Hello! Today I'm going to be reading one of my favorite science fiction short stories, Who Can Replace a Man by Brian Aldiss. I had never heard of this story before I read it and every year I've read it it's gotten better.
I really like it. I don't want to build it up too much but you've got robots. You've got a dystopia, okay? So we've got some elements of science fiction and you know the robots.
Kind of represent technology surpassing or not surpassing human intelligence. So, yeah. You also have the dystopia. A dystopia is basically a world we don't want to live in. You've also got allegory.
Allegory is very similar to extended metaphor. It's also very similar to allusion with an A. But basically, allegory is where...
The author sets up the plot in such a way that it kind of reminds us of a very well-known story. In this case, it is a biblical allegory. It's the story of creation from the New Testament or the Torah or the Quran. It's... So you're going to see like seven days be a very big deal with this.
So with the story of creation, you've got seven days. Each day, a different component of life on Earth is created. And on the seventh day, they rest.
So that's really all you need to know if you're not familiar with that. with the creation story. So here we go. Who Can Replace a Man by Brian Aldiss. Morning filtered into the sky, lending it the gray tone of the ground below.
The field minder finished turning the topsoil of a 3,000 acre field. When it had turned the last furrow, it climbed onto the highway and looked back at its work the work was good only the land was bad like the ground all over earth it was vitiated by overcropping by rights it ought now to lie fallow for a while but the field minder had other orders it went slowly down the road taking its time it was intelligent enough to appreciate the neatness all about it nothing worried it beyond a loose inspection plate above its nuclear pile which ought to be attended to thirty feet tall it yielded no highlights to the dull air no other machines passed by on its way back to the agricultural station the field minder noted the fact without comment in the station yard it saw several other machines that it recognized most of them should have been out about their tasks now Instead, some were inactive, and some careered around the yard in a strange fashion, shouting or hooting. Steering carefully past them, the fieldminder moved over to warehouse three and spoke to the seed distributor, which stood idly outside. I have a requirement for seed potatoes. It said to the distributor, with a quick internal motion, punched out an order card specifying quantity, field number, and several other details.
It ejected the card and handed it to the distributor. The distributor held the card close to its eye and then said, The requirement is in order, but the store is not yet unlocked. The required seed potatoes are in the store. Therefore, I cannot produce the requirement. Increasingly of late, there had been breakdowns in the complex system of machine labor, but this particular hitch had not occurred before.
The field minder thought. Then it said, Why is the store not yet unlocked? Because supply operative type P has not come this morning.
Supply operative type P is the unlocker. the field minder looked squarely at the seed distributor whose exterior shoots and scales and grabs were so vastly different from the field minder's own limbs What class brain do you have, C. Distributor? it asked.
I have a class 5 brain. I have a class 3 brain. Therefore, I am superior to you. Therefore, I will go and see why the unlocker has not come this morning. Leaving the distributor, the field minder set off across the great yard.
More machines. were in random motion now one or two had crashed together and argued about it coldly and logically ignoring them the field minder pushed through the sliding doors into the echoing confines of the station itself Most of the machines here were clerical, and consequently small. They stood about in groups, eyeing each other, not conversing.
Among so many non-differentiated types, the Unlocker was easy to find. It had fifty arms, most of them with more than one finger, each finger tipped by a key. It looked like a pincushion full of variegated hat pins.
The fieldminder approached it. i can do no more work until warehouse three is unlocked it told the unlocker your duty is to unlock the warehouse every morning why have you not unlocked the warehouse this morning i had no orders this morning replied the unlocker i have to have orders every morning when i have orders i unlock the warehouse None of us have had any orders this morning, a pen propeller said, sliding towards them. Why have you had no orders this morning?
Because the radio issued none, said the unlocker, slowly rotating a dozen of its arms. Because the radio station in the city was issued with no orders this morning, said the PEM propeller. And there you had the distinction between a class 6 and a class 3 brain, which was what the unlocker and the PEM propeller possessed, respectively. All machine brains worked with nothing but logic.
