Atificial/Posthuman Life-form (Blog Post 5)
When
reading the story "Reason," so many religious aspects jumped out to
me; I immediately did research on the author Isaac Asimov. Isaac has a plethora
of works and is highly recognized for his ranges of titles across the library
Dewey Decimal System (DDS). His works range from hard sciences (such as:
chemistry, biology, physics, anatomy, geology, etc.) to more abstract
ideas and faiths (such as; humor, Greek mythology, and the Bible). He is famous
for his science fiction works and is a proudly acclaimed atheist. So it doesn't
strike me as surprising when I saw so many religious connections between this
story and Christians versus atheists. In the story "Reason," I believe Mr. Asimov
is trying to dictate the superiority of the atheist as the Robot assumed his superiority over the humans because of his (and the robot's) hard reliance on reason and nothing else more. The
robot, Cutie, rest his belief in the prospect of all things that remain in the realm of logic and reason. For example, when Cutie questioned his
creation he states "I accept nothing on authority. A hypothesis must be
backed by reason or else it is worthless..."(165) It is undeniable that
atheists have this method of thinking due to the fact of their disbelief of a
God. So they leave their faith in logic and reason (such as science) to explain
questions that every human wonders: origin of life. Also when Donovan and
Powell were leaving to return to Earth (parallel to how Christians believe when
they die, they'll return to Heaven), Cutie pitied them because he had no belief
in the existence of the Earth. So ultimately all he could reason is that they'll
just be going to the void of nothingness in space. But what baffles me is the
fact that he would use the Earth to represent Heaven. We all know that the
Earth exists, Donovan and Powell proved that they created Cutie. Is
Asimov trying to convey that he is in denial that a God does exist? Or is
he just simply using the Robot as a representation of his pity for the
"Earthmen's" (Christians) "pointless" faith? Or is he really just trying to screw us
all over by my over-thinking everything?
Reading the story "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long," by Brian W. Aldiss really reflected (to me) about the relationship between adopted children and their "mothers." For example, the feelings David and Mrs. Swinton couldn't express the love they felt for one another because David felt as if Mummy (Mrs. Swinton) didn't love him due to the fact that he isn't really her child (but a robot), and Mrs. Swinton believes David is afraid her. I find it crazy how Mrs. Swinton at the end is willing to dispose of David because he is now an inconvenience to her now that she thinks he isn't properly working (and is about to get her "real" child)-- parallel to how shelter mothers are welcome to kick their children out of their homes when they become 18 (and the government stop funding them grant), and their children become am inconvenience to them.
"The Culling" is very....interesting...and dystopic. One aspect of the book that I find crazy is when Lucian's old friend Cussian becomes the prefect and is living against the morals he vowed to keep, killing people he said he'd protect never do, and following a government he wants to overthrow. The fact that he wants to overthrow the government by following their rules is literally brainwash!For some reason it reminds me of the book "Animal Farm" when the pigs take power and become the leader (dictators) they affirmed they'd never be.
It's true that there is a strong connection between the story and religious ideologies at odds. In my head I ended up drawing ties to modern day and the Christian and Islamic faiths. With the robot calling himself the prophet and all. It also struck me as funny that both beliefs where ultimately trying to accomplish the same goal, just with different names for everything.
ReplyDeleteWow I never thought of Islamic versus Christianity. That's actually pretty insightful! Atheism was the first thing that came into my head from the beginning because the Robot was just like "I don't believe anything." Haha. However, yes you're right he did develop a religion as the story went on. But I still think his religion was more based on reason logic, which drew him to the conclusion that that machine was his maker rather than just overall faith. So in that perspective I kind of disagree.
DeleteIt's true that there is a strong connection between the story and religious ideologies at odds. In my head I ended up drawing ties to modern day and the Christian and Islamic faiths. With the robot calling himself the prophet and all. It also struck me as funny that both beliefs where ultimately trying to accomplish the same goal, just with different names for everything.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I agree that the story seemed to be about Atheists and Christians, I don't see how Cutie could possibly represent the Atheists. Cutie does constantly talk about logic and reason, but all his logic and reason is based off his loyalty to "The Master". Also, both the men and Cutie argue about their logic and reason, the men argue with scientific facts, while Cutie argues with his beliefs. Cutie begins to brainwash all the other robots to start worshiping the master, making them believe that they are there to serve him and follow his orders. Cutie believes he is there for religious reasons. Cutie even tells Donovan and Powell that the master create those books to make them believe they had a purpose, similar to the Bible. There's no way that Cutie could represent an Atheist if all of his logic and reasoning is from worshiping his god/master, Atheists do not believe in a god or a higher power. "So they leave their faith in logic and reason (such as science) to explain questions that every human wonders: origin of life." Cutie believes that a god or the master created everything, so that contradicts Atheists beliefs. The Earth men never spoke about any religious things except that Cuties beliefs were insane because he was believing in something who's powers he couldn't prove existed, they only spoke of science. From my knowledge of religion, I got that Cutie represented Christians and the men represented Atheists. I hope you don't take this comment in a harsh way, I'm not trying argue just pointing out some things ^-^ :c
ReplyDeleteNo, I didn't take it harshly at all. However, my point of view just differs because based on the story, the men themselves seemed to have never been on the Earth. So I used that as a representation of Heaven (and the basis of their faith) and Cutie used the things that were around him to make sense of everything (as Atheists tend to do through science). I also, believe he just stared making radical conclusions because of his "superior rational" to make conclusions based on "truth" and what could be defined and defended by reason lead him to make guesstimations why the men's book (aka Tha Bible) is fallible and wrong. However, Ryan brought an interesting idea. Maybe this story isn't even about Atheists and Christians. Maybe Atheists aren't even a part of the equation and it's between two world religions, and that ,to me, could makes a lot of sense as well, but I'm still leaning towards my perspective.
DeleteYeah, now that you brought up all reasons I can totally see your perspective. Very cool! I also agree that Ryan's perspective also makes a lot of sense and is really interesting but I still lean towards my perspective as well.
DeleteYou've analyzed Asimov brilliantly. A lot of what QT does is rooted in The philosophy of Descartes. Descartes proposed a whole theory about human beings as machines. QT does what he does thinking he has free will but in reality he's just following his programming in a more sophisticated way. As for the religious connection you made, I think you're right. However, I don't think that is the main focus of the story. Like Descartes, QT is a huge rationalist which leads to doubt that earth exists. As for the master, I think Asimov meant for the master to be QT's programming. Similar to how human beings are confined to a certain kind of programming.
ReplyDeleteWow you really did some good research on Isaac Asimov, which had some intriguing things to read about him. The second story as well you pointed out an interesting view on it about the adopted child and a mother that actually is a good way to look at it.
ReplyDelete