Sunday, July 5, 2020

On the Changing Roles of Dockworkers, by Marie Vibbert

[Analog]
★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention

(SF Drama) Mary works the docks in Cleveland, OH, which means managing the robots. She’s investigating why a robot that’s was disconnected from the network didn’t trigger an alarm. (2,453 words; Time: 08m)


"On the Changing Roles of Dockworkers," by (edited by Trevor Quachri), appeared in issue 07-08|20, published on by .

Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)

Review: 2020.333 (A Word for Authors)

Pro: It’s a cute little tale, with a touch of mystery to it. Who disconnected the robot? Who forged the logfile to hide the fact?

Mary’s solution is interesting, although perhaps not very wise.

Con: It’s not enough that the upgrade made the robot autonomous; it would have had to make it resist being downgraded. This is hard for humans to grasp because we always assume an intelligent robot would have feelings just like we do, but it’s actually unreasonable to expect that it would.

Other Reviews: Search Web
Marie Vibbert Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline

Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.

No comments (may contain spoilers):

Post a Comment (comment policy)