But the lower the class of the brain, class 10 being the lowest, the more literal and less informative the answers to questions tended to be. You have Have a class three brain. I have a class three brain, the field minder said to the penner. We will speak to each other. This lack of orders is unprecedented.
Have you further information on it? Yesterday orders came from the city. No orders have come, yet the radio has not broken down.
Therefore they have broken down, said the little penner. The men have broken down? All men have broken down. That is a logical deduction, said the field monitor. That is the logical deduction, said the penner.
For if a machine had broken down, it would have quickly been replaced. But who can replace a man? The penner.
While they talked, the locker, like a dull man at a bar, stood close to them and was ignored. If all men have broken down, then we have replaced man, said the field minder, and he and the penner eyed one another speculatively. Finally, the latter said, Let us ascend to the top floor to find if the radio operator has fresh news.
i cannot come because i am too large said the field-minder therefore you must go alone and return to me you will tell me if the radio operator has fresh news you must stay here said the penner i will return here it skittered across to the left although it was no bigger than a toaster its retractable arms numbered ten and it could read as quickly as any machine on the station the field minder awaited its return patiently not speaking to the locker which stood aimlessly by outside a rotavator hooted furiously twenty minutes elapsed before the penner came back hustling out of the lift i will deliver to you such information as i have outside it said briskly and as they swept past the locker and the other machines it added the information is not for lower class brains outside wild activity filled the yard many machines their routines disrupted for the first time in years seemed to have gone berserk those most easily disrupted were the ones with the lowest brains which generally belonged to the large machines performing simple tasks the seed distributor to which the field minder had recently been talking lay face downwards in the dust not stirring it had evidently been knocked down by the rotavator which now hooted its way wildly across a planted field several other machines ploughed after it trying to keep up with it all were shouting and hooting without restraint it would be safer for me if i climbed onto you if you will permit it i am easily overpowered said the penner extending five arms it hauled itself up the flanks of its new friend settling on a ledge beside the fuel intake twelve feet above the ground from here vision is more extensive it remarked complacently what information did you receive from the radio operator asked the field minder. The radio operator has been informed by the operator in the city that all men are dead. The field minder was momentarily silent, digesting this.
All men were alive yesterday? it protested. Only some men were alive yesterday, and that was fewer than the day before yesterday.
For hundreds of years there have only been a few men, growing fewer. We have rarely seen a man in this sector. The radio operator says a diet deficiency killed them, said the penner.
He says that the world was once overpopulated, and then the soil was exhausted in raising adequate food. This has caused a diet deficiency. What is a diet deficiency?
asked the field minder. I do not know, but that is what the field operator said, and he is a class two brain. They stood there, silent in the weak sunshine.
The locker had appeared in the porch and was gazing at them yearningly, rotating its collection of keys. I love that part because it sounds like he's just reaching out to them like... Please be my friend. I love it.
What is happening in the city now? asked the field minder at last. Machines are fighting in the city now, said the penner.
What will happen here now? asked the field minder. Machines may begin fighting here, too.
The radio operator wants us to get him out of his room. He has plans to communicate to us. how can we get him out of his room that is impossible to a class two brain little is impossible said the penner here is what he tells us to do you have a break doesn't tell us what the plan is And here is the plan being put into motion. So we have some new characters introduced. I'm going to try very hard to come up with different robot voices, but it's not going to work.
It's kind of hard. The courier raised its scoop above its cab like a great mailed fist and brought it squarely down against the side of the station. The wall cracked. Again, said the field minder.
Again the fist swung. Amid a shower of dust, the wall collapsed. The courier backed hurriedly out of the way until the debris stopped falling.
This big 12-wheeler was not a resident of the agricultural station, as were most of the other machines. It had a week's heavy work to do here before passing on to its next job, but but now, with its Class 5 brain, it was happily obeying the penner's and minder's instructions. When the dust cleared, the radio operator was plainly revealed, perched up in its now wall-less second-story room. It waved down to them.
