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Home , Adam Link, Frankenstein complex, Robots in literature

Journal of Information and Computational Science ISSN: 1548-7741

ROBOTS AND THEIR MULTI DIMENSIONAL SKILLS IN LITERATURE

Author1 and Author2 1 S. Akila Research Scholar Department of English Annamalai University Chidambaram

2 Dr. A. Glory Research Supervisor Assistant Professor of English Department of English Annamalai University Chidambaram

ABSTRACT

The field of ‘’ has its origin in . The fictional world introduced in literature through the cybernetic tales. The term ‘robotics’ has been originated in the field of Literature and the genre science fiction planted the possibilities of the usage of robots in common world. Simultaneously it created attentiveness about this technology. This cybernetic imagination cropped up from the epic period itself. In Greek and Tamil mythology, the Gods created metal creature to assist the human being. In Homer’s Iliad, the Greek God Hephaistos had created two golden maids which could speak, spin, weave and do other works. In Tamil mythology, the speaking statue in Vikaramathiyan’s throne is the example for metal made creation. There are thirty two Bronze lady statues in the throne which depicted thirty two moral stories to Boja Rajan, the ruler. The purpose of creating artificial being is to facilitate the humanity. So from the mythological period, there has been need for artificial creatures that were said to be created by supernatural beings. Keywords: Robotics, , , and Technophobia

Science fiction has no doubt contributed to the development of robotics, by planting ideas in the minds of young people who might embark on career in robotics, and by creating awareness among the public about this technology. We should also identify certain technological developments over the years that have contributed to the substance of robotics. (P. Groover et al., 9)

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The field of ‘Robotics’ has its origin in science fiction. The fictional world introduced robots in literature through the cybernetic tales. The term ‘robotics’ has been originated in the field of Literature and the genre science fiction planted the possibilities of the usage of robots in common world. Simultaneously it created attentiveness about this technology. This cybernetic imagination cropped up from the epic period itself. In Greek and Tamil mythology, the Gods created metal creature to assist the human being. In Homer’s Iliad the Greek God Hephaistos had created two golden maids which could speak, spin, weave and do other works. In Tamil mythology, the speaking statue in Vikaramathiyan’s throne is the example for metal made creation. There are thirty two Bronze lady statues in the throne which depicted thirty two moral stories to Boja Rajan, the ruler. The purpose of creating artificial being is to facilitate the humanity. So from the mythological period, there has been need for artificial creatures that were said to be created by supernatural beings.

Leonardo da Vinci designed a humanoid automation in 1464. It was a knight and it could stand, sit, raise its visor and independently move. The Knight was galvanized by a phase of pulleys and cables. Unfortunately the world came to know about this through a sketch book only in 1957. So the real idea of creation was first done by Leonardo da Vinci. It is also known as the soldier robot, or as the Leonardo's mechanical knight. The sketch portraying was rediscovered only in 1957 by Carlo Pedretti. If the world had learnt how to make robots in real world through this sketch book, definitely the science world would have produced robot at least before three centuries. So the merit of creating robots goes to literature because in science fiction robots gradually developed and later it entered in the real world.

Only in the end of the eighteenth century scientists discovered that human could create an artificial being with the help of electricity. In 1798 the world came to know the power of electricity. An Italian physicist, Luigi Galvani, had perceived that the muscles of the frog could be made to convulse if it touched simultaneously by the two different metals, and it seemed to him that it was a living tissue. carried out this concept in her , a tale of horror which was published in 1818. In this book, , an anatomist, collected fragments of freshly dead bodies and he gave artificial life to the dead body with the help of new scientific technology. This new creation was referred by the name ‘Monster’. Since it was looking like a monster, its tender emotions were bruised frequently by the humans. Consequently the creation met Frankenstein, its creator and demanded to make a female counterpart because he could find no place in human society. The anatomist realized that if he creates a female counterpart to him then no one could redeem the humanity from the devastation. So he neglected the demand of the Frankenstein Monster. The frustrated monster showed its anger towards its creator, and it took reprisal against Frankenstein and all other dear to him. The first villainous role has been performed by this artificial creature.

