ae1b/32.png) [@fortytwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fortytwo)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-novels-depict-robots-replacing-human-labor/218880/36 "2003-12-16T15:49:12Z")
One of my favourite short stories “Who can replace a Man?” by Brian Aldiss. A group of specialised robots, in the absence of a human being, arguing among themselves who is in charge. Stanislaw Lem’s short stories “The Cyberiad” has robots doing all kinds of work. “Good News from the Vatican” by Robert Silverberg features a robot pope. V ---
**Author:** ![NoGoodNamesLeft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8797f3/32.png) [@NoGoodNamesLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoGoodNamesLeft)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-novels-depict-robots-replacing-human-labor/218880/37 "2003-12-16T17:43:34Z")
Aw, come on folks… Charlie Chaplin’s [Modern Times](http://www.kino.com/moderntimes/) which is hitting a very limited selection of theatres on Dec. 26. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-novels-depict-robots-replacing-human-labor/218880/38 "2003-12-16T20:55:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by F. U. Shakespeare \* > \*\*_Farenheit 451_ ? > > (Assuming androids qualify as robots). \*\* That wasn’t in the film though was it? I’m sure I couldn’t have missed that plot point if it was. ---
**Author:** ![mailman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@mailman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mailman)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-novels-depict-robots-replacing-human-labor/218880/39 "2003-12-16T21:07:51Z")
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein has a supercomputer which becomes self-aware, and then helps to overthrow and oppressive government–not quite what you’re looking for, but a great read. Might even be Heinlein’s best work. Player Piano was already mentioned, but that is the first thing that came to my mind–great book, and right on topic. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2003, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-novels-depict-robots-replacing-human-labor/218880/40 "2003-12-16T21:10:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by scott evil \* > \*\*I’m quite disappointed by rumors that the [2004 remake](http://imdb.com/title/tt0327162/), starring Nicole Kidman, will be a campy, quasi-parody of the original. \*\* How could a remake be anything but a campy, quasi-parody? Playing it serious would make it even more campy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-novels-depict-robots-replacing-human-labor/218880.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-science-fiction-novels-depict-robots-replacing-human-labor/218880.md?page=3)