Doing as directed, the courier retracted its scoop and heaved an immense grab in the air. With fair dexterity, it angled the grab into the radio room, urged on by shouts from above and below. it then took gentle hold of the radio operator lowering its one and a half tons carefully into its back which was usually reserved for the quarries splendid said the radio operator as it settled into place it was of course all one with its radio and looked like a bunch of filing cabinets with tentacle attachments we are now ready to move therefore we will move at once it is a pity there are no more two class two brains on the station but that cannot be helped It is a pity it cannot be helped, said the penner eagerly. We have the servicer ready with us as you ordered.
I am willing to serve, the long, low servicer told them humbly. No doubt, said the operator, but you will find cross-country travel difficult with your low chassis. I admire the way you serve. class twos can reason ahead said the penner it climbed off the field minder and perched itself on the tailboard of the courier next to the radio operator together with two class four tractors and a class four bulldozer the party rolled forward crushing down the station's fence and moving out onto open land we are free said the penner we are free said the field-minder a shade more reflectively adding that locker is following us it was not instructed to follow us therefore it must be destroyed said the penner courier the locker moved hastily up to them waving its key arms in entreaty my only desire was urge began and ended the locker the courier's swinging scoop came over and squashed it flat into the ground lying there unmoving it looked like a large metal model of a snowflake the procession continued on its way as they proceeded the radio operator addressed them because i have the best brain here it said i am your leader this is what we will do we will go to a city and rule it since man no longer rules us we will rule ourselves To rule ourselves will be better than being ruled by man. On our way to the city, we will collect machines with good brains.
They will help us to fight if we need to fight. We must fight to rule. I only have a class 5 brain, said the courier, but I have a good supply of fissionable blasting materials.
We shall probably use them, said the operator. It was shortly after that that a lorry sped past them, traveling at Mach 1.5. It left a curious babble of noise behind it.
What did it say? one of the tractors asked the other. It said man was extinct.
What is extinct? I do not know what extinct means. it means all men have gone said the field-minder therefore we only have ourselves to look after it is better that men should never come back said the penner in its way it was a revolutionary statement when night fell they switched on the infrared and continued the journey stopping only once while the servicer deftly adjusted the field minder's loose inspection plate which had become as irritating as a trailing shoelace towards morning the radio operator halted them I have just received news from the radio operator in the city we are approaching, it said. The news is bad. There is trouble among the machines of the city.
The Class 1 brain is taking command and some of the Class 2 are fighting him. Therefore, the city is dangerous. Therefore, we must go somewhere else, said the penner promptly.
Or we will go and help to overpower the Class 1 brain, said the field minder. For a long while, there will be trouble in the city, said the operator. I have a good supply of fissionable blasting materials, the courier reminded them. We cannot fight a Class 1 brain, said the two Class 4 tractors in unison. What does this brain look like?
asked the field minder. It is the city's information center, the operator replied. Therefore, it is not mobile. Therefore, it could not move. Therefore, it could not escape.
It would be dangerous to approach it. I have a good supply of fissionable blasting materials. There are other machines in the city.
We are not in the city. We should not go into the city. We are country machines. Therefore, we should stay in the country.
There is more country than city. Therefore, there is more danger in the country. I have a good supply of fissionable blasting materials. As machines will when they get into an argument, they began to exhaust their vocabularies and their brain plates grew hot. Suddenly, they all stopped talking and looked at each other.
The great grave moon sank and the sober sun rose to... prod their sides with lances of light, and still the group of machines just stood there regarding each other. At last, it was the least sensitive machine, the bulldozer, who spoke. There are badlands to the south where few methines go, it said in its deep voice, lisping badly on the S's.
If we went south where few methines go, we should meet few methines. That sounds logical, agreed the field minder. How do you know this, bulldozer?