This novel made an enormous sensation. After publishing Frankenstein, there was a threat spread all over the world that, if man creates an artificial man with the help of science then he will destroy the humanity. Everyone assumed that science is the enemy of the

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humanity. Frankenstein was the ultimate warning of science. The book The science of Stephen King stated, “The Frankenstein Monster was the earliest example of an , a creature considered by early science fiction writers to be an artificial organic being, a ‘synthetic’ man. A number of early horrors and stories used android as the villains” (H. Gresh and Weinberg 54). Marry Shelley’s Frankenstein, the artificial being was not created by any supernatural thing and it was invented by the technology of science. This type of new scientific perspective was demonstrated by Marry Shelley, and she created a new calibre in the literature, which encompassed horror, science and fantasy. In the nineteenth century, the world was unaware of the word ‘Robot’. So Marry Shelley used the name ‘Monster’ in her novel.

Ambrose’s “Moxon's Master" is a which was published in 1909. It describes a chess-playing which murders its creator. The Chess playing robot could not endure its failure in the game and in that anger it murdered its opponent who is his maker. Again the Villainous robot had been introduced by Ambrose,

In body and head it shook like a man with palsy or an ague chill, and the motion augmented every moment until the entire figure was in violent agitation. Suddenly it sprang to its feet and with a movement almost too quick for the eye to follow shot forward across table and chair, with both arms thrust forth to their full length -- the posture and lunge of a diver. Moxon tried to throw himself backward out of reach, but he was too late: I saw the horrible thing's hand close upon his throat, his own clutch its wrists. Then the table was overturned, and candle thrown to the floor and extinguished and all was black dark. ( 9)

The above quotation portrays the fury of the robot chess player and how it burned the master’s home. Edger Allen Poe also portrayed Robot chess player in the essay “Maelzel’s Chess –Player”. In the book Cybernetic Imagination Patricka S.Warick stated, “The chess player has been advertised as pure machine, but a highly intelligent machine that can beat all challengers in chess” (40).

The Frankenstein complex again occurred in Karel Capek’s play R.U.R. and the abbreviation stands for ‘Rossum’s Universal Robots’. This play has been in1920 and performed in New York Garrick Theatre in 1921. The word ‘Robot’ for the first time appeared in this play which is first coined by him. The term ‘Robot’ was derived from the Czech word ‘Robota’ which means ‘Forced labour’ and the term ‘Rozum’ refers to ‘intellect’. The play was set in an island where thousands of robots were produced in a factory. The robots tried to destroy all the human beings and wanted to be the masters of the Earth. The robots murdered all the people in the world but still they could not be masters. The robots which had rational thought and spirit of revolt turned against the human masters.

This threat was again shattered by World War I. That horrible holocaust made it quite plain that science could, after all, be an enemy of humanity. The new explosives were manufactured with the help of science. Airplanes and airships were constructed to carry those

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explosives to the areas which had to be destroyed. The Faustian role of science frequently occurred in World War I, World War II and in the Cold War. During the World Wars science was treated as a destroyer. Thus R. Buckminster Fuller depicted, “Humanity is acquiring all the right technology for all the wrong reasons” (Technology). This worse notion was spread all over the world through literature. In both fiction and real world the scientific advancement was used for the purpose of destruction. The period between, 1920 and 1930 was considered as the peak period of science fictions. Literature of this period portrayed robots as man’s enemy. So the mechanical man is considered as a Prometheus who is notoriously known for his ingratitude towards his master. Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has the sub topic, Modern Prometheus because the monster is a thankless creature.

