"'Why not scrap the whole human race? How long till we have nothing but men of metal in a meaningless metal antheap?'" (p. 13)
If the men of metal are not only conscious and intelligent but also of superior intelligence, then they will not live in an antheap and will make and find meaning. The speaker, who is a drunk, tells the robot:
"'...you're the future, the meaningless future when all men are as useless as I am now...'" (p. 15)
No man is useless although they can be made to think that they are. Again, a future of intelligent beings, even if they are not human, will not be meaningless.
In Poul Anderson's last future history, Genesis, not only flesh but also metal has become redundant. Post-organic intelligences composed of subtle combinations of constructs and energy fields do not stride across the green hills of Earth but propel themselves across interstellar space but they have incorporated human memories and identities.
It is the robot, not the man, that properly assesses humanity:
"'There will always be men who think and dream and sing and carry on all the race has ever loved. The future belongs to them...'" (ibid.)
- and to conscious, intelligent beings like them.
2 comments:
If humans make conscious beings, they will also determine their -sub- conscious drives. So they might be happy in an antheap.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
It's fun to play with the idea of AIs, despite me being skeptical that will ever be a reality.
Ad astra! Sean
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