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From: JAFFE@RUTGERS.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers
Subject: Re: The Problems of Science Fiction Today
Message-ID: <2561@topaz.ARPA>
Date: Mon, 8-Jul-85 16:40:33 EDT
Article-I.D.: topaz.2561
Posted: Mon Jul 8 16:40:33 1985
Date-Received: Tue, 9-Jul-85 07:34:06 EDT
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Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.
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From: Mark Purtill
>It seems to me that nonheroes or antiheroes have been fairly common
>in SF for many years. Consider, for example, the characters in
>Theodore Sturgeon's "More Than Human," who were all flawed in some
>way. Or Dr. Nancy what's-her-name in Asimov's robot stories, who
>could relate to robots effectively but not to her fellow human
>beings (at least that's how I remember her).
It was Dr. Susan Calvin (I think). I beleive Asimov as said that she's
his favorite character. Incidentally, one could classify at least some
of the robot stories as Mythic or Heroic, *if* you consider the robots
to be the protagonists. Especially the last two stories in _I,_Robot_,
whose names I've forgotten (the one about "Is the candidate a robot or
not?" and the one wherein the protagonists worry about whether the giant
robots (really computers) that run the world are cracking up (I'm trying
to avoid "spoilers" here, so I may be a little vague.)) In many of the
stories robots mess up only because of (as HAL would say) human error.
(Like the one where the robot messes up because it is told to pull a
lever "firmly," and bends it.) On the other hand, in some of the stories
robots mess up on their own (eg the one about the robot with a weak
first law who was told to "get lost.") As with most attempts to classify
all of anything into several neat pockets, there are ususally examples
that either don't fit or which overlap more than one.
Mark
^.-.^ Purtill at MIT-MULTICS.ARPA **Insert favorite disclaimer here**
((")) 2-032 MIT Cambrige MA 02139