In 1938 Lester del Rey's “Helen O'Loy” portrayed a female robot. Dave and Phil were the doctors who created a home keeper robot and named it as Helen of Alloy. Later they made some changes in her physic and added emotion then it turned as Helen O Loy. The name Helen O Loy deliberately refers Helen of Troy and she is such a beautiful . Helen, the gynoid fell in love with Dave and they lived together till Dave’s death. After his death the robot had written a letter to Phil and committed suicide,

Acid will burn out metal as well as flesh, and I will be dead with Dave. Please that we are buried together, and that the morticians do not find my secret. Dave wanted it that way, too…Please don’t grieve too much for us, for we have had a happy life together, and both feel that we should cross this last bridge side by side.

With love and thanks from Helen. ( 51)

The first home keeping robot was Helen and it was an absolute contrast to its former creations. ’s I, Robot also portrayed a house keeper robot, Link. Dr. Link taught Link, how to interact with humans and later he changed its name as Adam Link. Dr. Link met with an accident and died. Every one reckoned that Adam Link was the murderer because he also belonged to the Frankenstein kibbutz. Dr. Link purposely had hidden the novel Frankenstein from the sight of Link. After reading this novel Adam Link turned off itself in order to evict people’s technophobia. Like Helen, Adam Link also deactivated itself. They were lovable housekeeping robots.

The favorable and adverse aspect of science was juxtaposed by the contemporary literature. Some of the writers supported the mechanical man and believed that it would fulfill the human needs with its extraordinary labour. Another part of science fiction writers portrayed the mechanical man as mere destroyer who has an unconquerable power. So some novelists portrayed Killer robots and others illustrated lovable robots.

Until 1938 most of the people considered science a menace and believe that the technologies would shatter the world. The great revolution in the field of scientific approach was done by . He flashed light on every beneficial aspect of science in his short story and the threat was ejected by him. Patricia S. Warrick called, “Isaac Asimov is

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deservedly regarded as the father of in science fiction” (54). Asimov had written more than thirty five stories about computers and robots. His positive view was incomparable. He created the robots which should be programmed to respect humans and to protect them when they are in danger. He attained the peak through his creation of the . He said that robots and all other scientific machines are only made by man hence if there was any mistake in the creation, he was responsible for that mistake and science should not be victimized. Hence he argued that Capek misguided the science in his play R.U.R. But he appreciated his contribution to the English language, “Capek's play is, in my own opinion, a terribly bad one, but it is immortal for that one word. It contributed the word 'robot' not only to English but, through English, to all the languages in which science fiction is now written” (qtd in. Virtual). He further stated,

As a machine, a robot will surely be designed for safety, as far as possible. If robots are so advanced that they can mimic the thought processes of human beings, then surely the nature of those thought processes will be designed by human engineers and built – in safeguards will be added. The safety may not be perfect (what is), but it will be as complete as men can make it. (Asimov Rest 14)

The never ends without mentioning the name of Isaac Asimov. He sets Three Robotic Laws in this Positron Brain. He proclaimed that machines were not responsible for any technical mistakes but the creator was responsible for that, hence he stated, “A Machine does not turn against its creator, if it is properly designed” (Asimov Visions 406). Asimov well knew that machines are dangerous in one or other way. So he framed some safeguard to prevent the danger. Hence he called his three robotic laws as safeguard in his one of the chapters “The laws of robotics” in Robotic Visions, “In a story I wrote on October 1942, I finally presented the safeguards in the form of “The Three laws of Robotics” (424). These robotic laws are introduced in his 1941 short story "Runaround". The Three Laws of Robotics are:

First Law, A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. Second Law, A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. Third Law, a robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. (Asimov Robot Visions 8)

The First Law stated the relationship between human and machine. The Frankenstein Complex was banished through this law. Before 1940 people had the fear of robots but after they came to know the First Law they began to trust robots. The First Law taught robot that, it should not harm a human being directly or allow anyone to harm human beings. The Second Law states firmly that a robot could not turn against its creator. The chief purpose of the creation of this law is to make the robot as an assistant to the human being. It could perform difficult task which was very hard to man. Asimov was the first writer who recognized that robots were only programmed as men helpers, companions and worker –

