Asimov's Future History Volume 5

by Isaac Asimov

  “What does that mean, sir?”

  “Earthpeople have long lived on an increasingly crowded planet and have drawn together into still more crowded cities that finally became the beehives and anthills you call Cities with a capital ‘C.’ What kind of Earthpeople, then, would leave Earth and go to other worlds that are empty and hostile so that they might build new societies from nothing, societies that they could not enjoy in completed form in their own lifetime – trees that would still be saplings when they died, so to speak.”

  “Rather unusual people, I suppose.”

  “Quite unusual. Specifically, people who are not so dependent on crowds of their fellows as to lack the ability to face emptiness. People who even prefer emptiness, who would like to work on their own and face problems by themselves, rather than hide in the herd and share the burden so that their own load is virtually nothing. Individualists, Mr. Baley. Individualists!”

  “I see that.”

  “And our society is founded on that. Every direction in which the Spacer worlds have developed further emphasizes our individuality. We are proudly human on Aurora, rather than being huddled sheep on Earth. – Mind you, Mr. Baley, I use the metaphor not as a way of deriding Earth. It is simply a different society which I find unadmirable but which you, I suppose, find comforting and ideal.”

  “What has this to do with the founding of the Institute, Dr. Amadiro?”

  “Even proud and healthy individualism has its drawbacks. The greatest minds – working singly, even for centuries – cannot progress rapidly if they refuse to communicate their findings. A knotty puzzle may hold up a scientist for a century, when it may be that a colleague has the solution already and is not even aware of the puzzle that it might solve. – The Institute is an attempt, in the narrow field of robotics at least, to introduce a certain community of thought.”

  “Is it possible that the particular knotty puzzle you are attacking is that of the construction of a humaniform robot?”

  Amadiro’s eyes twinkled. “Yes, that is obvious, isn’t it? It was twenty – six years ago that Fastolfe’s new mathematical system, which he calls ‘intersectional analysis,’ made it possible to design humaniform robots – but he kept the system to himself. Years afterward, when all the difficult technical details were worked out, he and Dr. Sarton applied the theory to the design of Daneel. Then Fastolfe alone completed Jander. But all of those details were kept secret, also.

  “Most roboticists shrugged and felt that this was natural. They could only try, individually, to work out the details for themselves. I, on the other hand, was struck by the possibility of an Institute in which efforts would be pooled. It wasn’t easy to persuade other roboticists of the usefulness of the plan, or to persuade the Legislature to fund it against Fastolfe’s formidable opposition, or to persevere through the years of effort, but here we are.

  Baley said, “Why was Dr. Fastolfe opposed?”

  “Ordinary self – love, to begin with – and I have no fault to find with that, you understand. All of us have a very natural self – love. It comes with the territory of individualism. The point is that Fastolfe considers himself the greatest roboticist in history and also considers the humaniform robot his own particular achievement. He doesn’t want that achievement duplicated by a group of roboticists, individually faceless compared to himself. I imagine he viewed it as a conspiracy of inferiors to dilute and deface his own great victory.”

  “You say that was his motive for opposition ‘to begin with.’ That means there were other motives. What were they?”

  “He also objects to the uses to which we plan to put the humaniform robots.”

  “What uses are these, Dr. Amadiro?”

  “Now now. Let’s not be ingenuous. Surely Dr. Fastolfe has told you of the Globalist plans for setting the Galaxy?”

  “That he has and, for that matter, Dr. Vasilia has spoken to me of the difficulties of scientific advance among individualists. However, that does not stop me from wanting to hear your views on these matters. Nor should it stop you from wanting to tell me. For instance, do you want me to accept Dr. Fastolfe’s interpretation of Globalist plans as unbiased and impartial – and would you state that for the record? Or would you prefer to describe your plans in your own words?”

  ‘Put that way, Mr. Baley, you intend to give me no choice.”

  “None, Dr. Amadiro.”

  “Very well. I – we, I should say, for the people at the Institute are like – minded in this – look into the future and wish to see humanity opening ever more and ever newer planets to settlement. We do not, however, want the process of self – selection to destroy the older planets or to reduce them to moribundity, as in the case – pardon me – of Earth. We don’t want the new planets to take the best of us and to leave behind the dregs. You see that, don’t you?”

  “Please go on.”

  “In any robot – oriented society, as in the case of our own, the easy solution is to send out robots as settlers. The robots will build the society and the world and we can then all follow later without selection, for the new world will be as comfortable and as adjusted to ourselves as the old worlds were, so that we can go on to new worlds without leaving home, so to speak.”

  “Won’t the robots create robot worlds rather than human worlds?”

  “Exactly, if we send out robots that are nothing but robots. We have, however, the opportunity of sending out humaniform robots like Daneel here, who, in creating worlds for themselves, would automatically create worlds for us. Dr. Fastolfe, however, objects to this. He finds some virtue in the thought of human beings calving a new world out of a strange and forbidding planet and does not see that the effort to do so would not only cost enormously in human life, but would also create a world molded by catastrophic events into something not at all like the worlds we know.”

  “As the Spacer worlds today are different from Earth and from each other?”

