We, Robots (Conversation Pieces, Volume 16) [Paperback]

Sue Lange (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 28, 2007

A tale set in the not-so-distant future when robots with AI serve nearly every human household, We, Robots is the story of Avey, a robot who undergoes a forced transition from emotionless domestic servant to conflicted human companion. Two weeks prior to the long-anticipated arrival of the Singularity-- the moment when artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence-- old robot models are recalled for the installation of a security upgrade that would allow the growing transhuman population to control them through instilling in them the ability to feel pain. This new feature introduces Avey to a cruel, unjust world, engendering a range of human emotions that include sadness, anger, compassion, and love. As robots across the globe collectively discover what it is to be human through the experience of suffering and longing, they inevitably begin to question their exploited existence. Will their joint uprising spoil the transhumans' grand social experiment and release them from a life of servitude?

Editorial Reviews

Review

''In a genre where robot stories have been a dime-a-dozen since the New Wave days, We, Robots stands out and delivers an insight into the human condition that would've made Asimov proud.'' --Tangent Online, Apr 8, 2007

''This is a funny and disturbing satire, and a refutation of the more facile writings in our genre.'' --Ideomancer, June 2007

''[A] slim volume that manages to be both a hilarious critique of hyper-consumerist and protect-the-children-from-all-dangers-real-or-perceived-at-all-costs-always culture and a pointed meditation on the uses of pain, physical and emotional, in the formation of character, personality and ambition. [...] Lange gives us a quiet and sad look at the world of institutionalized timidity we are heading towards with or without robots, intertwined with a hilarious send-up of just how we're getting there.'' --Racheline Maltese, Gather.com, Oct. 2007

Product Details

• Paperback: 98 pages
• Publisher: Aqueduct Press; 1st edition (February 28, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933500115
• ISBN-13: 978-1933500119
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 4.9 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,283,506 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sue Lange's work is easily digested yet delves into deep subjects and asks profound questions. And sometimes even answers them. Often witty, her books are entertaining without being devoid of meaning.

She is a founding member of Book View Cafe (http://www.bookviewcafe.com), an authors' collective that includes such writers as Ursula K. Le Guin, Vonda N. McIntyre, Sarah Zettel, Sherwood Smith, Judith Tarr, Deborah J. Ross and many others.

Her latest ebook, Tritcheon Hash has been made available by Book View Cafe.
The print version of Tritcheon Hash, was published by Metropolis Ink in 2003. We, Robots was originally published by Aqueduct Press in 2007 and then as an ebook by Book View Cafe in 2010. Her anthology of previously published short stories, Uncategorized, is available as an ebook as is her space adventure, The Textile Planet.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A short novel that says a lot about humanity, July 16, 2007

By 

Paul Lappen (Manchester, CT USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: We, Robots (Conversation Pieces, Volume 16) (Paperback)

Set in a near future Earth where fully functioning robots are available at the local Wal-Mart, this story is about the coming of the Singularity. It is the point at which artificial intelligence will surpass human intelligence.

Knowing that robots could enslave humanity, if they so wished, humanity has come up with a grand plan to control the robots through pain and fear. All robots are to receive a pain interpreter. Instead of knowing intellectually that placing a hand on a hot stove, for instance, is a really bad idea, the robot will now be able to feel the pain and hurt from the hot stove.

This story is narrated by an AV-1 (one of the rules is not to name your robot). Its owners are a married couple named Dal and Chit, and Angelina is their newborn daughter. The robot is to be a live-in day care provider, while Dal and Chit work as domestics to rich humans. After Angelina reaches school age, the robot escorts her to school, through their bad neighborhood in New Jersey, levitates to the top of the school building with the other robots, then escorts her home at the end of the day.

After the installation of the pain interpreter, the narrator, who Angelina calls Avey, becomes a conflicted being, experiencing love, pain and anger. Part of the deal for the robots is that they voluntarily hand themselves over to be recycled, and their parts made into new robots. Almost at the same time, robots everywhere, including Avey, decide not to go along; they like their present existence. Many attempts are made by humans to "convince" the robots that recycling is a good idea; some robots are disassembled, in front of other robots, without removing their pain interpreters first. It doesn't work. There will be no new robot models. Some humans have taken to physically modifying themselves to become part of the Singularity. These transhumans, looking forward to dominating Earth, are now out of a job.

It suddenly becomes popular for humans to neutralize their pain interpreters, to become more like robots. Taking advantage of their new ability (or disability), those who deserve to be removed from the gene pool, helpfully do just that. Humanity otherwise becomes quiet and docile. Without pain as a teacher, people won't grow or know what questions to ask. Millions of years of human instinct are in danger of disappearing in a generation. Humanity becomes posthuman, without a single neural implant.

This is a short novel, about 100 pages, but it says a lot about concepts of humanity. It is easy to read, and very much worth reading.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Science Fiction at its best!, June 29, 2008

By 

Yolanda Renee "Renee" (Pennsylvania, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: We, Robots (Conversation Pieces, Volume 16) (Paperback)

Sue Lange has created an interesting future with realistic concepts in a robot voice that is funny, and real. Avey tells the story of his life from his purchase and introduction to Angelina as a one year old to her trasition to college student, and his introduction to pain and what it means to all robots and singularity. A former reader of science fiction I am now a new fan of the genre all over again thanks to Sue's take on technology and the way she creates her characters and plot -- well told in only 93 pages. I can't wait for Tritcheon Hash to arrive!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars does a grand job of laying the foundation, May 26, 2008

By 

Kaolin Fire "GUD Magazine" (Acton, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: We, Robots (Conversation Pieces, Volume 16) (Paperback)

As computers become smaller, faster, and more interconnected, I.J. Good's "intelligence explosion" becomes more and more a topic of conversation. First popularized by Verner Vinge as "the Singularity" and more recently made technologically pop-culture with futurist/transhumanist Ray Kurzweil's non-fiction, the "moment" of artificial intelligence has a celebrated past.

Sue Lange's novella, "We, Robots", is volume 16 in Aqueduct Press' "Conversation Pieces" series, a series aimed at "facilitating the 'grand conversation'." And "We, Robots" does a grand job of laying the foundation for conversation for someone not versed with the concepts; and it is an interesting story in its own right, told with somewhat of an Asimovian tongue.

"We, Robots" is a historical monologue delivered by Avey (an AV-1 robot, "[t]he latest in Parent Company consumer technology."). Avey was bought at a big box store by Chit and Dal--to shuttle their child to and from school, paid for by HR Bill 931-206 - "every kid in the U.S. guaranteed a safe environment to and from school". Avey watches over Angelina as she grows up, sometimes dropping straight into the story of it all, sometimes giving bits of post-Regularity thought.

The Regularity is Lange's conversational "What if?" Humans fear the Singularity and take Steps to prevent a robot rebellion. Their fear, of course, accelerates the process. If that whets your curiousity, definitely pick up a copy. It's a quick and easy conversational read with interesting thoughts interspersed throughout.