Sue's comments

Sue's comments from the SciFi and Fantasy Book Club group.

Note: Sue is no longer a member of this group.

Kathy wrote: "I have my bachelor's degree in nursing from Western Michigan University (Go Broncos!)"

Hey, good 'ol WMU. I don't run into too many people from home here. Welcome Kathy!

Ooh, that's a good one. No personality. Hadn't thought of it like that.

From reading all these comments, what I'm wondering is what each of you thinks of when you see the word "robot." No intellectualizing about this. Just what do you picture in your head?

I'm going to add that to Netflix. In fact, hopefully they'll have a bunch of episodes. I love the Twilight Zone. I used to watch it all day whenever they had the holiday marathons. Not sure if that was a local thing or not. I was in NYC at the time. I miss those marathons. I remember the episode you mentioned above with the lonely astronaut and female robot.

It may seem to be quite a ways from a straw broom, but it is still not much more than one. I can do stuff while the thing is vacuuming, but I still have to do a lot of stuff to get it to be able to vacuum properly. In the end it isn't much of a labor saving device compared to a broom. Probably the best thing about it is that people will buy it inspiring robot makers to keep at it until they do have Rosie for us.

It's not much more than a vcr as far as functionality goes and I suspect your grandmother would think the same thing about it that I do: it's faster, quieter, and cheaper just to sweep the floor. It doesn't work particularly well on carpets so even compared to a regular vacuum cleaner it falls short. It does make it easier to get under the couch and chairs though. I'll give it that.

Jed,

The Rudy Rucker book sounds like a really good book. He seems to stay on top of tech and it's effect on our culture, doesn't he?

I actually have a robot myself. It falls far short of the stereotypical science fiction robot, but it is considered a robot (roomba vacuum cleaner).

Sue

Jim wrote: "You're more than welcome, Sue. You've got a huge job ahead of you. I hope they give you lots of room to write!"

Yes, this is going to be a major project. I'll probably end up doing a number of articles on the subject depending on what I discover.

"In older sci fi the robot could be the center of the story. today the robot is window dressing just part of the background.
robots in the real world are not asimovian but we have them all around us the are evein in toys we give our kids. (not news any more)

What are peoples favorite robot. I personal love marvin in hitch hikers guide"

Yes, that's what I was thinking. Robots are not central to the story any more, just kind of accepted as being in the future.

I love Marvin as well and planned on mentioning him just as a side note on how silly it is to humanize robots.

Thanks for all the links Jim.

Thanks for all the lists here. I personally define robots as ambulatory computers. If they have synthetic skin and look human, they are still robots if they're computer-controlled. I hadn't really thought of cyborgs/androids, but they could defintely be included as long as they are not using a human brain. I think technically cyborgs would be using a human brain, but androids, like data, I think use a computer brain. Then of course you have to define computer. If a computer uses organic components and neural networks derived from human tissue would it be considered human?

These are things that I will probably be thinking about in my piece. The thing I've been wondering is, have sf writers stopped writing about robots lately? Maybe they don't write about robots much anymore because they are writing about androids now. What do you all think?

Thanks, Sandi!

BunWat wrote: "Tanith Lee's The Silver Metal Lover

If you can include movies, Metropolis.


"

Thanks, BunWat. I hate not including Metropolis. I'll probably just mention it as I apologize for not including movies.

Thanks, also Paul. Of course I have to mention RUR.

I've been asked to write a piece on the most important robot stories written. Apart from Asimov's work what do you all think the most important robot stories are? By important, I think we mean work that has brought us new ideas, influenced other writers, or become part of mainstream literature. I'm thinking of books and stories here, not movies.

I appreciate any input.

Excellent question Stephen. By its nature, I think science fiction is sort of forced to deal with deeper questions. It usually starts with a "what if" premise. And it easily serves as a platform for the writers. Of course, the huge part of science fiction known as space opera isn't much different than the fantasy than you are thinking of. Thrilling stories, fantastic settings, us vs. them themes. Not deep.

I will say this, fantasy does deal with larger issues, but it is not always easy to spot them. I don't think you can get much bigger (or more subversive) than taking issue with the Judeo/Christian culture of our western world such as what Mists of Avalon did. You could easily see that book as a nice little witch/warlock/magic story. It isn't a nice little fantasy story though.

Speaking of witches, think of Wicked, another story that takes a look at our western mythology (The Wizard of Oz in this case) and asks what about the other side of the story? Is this another cute story about magic etc.? I don't think so.

The politics are much more obvious in Wicked than in Mists of Avalon, but it makes me wonder how much fantasy is out there that is tackling larger issues, but is viewed as little more than nice children's stories.

Like Gulliver's Travels.

Laurel wrote: "My family has a tradition, that everyone must have some type of hand craft; woodworkiing, knitting, carving, crochet..."

What a great tradition. As life becomes more and more virtual, I wonder if people will turn more to this type of thing, just to make sure they don't lose touch with reality.

Sudoku is incredibly easy. You don't need any knowledge beforehand like in crosswords. You use logic only. It is very addictive.

Esther wrote: "
I did turn into a total party animal, though. And when I got bored with that I began to embroider! "

Now that's an odd path, eh.

Thanks for the info on the turnoff week. I knew there was something. Re: the Kindle, There's so many people wanting one, I doubt they'll wait very long to start issuing them again.

Ed wrote: "I need to turn the tv off and I think then my reading will increase. I hope to pick a week in January to turn the tube off. :) Let me know if anyone is interested in picking a particular week in..."

Doesn't Adbusters organize an international day for this, or week or month I think.

I never watch tv, can't get it here, don't want to pay for satellite. I do have netflix, though. Usually I watch one movie a night. As for books, it depends on the subject matter. Heavy philosophy or other non-fiction usually takes a while and I can't read for too long. I usually switch to a reg'lar ol' sf book once my eyes start to glaze. I average a book a week. If something's particularly arresting and I'm on vacation, though, I'll get through it in a day.