  Amadiro, for a moment, lost his joviality and looked thoughtful. “Actually, Mr. Baley, you touch an important point. I am discussing Aurora only. The Spacer worlds do indeed differ among themselves and I am not overly fond of most of them. It is clear to me – though I may be prejudiced – that Aurora, the oldest among them, is also the best and most successful. I don’t want a variety of new worlds of which only a few might be really valuable. I want many Auroras – uncounted millions of Auroras – and for that reason I want new worlds carved into Auroras before human beings go there. That’s why we call ourselves ‘Globalists’ by the way. We are concerned with this globe of oars – Aurora – and no other.”

  “Do you see no value in variety, Dr. Amadiro?”

  “If the varieties were equally good, perhaps there would be value, but if some – or most – are inferior, how would that benefit humanity?”

  “When do you start this work?”

  “When we have the humaniform robots with which to do it. So far there were Fastolfe’s two, of which he destroyed one, leaving Daneel the only specimen.” His eyes strayed briefly to Daneel as he spoke.

  “When will you have humaniform robots?”

  “That is difficult to say. We have not yet caught up with Dr. Fastolfe.”

  “Even though he is one and you are many, Dr. Amadiro?”

  Amadiro twitched his shoulders slightly. “You waste your sarcasm, Mr. Baley. Fastolfe was well ahead of us to begin with and, though the Institute has been in embryo for a long time, we have been fully at work for only two years. Besides, it wffi be necessary for us not only to catch up with Fastolfe but to move ahead of him. Daneel is a good product, but he is only a prototype and is not good enough.”

  “In what way must the humaniform robots be improved beyond Daneel’s mark?”

  “They must be even more human, obviously. They must exist in both sexes and there must be the equivalent of children. We must have a generational spread if a sufficiently human society is to be built up on the planets.”

  “I think I see difficulties,
Dr. Amadiro.”

  “No doubt. There are many. Which difficulties do you foresee, Mr. Baley?”

  “If you produce humaniform robots who are so humaniform they can produce a human society, and if they are produced with a generational spread in both sexes, how will you be able to distinguish them from human beings?”

  “Will that matter?”

  “It might. If such robots are too human, they might melt into Auroran society and become part of human family groups – and might not be suitable for service as pioneers.”

  Amadiro laughed. “That thought clearly entered your head because of Gladia Delmarre’s attachment to Jander. You see, I know something of your interview with that woman from my conversations with Gremionis and with Dr. Vasilia. I remind you that Gladia is from Solaria and her notion of what constitutes a husband is not necessarily Auroran in nature.”

  “I was not thinking of her in particular. I was thinking that sex on Aurora is broadly interpreted and that robots as sex partners are tolerated even now, with robots who are only approximately humaniform. If you really cannot tell a robot from a human being –”

  “There’s the question of children. Robots can neither father nor mother children.”

  “But that brings up another point. The robots will be long – lived, since the proper building of the society may take centuries.”

  “They would, in any case, have to be long – lived if they are to resemble Aurorans.”

  “And the children – also long – lived?”

  Amadiro did not speak.

  Baley said, “These will be artificial robot children and will never grow older – they will not age and mature. Surely this will create an element sufficiently nonhuman to cast the nature of the society into doubt.”

  Amadiro sighed. “You are penetrating, Mr. Baley. It is indeed our thought to devise some scheme whereby robots can produce babies who can in some fashion grow and mature – at least long enough to establish the society we want.”

  “And then, when human beings arrive, the robots can be restored to more robotic schemes of behavior.”

  “Perhaps – if that seems advisable.”

  “And this production of babies? Clearly, it would be best if the system used were as close to the human as possible, wouldn’t it?”

  “Possibly.”

  “Sex, fertilization, birth?”

  “Possibly.”

  “And if these robots form a society so human that they cannot be differentiated from human, then, when true human beings arrive, might it not be that the robots would resent the immigrants and try to keep them off? Might the robots not react to Aurorans as you react to Earthpeople?”

  “Mr. Baley, the robots would still be bound by the Three Laws.”

  “The Three Laws speak of refraining from injuring human beings and of obeying human beings.”

  “Exactly.”

  “And what if the robots are so close to human beings that they regard themselves as the human beings they should protect and obey? They might, very rightly, place themselves above the immigrants.”

  “My good Mr. Baley, why are you so concerned with all these things? They are for the far future. There will be solutions, as we progress in time and as we understand, by observation, what the problems really are.”

  “It may be, Dr. Amadiro, that Aurorans may not very much approve what you are planning, once they understand what it is. They may prefer Dr. Fastolfe’s views.”

  “Indeed? Fastolfe thinks that, if Aurorans cannot settle new planets directly and without the help of robots, then Earthpeople should be encouraged to do so.”

  Baley said, “It seems to me that that makes good sense.”

  “Because you are an Earthman, my good Baley. I assure you that Aurorans would not find it pleasant to have Earthpeople swarming over the new worlds, building new beehives and forming some sort of Galactic Empire in their trillions and quadrillions and reducing the Spacer worlds to what? To insignificance at best and to extinction at worst.”

