A Robot Philosopher

I recently read a letter written by the science-fiction writer Ray Bradbury in the 1970s to his friend.  Bradbury’s friend expressed a fear of robots turning against humanity and the dangers they posed.  Bradbury wrote a lovely response in defence of robotkind. 

At the end of his letter, he wrote: 

P.S. [I] can’t resist commenting on [your] fears of the Disney robots. Why aren’t you afraid of books, then? The fact is, of course, that people have been afraid of books, down through history. They are extensions of people, not people themselves. Any machine, any robot, is the sum total of the ways we use it. Why not knock down all robot camera devices and the means for reproducing the stuff that goes into such devices, things called projectors in theatres? A motion picture projector is a non-humanoid robot which repeats truths which we inject into it. Is it inhuman? Yes. Does it project human truths to humanize us more often than not? Yes.

The excuse could be made that we should burn all books because some books are dreadful.

We should mash all cars because some cars get in accidents because of the people driving them.

We should burn down all the theatres in the world because some films are trash, drivel.

So it is finally with the robots you say you fear. Why fear something? Why not create with it? Why not build robot teachers to help out in schools where teaching certain subjects is a bore for EVERYONE? Why not have Plato sitting in your Greek Class answering jolly questions about his Republic? I would love to experiment with that. I am not afraid of robots. I am afraid of people, people, people. I want them to remain human. I can help keep them human with the wise and lovely use of books, films, robots, and my own mind, hands, and heart.

I am afraid of Catholics killing Protestants and vice versa.

I am afraid of whites killing blacks and vice versa.

I am afraid of English killing Irish and vice versa.

I am afraid of young killing old and vice versa.

I am afraid of Communists killing Capitalists and vice versa.

But…robots? God, I love them. I will use them humanely to teach all of the above. My voice will speak out of them, and it will be a damned nice voice. 

* 

And that is the end of Bradbury’s letter.  It is very beautiful. 

Of course, when the end of the world comes, you are not likely to see an army of books marching down the street, with guns in their hands.  But it is not impossible to imagine an army of robots marching down the street with guns in their hands.  I don’t think all books, or all robots, should be banned.  But a book with instructions for how to build a nuclear bomb should be banned, as should the kind of robots that can carry guns.

 

Vocabulary:

P.S. – This stands for “post script”.  It is used to add some additional writing after the end of a letter

a humanoid – Something which is not human, but which has the basic body shape of a human

[eg., In the Lord of the Rings story, some humanoid races, such as goblins, elves and dwarves appear.]

to humanize someone or something – to give someone more of the good, moral, or civilized aspects of human feeling

[eg. Prisons should not be dirty and violent places.  We need to spend time and money humanizing the prison system, if it is to help the people inside it.]

Drivel – nonsense

[eg. Don’t talk such drivel.]

vice versa – and the other way round

[eg. “The young killing the old and vice versa” means, “The young killing the old and the old killing the young.]