sci-fi essay #1

7/29/2019 Sci-Fi Essay #1

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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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Hall 2

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.

sci-fi essay #1

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