  “But the alternative to that is worlds of humaniform robots, building quasi – human societies and allowing no true human beings among themselves. There would gradually develop a robotic Galactic Empire, reducing the Spacer worlds to insignificance at best and to extinction at worst. Surely Aurorans would prefer a human Galactic Empire to a robotic one.”

  “What makes you so sure of that, Mr. Baley?”

  “The form your society takes now makes me sure. I was told, on my way to Aurora, that no distinctions are made between robots and human beings on Aurora, but that is clearly wrong. It may be a wished – for ideal that Aurorans flatter themselves truly exists, but it does not.”

  “You’ve been here – what? – less than two days and you can already tell?”

  “Yes, Dr. Amadiro. It may be precisely because I’m a stranger that I can see clearly. I am not blinded by custom and ideals. Robots are not permitted to enter Personals and that’s one distinction that is clearly made. It permits human beings to find one place where they can be alone. You and I sit at our ease, while robots remain standing in their niches, as you see” – Baley waved his arm toward Daneel –” which is another distinction. I think that human beings – even Aurorans – will always be eager to make distinctions and to preserve their own humanity.”

  “Astonishing, Mr. Baley.”

  “Not astonishing at all, Dr. Amadiro. You have lost. Even if you manage to foist your belief that Dr. Fastolfe destroyed Jander upon Aurorans generally, even if you reduce Dr. Fastolfe to political impotence, even if you get the Legislature and the Auroran people to approve your plan of robot settlement, you will only have gained time. As soon as the Aurorans see the implications of your plan, they will turn against you. It might be better, then, if you put an end to your campaign against Dr. Fastolfe and meet with him to work out some compromise whereby the settlement of new worlds by Earthmen can be so arranged as to represent no threat to Aurora or to the Spacer worlds in general.”

  “Astonishing, Mr. Baley,” said Amadiro a second time.

  “You have no choice,” said Baley flatly.

  But Amadiro answered, in a leisurely and amused tone, “When I say your remarks are astonishing, I do not refer to the content of your statements but only to the fact that you make them at all – and that you think they are worth something.”

  56.

  BALEY WATCHED AMADIRO forage for one last piece of pastry and put half of it into his mouth, clearly enjoying it.

  “Very good,” said Amadiro, “but I am a little too fond of eating. What was I saying? – Oh yes. Mr. Baley, do you think you have discovered a secret? That I have told you something that our world does not already know? That my plans are dangerous, but that I blab them to every newcomer? I imagine you may think that, if I talk to you long enough, I will surely produce some verbal folly that you will be able to make use of. Be assured that I am not likely to. My plans for ever more humaniform robots, for robot families, and for as human a culture as possible are all on record. They are available to the Legislature and to anyone who is interested.”

  Baley said, “Does the general public know?”

  “Probably not. The general public has its own priorities and is more interested in the next meal, the next hyperwave show, the next space – soccer contest than in the next century and the next millennium. Still, the general public will be as glad to accept my plans, as are the intellectually minded who already know. Those who object will not be numerous enough to matter.”

  “Can you be certain of that?”

  “Oddly enough, I can be. You don’t understand, I’m afraid, the intensity of the feelings that Aurorans – and Spacers generally – have toward Earthpeople. I don’t shares those feelings, mind you, and I am, for instance, quite at ease with you. I don’t have that primitive fear of infection, I don’t imagine that you smell bad, I don’t attribute to you all sorts of personality traits that I find offensive, I don’t think that you and yours are plotting to take our
lives or steal our property – but the large majority of Aurorans have all these attitudes. It may not be very close to the surface and Aurorans may bring themselves to be very polite to individual Earthpeople who seem harmless, but put them to the test and all their hatred and suspicion will emerge. Tell them that Earthpeople are swarming over new worlds and will preempt the Galaxy and they will howl for Earth’s destruction before such a thing can happen.”

  “Even if the alternative was a robot society?”

  “Certainly. You don’t understand how we feel about robots, either. We are familiar with them. We are at home with them.”

  “No. They are your servants. You feel superior to them and are at home with them only while that superiority is maintained. If you are threatened by an overturn, by having them become your superiors, you will react with horror.”

  “You say that only because that is how Earthpeople would react.”

  “No. You keep them out of the Personals. It is a symptom.”

  “They have no use for those rooms. They have their own facilities for washing and they do not excrete. – Of course, they are not truly humaniform. If they were, we might not make that distinction.”

  “You would fear them the more.”

  “Truly?” said Amadiro. “That’s foolish. Do you fear Daneel? If I can trust that hyperwave show – and I admit I do not think I can – you developed a considerable affection for Daneel. You feel it now, don’t you?”

  Baley’s silence was eloquent and Amadiro pursued his advantage.

  “Right now,” he said, “you are unmoved by the fact that Giskard is standing, silent and unresponsive, in an alcove, but I can tell by small examples of body language that you are uneasy over the fact that Daneel is doing so, too. You feel he is too human in appearance to be treated as a robot. You don’t fear him the more because he looks human.”

  “I am an Earthman. We have robots,” said Baley, “but not a robot culture. You cannot judge from my case.”