Isaac Asimov - The Robots of Dawn

“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.”

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 share 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 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.”