4 Comments
User's avatar
Mathew W Smith's avatar

Is this kind of like Asimov's three laws of robots - one being they can't harm themselves? What a constraint when a robot wants to kill itself!

Expand full comment
Adrian Fares's avatar

Interesting, Mathew, you made me think. But in the novel, Asimov's laws don't apply. The humans who made the androids at Riviera Corporation (which appears in some of my other work) didn't even think of them - they're kind of... inept. So the android has that human impulse toward self-destruction after the trauma he experienced, as if asking to be dismantled as an act of redemption and mercy.

Expand full comment
Judith Ashcraft's avatar

"He wins in the end, saying we're all the same from the factory and that it's impossible for there to be a defect in my robotic brain."

This line really struck me. If all the androids have the same or similar brains, how do they end up becoming such distinct individuals?

I love that the most human characters in this story are all androids.

Expand full comment
Adrian Fares's avatar

So glad you caught that! That’s exactly what I was going for. They all start the same but become so different through their experiences. Thanks for the close read!

Expand full comment