Caliban

“Scarcely less serious are the endless abuses of robots. I have seen robots pressed into service as structural supports, simply ordered to stand there and hold a wall up-not for a minute, not as an emergency remedy while repairs are made-but as a permanent solution. I have seen robots-functional, capable robots-told to stand underwater and hold the anchorline of a sailboat. I know a woman who has one robot whose sole duty is to brush her teeth for her, and hold the brush in between times. A man with a broken water pipe in his basement set a robot to bailing the place out-full-time, nonstop, day in, day out, for six months-before the man finally bothered to have repairs made.

“Think about it. Consider it.Sentient beings used as substitutes for anchors, for toothbrushes, for pipe welds. Does that make sense? Does it seem rational that we create robots with minds capable of calculating hyperspace jumps, and then set them to work as deadweights to keep pleasure boats from floating away?

“These are merely the most glaring examples of robot abuse. I have not even touched on the endless tasks we all allow our robots to do for us, things that we should do for ourselves. But these things, too, are robot abuse, and they are demeaning to ourselves as much as to our mechanical servants.

“I recall a morning, not so long ago, when I stood in front of my closet for twenty minutes, waiting for my robot to dress me. When I finally remembered that I had ordered the robot out on an errand, Istill did not dress myself, but waited for the robot to return. It never dawned on me that I might select my own clothes, put them on my own body, close the fasteners myself. Ithad to be donefor me.

“I submit to you that such absurdities as that do more than waste the abilities of robots. They hurtus, do damage to humans. Such behavior teaches us to think that labor-alllabor,any labor-is beneath us, that the only respectable, socially acceptable thing to do is sit still and allow our robot-slaves to care for us.

“Yes, I said slaves. I asked a question at the beginning of this talk. I asked ‘What are robots for?’ Well, ladies and gentlemen,that is the answer that our society has come up with.That is what we use them as. Slaves.Slaves. Look into the history books, look into all the ancient texts of times gone by and all the cultures of the past. Slavery hasalways corrupted the societies in which it has existed, grinding down the slaves, degrading them, humiliating them-but likewiseit has always corrupted the slave masters as well, poisoned them, weakened them. Slavery is a trap, one that always catches the society that condones it.

“That is what is happening to us.”Fredda paused for a moment and looked around the auditorium. There was silence, dead silence.

“Let me go back to that day when I waited for my robot-slave to dress me. Thinking about it after the fact, seeing just how ridiculous that moment had been, I resolved to manage for myself the next time.

“And I found that I could not! I did not know how. I did not know where my clothes were. I did not know how the fasteners worked or how the clothes went on. I walked around half a day with a blouse on backwards before realizing my mistake. I was astonished by my ignorance on the subject of caring for myself.

“I started watching myself go through my day, noticing how little I did for myself-how little I wascapable of doing.”

Alvar Kresh, watching the recording, began to understand. This was why she no longer kept a personal robot. A strange decision, yes, but it was beginning to make some sort of sense. He watched the recording with rapt attention, all thought of his own exhaustion quite forgotten.

“I was astonished just how incompetent I was,” Fredda Leving, s voice said. “I was amazed how many little tasks I could not perform. I cannot begin to describe the humiliation I felt when I realized that I could not find my way around my own city by myself. I needed a robot to guide me, or I would get hopelessly lost.”

There was a nervous titter or two in the audience, and Fredda nodded thoughtfully. “Yes, itis funny. But it is also very sad. Let me ask you out there who think I am being absurd-suppose all the robots simply stopped right now. Let us ignore the obvious fact that our entire civilization would collapse, because the robots are the ones who run it. Let’s keep it tight, and personal. Think what would happen to you ifyour robots shut down. What if your driver ceased to function, your personal attendant ground to a halt, your cook mindlocked and could not prepare meals, your valet lost power right now?