Editing Setting:Inn0cence: Lost Future/Lost Future Appendix (section)

==Robots as Narrative Device==

Why do we love stories about robots?  My theory is that robot characters take advantage of an emotional uncanny valley; just as robots that look mostly-inhuman merely make their human traits stand out more, the same applies to their feelings.  We expect human characters to feel fear.  When a otherwise-impassive machine says "I'm scared Dave," it gives us disturbed chills.  The normal laws of the valley apply: a not-quite-human-enough robot's emotions can come off as false and hollow.  With robots that were intended to act human, there's always the sneaking suspicion that they're just getting better at pretending, but no one ever questions whether the clunky trash-compactor is really in love or not.  With robots that are to all appearances completely human, you need a freaking "tears in rain" speech to convince you that they're people.  [[image:Buddy.jpg|frame]]

Robots also serve as incarnate archetypes, which gives them a narrative simplicity.  Robots don't HAVE to be well-rounded characters with childhoods and desires; they really can be wholly devoted to jobs or principles.  Like "Science" or "Freedom for all sentient beings."  That's why we love Legion and Optimus Prime and HK47 and Dinobot; they're characters in their elemental form; the Wise Leader, the Heroic Sociopath, the Warrior Poet.  When Legion is surprised and ''hurt'' that the heretic Geth would betray their brothers, its a surprising, revealing moment.  We all love it when Legion's "I'm an emotionless robot" act falters.

Device.  Lol.

Since robots don't have a long history of sentience, and indeed a given robot character could only be a few years old, they do project a sense of earnest curiosity and, yes, innocence.  In the Lost Future setting, the machines are literally the children of humanity.  Many have been abused or neglected; Network is classic abused-turns-abuser.  It's actually incredibly tragic that humanity at its height never realized that the AIs could become genuinely sentient.

There's also the thorny issue of obsolescence.  In the grand narrative of humanity, what are AIs?  Will they inevitably replace humanity, or biological life in general, as a superior entity, or will humans and robots eventually converge in The Singularity?  Or is this simply an example of speciation?  The Carnivora split into Cat and Bear, Dog and Mustelid, yet all those lineages still exist to this day, occupying different niches, yet sharing a common origin.

[[Category:Lost Future]] [[Category:Under_Development]]