Theme in Literature Every book has a theme; some more powerful than others. In the story “Trurl’s Machine,” written by polish author, Stanislaw Lem, you join engineers, Trurl and Klapaucius, on the run from a not-so-dumb thinking machine. Be determined,be brave, and be prepared to destroy your creations, for the outcome of not doing so may be catastrophic. As seen on page 109, Trurl and Klapaucius finally realize that the machine needs to be demolished. “For the machine, in stubborn pursuit, was plowing through the walls of the buildings, like a mountain of steel, and in its wake lay piles of rubble and white white clouds of plaster dust.” This sentence is proof that if Trurl and Klapaucius had gone to the mountains instead of the town
What role will computers play in the future? What happens when artificial intelligence gets to the point of actually allowing machines to give birth to original thoughts, or suppose artificial intelligence became identical or superior to human intelligence? While attempting to answer these thought-provoking questions deeper questions arise that are more pertinent in our lives such as what defines being human, or as Morpheous says, “What is…real?” The Matrix as well as the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, by Phillip K. Dick, attempt to answer these questions through different matrices. These matrices are implemented into stories to provoke thought and ask the question, what if?
Warrick, Patricia S. "Science Fiction Images of Computers and Robots." The Cybernetic Imagination. N.p.: The MIT, 1980. 53-79. Rpt. in Contemporary Lieterary Criticism. Ed. Jean C. Stine. Vol. 26. Detroit: Gale, 1983. 53-56. Print.
The story “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury is a science fiction short story that has themes connecting to what is happening now, and what will happen in the future. “The Veldt” was written in 1950, where notable technological advances were made. Things such as the first TV remote control and credit cards (although, known as the “travel and entertainment” card at the time) were made. 8 million televisions were also being used in homes around the US (The People History. Retrieved from http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1950.html). As technology is advancing, things are getting easier; people are starting and continuing to become more leisurely. The story “The Veldt” is showing how our future might end up as technology advances, and people themselves
Artificial Intelligence is very similar to Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein in that the underlying themes, questions asked, and moral issues raised are the same.
Reflected in Scott 's Blade Runner, Tyrell has turned into the "God of biomechanics" and Roy his "prodigal son". These biblical suggestions are apparent of the consumerist drive for development of global organizations in the 1980 's and further uncovered how science effectively assume control; take control. The replicants are given embedded recollections and in that capacity are compelled to act a specific way.
Adas, Michael, "Machines as the Meaure of Men: Science, Technology, and Ideologies of Western Dominance", Cornell Univ. Press 1989, pp. 1-35.
If a machine passes the test, then it is clear that for many ordinary people it would be a sufficient reason to say that that is a thinking machine. And, in fact, since it is able to conversate with a human and to actually fool him and convince him that the machine is human, this would seem t...
When looking into the inner workings of a machine, one does not see each individual gear as being separate, but as an essential part of a larger system. Losing one gear would cause the entire system to stop working and eventually fail. This concept of mechanics lays the foundation to many issues touched on in Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison. The machine imagery comes through in two conversations with men that the invisible man may idolize, though he does not realize this at the time. The first of these conversations is with the veteran, while the second is with Lucius Brockway. Though the two may not qualify as “main characters,” they both play a crucial role, or as two gears in the system of Invisible Man. While one has a more literal focus on machineries than the other, both men have similar ideas of the topics they inadvertently discuss. Both conversations pave the way to the narrator’s awakening and the realization of his use in society. Within Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison, the narrator’s various interactions with people regarding machines allow him to acquire knowledge in regar...
...his gap in difference widens even more when comparing place. The people of “The Machine Stops” live in a hell like environment deep underground, being ruled by a man made version of the devil. Which some even consider a god. While the twenty first century lives in the surface of earth, free to manipulate the environment, to learn, and to pursuit happiness.
In this book, Forster is able to portray a reality that could become true if we, human beings, keep depending on technology for survival. Although it is very distressing that people became dependable to the Machine to the extent where they loose their humanity and become like a machine as well, with no mind of their own. It is incredible how people were not able to survive when the Machine stopped working; it is understandable that people nowadays will also have a hard time surviving without technology since we were born into a technological world. But the World will be well when people like Kuno remind humans what is really important in life.
Today’s world is full of robots that vacuum the floor and cars that talk to their drivers. People can ask their phones to send a text or play a song and a cheerful voice will oblige. Machines are taking over more and more tasks that are traditionally left to people, such as cleaning, navigating, and even scheduling meetings. In a world where technology is becoming increasingly human, questions arise about whether machines will eventually replace humankind altogether. In Ray Bradbury’s short stories, “The Veldt” and “August 2026,” he presents themes that technology will not only further replace the jobs of humans, but it will also outlast humankind as a whole. Although this is a plausible future, computers just cannot do certain human jobs.
...n against machine in a noticeably strained battle, but they also despise that the humans are more machine like than they ponder, and that the machine possesses human qualities as well. The humans, for their part, are as persistently compelled as machines. The incredible fighting skills and superhuman strength of the character seem to put them in machine type category. It showed how dependent man and machine actually are, or might be. One terror of fake intelligence is that technology will trap us in level of dependency. It emphasized the idea that artificial intelligence enslaves the human race. With the time we people are also becoming slaves of the machines that we have created. In time people will be so dependent on machines that they can no longer survive without them. This is the implicit idea of the film matrix, idea which hardly people would have noticed.
His story starts off with the machine going over a year a second in the future. The first thing he notices when the machine stops is a big sphinx statue and a group of people. The
The text of “Burning Chrome” by William Gibson, is based on the tale of two professional hackers, Automatic Jack and Bobby Quine. Jack buys a piece of unknown software that turns out to be a sophisticated and almost untraceable Russian hacking software. Bobby decided to use this software to break in and steal money from a high level and well connected criminal known as Chrome. After Jack agrees, the two hackers successfully break in and steal money as well as take down Chrome. These two characters live in a futuristic world where human anatomy and customizable technology have become one and both software and hardware have become crucial to the people of this time. In this essay I will briefly explain how software and hardware play a crucial part within the plot and how they differentiate from one another.
Turing, Alan. “Computing Machinery and Intelligence.” The Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence. Margaret A. Boden, ed. New York: Oxford UP, 1990. 40-66.