Android
Android
Ratings1
Average rating5
This is a very short short-story by one of the geniuses of early science fiction. The story is a paranoid fable about a man who is convinced that his boss is a robot and, more importantly, part of a conspiracy of robots who plot to take over the human race. The story goes through its paces and works to an inspirational ending. It is well-crafted but a bit dated.
I am almost more intrigued by the fact that Kuttner wrote this in 1941 and set it in 2060. It is fascinating to see what Kuttner imagined would be different - men wearing capes - and what would not be different - calling the police by using a phone on the desk. It is mind-warping to think that Kuttner wrote this story nearly eighty years ago and that 2060 is a mere 40 years from now. We are closer to the world Kuttner imagined as being 120 years in his future than we are to his day. Do we still think that someday capes will make a fashion come-back, perhaps in the year 2140? I don't think so.
If you are a fan of Kuttner or dated science fiction, this is your book. If you have a low threshold of tolerance for dated science fiction, give it a miss.