Credibility and Conflict in Lem's "The Inquest"
"The year is 2029, and machines will convince us that they are conscious and that they have their own agenda worthy of our respect. They will embody human qualities; claim to be humanÂ…and we'll believe them.
- Ray Kurzweil
Perhaps Kurzweil slipped up when he put a date in his prediction. Perhaps he intended it to be more of a challenge than a guess. Ultimately, it separates the theorists, like Kurzweil, from the storytellers, like Stanislaw Lem. Lem's "The Inquest" takes a glimpse into the future to show readers what it may look like some day. He uses a futuristic setting to examine the possible role of machines in our daily lives. Conflict, credulity and human nature are at the forefront of this story, all of which allude to deeper meaning in today's world.
The level of robotics and AI in Lem's "The Inquest" is not farfetched. That is to say, the story is not unconvincing, but simply exaggerated for our time.......
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Approximate Pages: 13 (260 words per double-spaced page) |