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machine. So he set the word ‘obey’ in this law. Asimov tried to express the position of the robots in the society and purpose of the robots. His Second Law showed that robots were human assistance only. The third law considered the value of robots. The manufacturing of this kind of positronic robot was a challenging task. The cost of the robots was very high and its need also very essential. So it should protect its own existence. If any robot realized that there was any dander for its existence it should protect itself, if there was no conflict between the First and Second Law. Asimov depicted in his works the continuous inner conflicts of robots in obeying all three laws. The various perceptions regarding the robots were changed by these laws. “With these three laws, Asimov liberated the entire subject of robots in fiction, making obsolete the paranoia of Frankenstein and the absurd hulks of the Pre – Campell Era” (H. Gresh and Weinberg 55).

Asimov composed all his robot stories and fiction with these laws. Asimov’s use of Robotic Laws sustained for more than four decades. Daneil Olivaw is an unsurpassable humanoid detective robot introduced in his novel The Caves of Steel and also portrayed in the The Naked Sun, Robots and Empire and The Robots of Dawn. Asimov’s robots stories flourished continuously in literature. He not only produced detective robots but also industrial robots, Asteroid mining robots, under sea mining robots, Nano robots, child companion robots, robot surgeon, robot teacher and so on. John Dryden found in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, God’s plenty because he brought people of all the nature in his tale and the author of this present paper feels that Asimov’s robot series, contain Science’s Plenty’. Asimov portrayed different types of robots and they all begin to come true in the present century.

Robert Mason’s novel Weapon which was published in 1989 depicted the . Solo is a military robot and it had artificial neural network so it could learn and think. This robot was manufactured to replace the human soldiers in the battle field. His neural network did not allow him to kill the humans in the training mission so it avoided the orders which had been given by its masters. The human masters forced him to shoot humans in the training missions. So in one of the training missions Solo lost itself from the mission and he went to nearby village. There it developed its friendship with the Nicaraguan villagers. But US military recaptured it and brought back to the training mission. Even though the robot was particularly created for the human killing purpose, its did not allow it to harm the humans.

Space Robots were portrayed in the fictions such as 2001: A Space Odyssey which was written by Arthur C. Clarke in 1968 and Vault of the Beast is a science fiction short story by A. E. Van Vogt. In this story an unnamed plastic robot traveled in the space. It came to Earth to find a person who was well versed in primary numbers because in Mars they have a vault and no one knew how to open it. ‘Factoring the ultimate prime number’ is the key of that vault so they need a mathematician to find that number. The plastic robot reached Earth and found that, Brender is the perfect mathematician to find the prime number. Space robot travelled from one planet to another planet so it is a fantasy

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Like the the non human robot also contributed its marvelous role in literature. Some science fiction authors generate robots also for the children. The Frankenstein complex gradually disappeared and the world came of the fear. Child companion robots were created and it might be in human shape and non- human shape. The dog like robots was created by Asimov, Sujatha and some other authors. Asimov created a robot dog in his short story “The Boys Best Friend” the Tamil science fiction writer Sujatha, depicted robot dog in his novel Meendum Jino

The fairy tales were particularly created for kids. The purpose of telling story is to entertain, to teach and to seed wisdom. Twentieth Century cybernetic tales replaced fairy tales. Writers like Russell Punter published robot comics with impressive illustrations to seed the awareness of technology in the minds of the little buds. His comic Robots has three interesting chapters and all the three chapters portrayed different types of robots: The first chapter “The Terrible Tidybot” depicted cleaning robots. The second chapter “Robot Robbery” portrayed robot thief named Jay C.B. It was a laborious robot which could do dig and drill in the construction site. Filch a thief reprogrammed the robot to dig and make a tunnel to a bank for the robbery. Through the tunnel Jay went into the bank but the locker is made up of electric inner door. The shock passed on jay and again it reprogrammed to its former mental process. After realizing the situation he left the bank without taking money and the third chapter “Robot Racer” illustrates Robot Racer. There was an announcement in the story, “Squeaky the cleaning robot hated his job. He was out in all weather, sweeping streets. What he really wanted was to win the Botsville road race. The winning robot would get a new memory chip and a head- to- wheel polish” (31). The humorous robots performed duel role: one it attracts the children and at the same time it creates awareness about the technology.

