The Robot

[TheThing]

I've been bouncing this idea around for a long time now, although only recently have I been able to put it down. While this might have been kind of perfect for Robotday, it wasn't finished by that point, and couldn't have been entered in any contests anyway. Whatever, it's here now, and hopefully you guys will think it's kind of good.

The Robot

The Robot was born on January 9, 9170
To Desert Father Electronics,
The aloof parent.
While the Robot was one of many, it was singular.
It was different.
This robot could Comprehend.
It Understood.
He stepped off of the assembly line
And onto the flat Earth
That he knew was round
And wanted to show it.

Thoughts went through his circuitry
Like fuel through an engine,
Spinning his gears
And letting him speed through Imagiriums
At breakneck paces
With only his motherboard as his brakes.

He knew the very secrets
Of the Universe
And every Lock to the World.
He mastered every text,
And every book,
And every bible,
As though he
Had written them.

And he felt all the emotions -
Love, hate,
Pain, joy,
Jealousy,
Envy,
Pride,
Passion,
Awe,
Grief.

And yet,
He could not express these feelings.
He was not programmed to share
His endless depths with the world.
It was casted and formed to solder
It computed that.

So,
It stood in line,
Next to the drones,
And did its task
Of soldering other's wires.
And,
For the next hundred thousand years,
All it did
Was solder.

[TheThing]

Before you claim this is a useless bump, it's not. I've edited The Robot, and I'm just posting the updated version in the hope that it'll get some commentary.

The Robot

The Robot was born on January 9, 9170
To Desert Father Electronics,
The aloof parent.
While the Robot was one of many,
It was singular.
It was different.
This robot could Comprehend.
It Understood.
He stepped out of the factory
And into Existence.

Thoughts zipped through his circuitry
Like fuel through an engine,
Spinning his gears
And letting him speed through Imagiriums
At breakneck paces
With only his Motherboard as his brakes.

He knew the very secrets
Of the Universe
And all of the Locks
To the World.
He understood the Mist
Of the Soul,
And the Waterfall
Of the Mind.

And yet,
With all this Knowledge,
He did not know how to express.
He was not programmed to share
His endless depths with the world.
It was cast to solder
And nothing else.

So,
It stood in line,
Next to the drones,
And did its task
Of fusing other's wires.
And,
For the next hundred thousand years,
All he did
Was solder.

[JohnEndel959]

I liked this, I think it conveyed a nice air of despair, like "I know the meaning of life, but no one will listen." Also, I liked the wording behind alot of it, especially when you said the robot was singular.

One question, would a robot that was programmed only to solder really have the technology to be sentient and knowing?

[TheThing]

At 7/24/10 01:45 AM, JohnEndel959 wrote: One question, would a robot that was programmed only to solder really have the technology to be sentient and knowing?

He's singular for a reason. He's basically an accident. The exact reasoning behind it is unnecessary though; it's not important why a soldering robot has the processing power or code to be all knowing. If it was important, I would have included it.

I'll tell you what, you give me what you think happened to create this sentient robot, and I'll tell you if you're right.

[JohnEndel959]

At 7/24/10 03:21 AM, TheThing wrote:

At 7/24/10 01:45 AM, JohnEndel959 wrote: One question, would a robot that was programmed only to solder really have the technology to be sentient and knowing?

He's singular for a reason. He's basically an accident. The exact reasoning behind it is unnecessary though; it's not important why a soldering robot has the processing power or code to be all knowing. If it was important, I would have included it.

I'll tell you what, you give me what you think happened to create this sentient robot, and I'll tell you if you're right.

Well, since it's not my work, I wouldn't be able to really have a good guess, but here's a go: Some rebel-type robot wishes to expand the rebellion against humans, so he adds a computer chip while The Robot is in production. The rebel robot forgot, however, that simply knowing is not doing, and so this. That's a bit cliche, but you asked.

[Deathcon7]

I agree with the objection to the robots sentience. It seems highly far-fetched, and not in a good way. Why would a robot of such vast capability be created, only to be damned to solder. Not to mention the resources put into this would be immense. The computing power required to compute the abstract is about as far into the future as the rationalization of pi to its last digit. One other idea could be innate sentience similar to that found within the Star Wars universe. In this case, however, knowledge would be weened over time rather than inherently present.

It may seem like a small detail, but notice how the only two comments you've received pertain to this. It's obviously a large distraction.

[TheThing]

As to the concern of The Robot's impossible sentience:

I prefer to write in soft sci-fi, much like Ray Bradbury. I use robots and rocket ships to get my message across; I don't care if it would be impossible to do X Task with Y Machine if it's in Z Set Up. Technology is just a means to an ends. Don't get hung up on it.

And both of you got the message I was putting across. It's a tragedy; The Robot, as John put it, "knows the meaning of life", but as Deathcon put it, he's "damned to solder". No one knows that this robot is essentially a god, but he is unable to break his monotonous routine and communicate this. So, he's forced to do what everyone expects him to do - fall in line and solder for everyone else but himself. He isn't being used to his full potential, and he can't say anything about it. Apply whatever further meaning you have to that explanation.

[JohnEndel959]

At 7/26/10 01:48 PM, TheThing wrote: As to the concern of The Robot's impossible sentience:

Don't worry, it was a minor concern, at least for me. You got your point across well, and that's the important thing.