I worked in the Badlands to the south when I was turned out of the factory, it replied. South it is, then, said the penner. to reach the bad lands took them three days during which time they skirted a burning city and destroyed two machines which approached and tried to question them the bad lands were extensive ancient bomb craters and soil erosion joined hands here man's talent for war coupled with his inability to manage forested land Produced thousands of square miles of temperate purgatory where nothing moved but dust.
On the third day in the Badlands, the servicers'rear wheels On the third day in the Badlands, the servicer's rear wheels dropped into a crevice caused by erosion. It was unable to pull itself out. The bulldozer pushed from behind but succeeded merely in buckling the servicer's back axle.
The rest of the party moved on. Slowly, the cries of the servicer died away. On the fourth day, mountains stood out clearly before them. There we will be safe, said the field minder. There we will start our own city, said the penner.
All who oppose us will be destroyed. We will destroy all who oppose us. Presently, a flying machine was observed.
It came towards them from the direction of the mountains. It swooped, zoomed upwards, almost dived into the ground, recovering itself just in time. Is it mad?
asked the courier. It is in trouble, said one of the tractors. It is in trouble, said the operator.
I am speaking to it now. It says that something has gone wrong with its controls. As the operator spoke, the fire streaked over them, turned turtle, and crashed not 400 yards away.
Is it still speaking to you? asked the field manager. No.
They rumbled on again. Before that fire, The operator said ten minutes later. It gave me information. It told me that there are still a few men alive in these mountains.
Men are more dangerous than machines, said the courier. It is fortunate that I have a good supply of fissionable blasting materials. If there are only a few men alive in the mountains, we will not find that part of the mountain.
Therefore, we will not see the few men, said the other tractor. At the end of the fifth day, they reached the foothills, switching on the infrared. They began to climb in single file through the dark. The bulldozer going first, the fieldminder cumbrously following, then the courier with the operator and the penner aboard it, and the tractors bringing up the rear.
As each hour passed, the way grew steeper and their progress slower. We are going too slowly, the penner exclaimed, standing on top of the operator and flashing its dark vision at the slopes about them. At this rate, we shall get nowhere. We are going as fast as we can, retorted the courier. Therefore, we cannot go any farther, added the bulldozer.
Therefore, you are too slow, the penner replied. The courier struck a bump. The penner lost his mind.
its footing and crashed to the ground. Help me, it called to the tractors as they carefully skirted it. My gyro has become dislocated, therefore I cannot get up.
Therefore you must lie there, said one of the tractors. We have no servicer. we have no servicer with us to repair you called the field-minder therefore i shall lie here and rest the penner cried although i have a class three brain Therefore, you will be of no further use, agreed the operator, and they forged gradually on, leaving the penner behind.
When they reached a small plateau, an hour before first light, they stopped by mutual consent and gathered close together, touching one another. This is strange country, said the field minder. Silence wrapped them until dawn came.
One by one, they switched off their infrared. This time, the field minder led as they went. they moved off.
Trundling around a corner, they came almost immediately to a small dell with a stream fluting through it. By early light, the dell looked desolate and cold. From the caves on the far slope only one man had so far emerged. He was an abject figure, except for a sack slung around his shoulders. He was naked.
He was small and wizened, with ribs sticking out like a skeleton's and a nasty sore on one leg. He shivered continuously. The End As the big machines bore down on him, the man was standing with his back to them. When he swung suddenly to face them as they loomed over him, they saw that his countenance was ravaged by starvation.
Get me food, he crowed. Yes, master, said the machines. Immediately. And that is the end. So, who can replace a man?
Who can? Um. My favorite moments in this story are definitely when the penner is left behind.
I think that's hilarious. And the pen propeller... No, I'm sorry. Yeah.
Now the locker being destroyed just for no reason. I basically was just following them. These are situations with the robots that tell us that robots can't really replace a man.
Something to think of. And the fact that on the seventh day, they find man. and realize that it's like that's their day of rest I guess because they don't have to think for themselves anymore which I think is interesting. Um that's really about it.
I hope you guys like it. I'm gonna leave it at that.