-Poul Anderson, The Shield Of Time (New York, 1991), PART ONE, 1987 A. D., p. 5.
But is it true that an emotionless Patrol agent would always be defective, worthless or even dangerous? When the Patrol has to ensure that wars, massacres or the Holocaust occur on schedule, emotionless agents would seem ideal - and malicious agents even better? Are there two or more sections of the Patrol that are never allowed to meet because they would be mutually intolerable and incomprehensible?
I do not keep track of other authors' sequels to Asimov's Foundation but I remember one logical argument:
Robots are programmed to protect specifically human beings;
the Galactic Empire exists in a humans only Galaxy;
Robots exterminated other intelligent species.
We might reach similarly distasteful conclusions about the Time Patrol.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I think it is good if some works of fiction are able to inspire thought provoking questions for which readers often propose opposing or distasteful answers. So your idea about the Time Patrol having at least two very different sections was intriguing.
I am no longer a fan of Asimov's FOUNDATION books, but he wrote one shot story set in the early First Galactic Empire which I liked, "Blind Alley." Showing in that story how mankind met the only other intelligent species to be found in the galaxy and what resulted from that contact.
Ad astra! Sean
Emotionless agents wouldn't be able to interact convincingly with human beings. Or to understand them and effectively deal with them.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
And your comment above made me think even sociopaths/psychopaths, the smart ones anyhow, have to at least pretend to have some empathy for other human beings, if only because that would make life easier for them.
One of the scariest books I ever read was Taylor Caldwell's WICKED ANGEL, giving readers a very alarming picture of how sociopaths thought and acted.
Ad astra! Sean
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