Quote:
Originally Posted by EatingPie
Interestingly, even your citation of Star Trek: TNG still owes much to R.U.R.. The question of data as property -- as slave -- versus an autonomous, free entity is exactly the spark of conflict in R.U.R.: machines tired of being enslaved (property) desire freedom.
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Ahem. Well, I was reacting to your "fear of what we created" theme. I interpret that as a "technology run amok" theme, clearly not the same as the slavery theme.
I agree that the slavery theme is also strong in many stories, going back to
R.U.R. And the
ST:TNG episode you referenced did indeed touch on that slavery issue. The two themes, when put together, manage to encompass most robot stories, but there is still a third theme--robots as a new species--that touches on cooperation, competition and integration into society (Asimov's "R. Daneel Olivaw" stories illustrate that theme, as well as
most of the
ST:TNG episodes, and another I just remembered,
Tek War).