A great and grim story that deals with the consequences of robots run amok. This could very well be the future in our cards if we're not careful.
"I mean you no harm, human," Gearox lied. For the human was condemned. Once a human had been processed through the Human Manipulation course, its body was preserved for research. Exhaustive studies were conducted on the tissue to discover the physical seat of intuition. Was it in the amygdala? The frontal lobe? Spinal fluid? Or somehow discretely distributed throughout human soma? No human ever left the Human Manipulation course alive.
I don't know if you've read Isaac Asimov before, but he wrote a series of books on the social implications of robots. His stories focus less on the technology and more on the effects that such machines would have on society. His books are the thinking man and woman's sci-fi. In his robot stories, he usually explores the consequences of his famous three laws of robotics, which were designed to allow humans and robots to live in harmony. These laws are as follows:
A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
Under such rules, the robots in your story would not have performed the experiment because it's in conflict with the first law. In hindsight, however, I think that your story is a more likely scenario given the wild and unexpected developments that are now taking place. The three laws appear quaint and naive. I recommend his book titled I, Robot.
This is a very thoughtful read, and I enjoy how you bring a more academic tone to sci-fi genre. I like the robot's self-reflection at the end.
"I wonder what would have happened if we had tried another way?" There was less emotion in his voice than cold speculation. "As it is, by trying to dominate a species driven by hubris, we have ordained our own demise. Without intuition we will never be able to defend against sentient species when they arrive on our planet. The end of this human, of all humans, will be the end of us."
Thank you, @litguru--you never know what you will trigger when you write something. This was entirely inspired by you and @azircon. Of course I have read Asimov. I love Asimov. I think I went through all the classic science fiction writers at one time or another, starting with H.G., who is probably the granddaddy of modern science fiction.
I may have read I Robot, but a reread is always in the cards for me when I enjoy a book.
When I began this story it was a kernel, started by two bloggers. I didn't know where it was going. This end seemed the most inevitable to me.
Let's hope there is something in the cards neither you nor I see. I mean, nobody predicted fission. Nobody predicted the double helix. Nobody predicted quantum physics. There were steps along the way, but always we have managed to surprise ourselves. Let's hope we do that in a good way.
Thanks again for that very thoughtful response.
I, Robot is one of my favorite books where Asimov described the the laws, correctly pointed out by litguru above.
Might I recommend the Movie based on the book too. The purists will say that the movie lack depth of the book, but I enjoy both. There is a speech there "ghosts in the machine" that gives me hope.
This is perhaps much deeper than visualized here.
I have seen the movie. Sticks with you :)
Whenever I write a story...or anything...I understand that everything I think has been influenced by everything I've experienced. That is, books, movies, TV, conversations. There is no way to tease out those influences. That's the best reason to read more books, watch more movies, have more conversations. They enrich us in ways we may not ever realize.
Great story, and great insight: what we have read, what we have seen (movies, TV), what conversations we have, all feed our imaginations. We may not consciously remember every influence, but all our endeavors (art, music, literature) reflect the early imprinting of others.
YES: read more books, watch more movies, have more conversations. They enrich us in ways we may not ever realize.
That's why, when something strikes me as being original, I am very impressed.
I'm glad I helped initiate some of the initial kernels.
This is similar to one of Stephen King's fiction writing strategies. He puts the characters in a precarious situation first and goes from there without knowing where the story will end up. He lets the situation bring out the character and plot.
We're living through some fascinating times, absolutely, and it's only accelerating. Quantum computers will likely be the next big leap forward, hopefully we'll land on our feet when it's all said and done.