Robots played their role in horror science, fantasy fiction, detective fiction and children fiction. Each character represents the different aspects of science.

A robot is a computerized machine that is capable of performing the tasks of a kind that are too complex for any living kind. Robot is nothing but the combination of machine and computer. But a true robot was impossible before the invention of the computer in the 1940s, and the invention of the microchip in the 1970s. The microchip replaced the springs in the automation. This revolutionary microchip provides limited artificial intelligence to the robots. Before 1970 the concept of the robot, an artificial device that mimics the actions and appeared like a human being was only human imagination. This imagination creates a new era in the field of science. Science fiction writers created the robots in literature. This imagination gradually developed and occupied an everlasting grade in the field of science. The development of robots can be divided into four generations. The first generation robots were highly minimalist in design, they performed only specific works like welding and paint spraying in the industries. They were like early automata only for particular tasks. At present the industries use 80% robot of this type. The second generation robots were equipped with sensors. Through this sensor it could analyze the surroundings and act according to that. The third generation robots were made up of artificial intelligence. It has high speed, self-

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learning, and conclusion drawing capacities and the fourth generation may be android or a super humanoid robot but it is only a prediction of science fiction writers.

Robot is a machine, either automatic or remotely controlled, that can do some of the things people can do. There are about 6.5 million robots in use in the world today. A million of them are industrial robots, building cars and other products in the factories. Most of the other 5.5 million robots are service robots, working in hospitals, offices and homes. The remaining 55 000 robots work on land, under the sea, in the air, in space. (Graham 6)

The most amazing factor was that Asimov and other science fiction writers created robot even before these three generations were intended for creation. Among those writers Asimov portrayed the positive nature of Robots through Positron Brain. In fictions the first role of the robot is endowed with a Villainous role, then revolutionary but today we are living in an extremely bizarre world where machines can speak, perform strenuous mission and explore the space. This highly autonomous machine simulates human behavior by means of the artificial intelligence. Today’s robots are manufactured due to the advancements in the fields of electronics, cybernetic and computer science but in fiction it is a product of pure imagination.

Thus this paper demonstrates the numerous incarnations of literary robots such as villainous robots, revolutionary robots, industrious robots, space robots and nano robots exemplifying their multi- skills.

WORKS CITED

Asimov, Isaac. Rest of the Robots. “Introdution”. Harper Collins Publishers: London,2004

Asimov, Isaac. Robot Visions. “Robot Visions”. New York: Penguin group, 1990.

Bierce, Ambrose. Short Stories. “Moxon’s Master”. Web. 9. n.d .

Fuller, Richard Buckminster. Quote QB. “Technology”. Good Reads Inc. Web. 2012.

Graham, Ian. Robot Technology. Evans Brothers Limited: London, 2010.

H.Gresh and Weinberg. The Science of Stephen King. John Willy & Sons, Inc: New Jersey, 2007.

Keats, Johnathon. Virtual Worlds: Language on the Edge of Science and Technology. Oxford University Press: New York, 2011.

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P.Groover, Mikell et al., Industerial Robotics: Technology, Programming, and Applications. Tata Mc Graw- Hill: NewYork, 2008.

Punter, Russell. Robots. Usborne Publishing Ltd: London, 2010.

Roy, Lester del. “Helen O’Loy”. Science Fiction Hall of Fame. Tom Doherty Associates LLC:USA, Vol. 1. 1970.

S.Warrick, Patricia. The Cybernetic Imagination in Science Fiction. Alpine Press Inc: USA, 1980.

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