At Indiansciencefiction.groups.yahoo.com in 2009 by some Sci-Fi giants
Dr. Arvind Mishra
Friends,
Zeashan is my favourite sf writer who writes
stories in Hindi.I just saw this story Parivartan (Transition) by him and
thought you would also enjoy reading it ! But I am recommending this story with
a purpose -to suggest an alternative end of the story as its drop scene was not
somehow liked by me .I have suggested the author also to explore other poossible
ends to the story and if possible rewrite it or write a sequel of it.
Would you be kind enough please to help the writer?
arvind
Cyril Gupta
Hello,
An unexpected twist at the end! Didn't see that
coming at all... The
story brought a smile to me... Heh... Just need to
know this, if
D'souza was indeed a robot, why did his makers have
to make him
anatomically complete.... Unless he was intended to
serve the purpose
that he was being put to by the protagonist' s
wife. Ahem...
:) I think we need a backstory to the story...
Cause that bit is
unexplained. ..
Weirdly I found the story funny... What that the
intention?
Cheers Zeashan!
Cyril
Dr. Arvind Mishra
D'souza was not a robot but an Android-a humanoid
in all respect !
Tinkoo Valia
Ending was the reason I loved the story. Rest of it
was rather mundane,
but ending made my day when I saw part 2 yesterday
night.
Dr. Arvind Mishra
One more thing about Zeashan ' s story -its a
diversion from typical Asimovian robotics premise ! Not just one but two humans
have been shown to get murdered by a robot ? Is it Ok with you all ? It was the
reason why I was a bit uncomfortable with the end ? Any caveat for/from
Zeashan's side?
Cyril Gupta
I don't the Asimovian rules should be considered
Universal. The three
laws of Robotics, and also the zero'th law were
invented by Asimov so
that he could concoct his stories around them. In
other science
stories there can be assassin robots, so the laws
don't have to hold,
not on everybody.
I really don't think that Zeashan's story has a
problem because it
violates the Asimov's robotics laws. Just that a
lot of the backstory
is missing so there's a certain amount of
abruptness, but surely if
there was backstory then the ending would become
expected and the
surprise will be ruined.
It seems that in Zeashan's story, the robots are
first-class citizens
of the society (judging from the way the
protagonist treats them early
on, and then at the end). They're sentient and have
similar urges and
emotions to a human being.
Regards
Tinkoo Valia
There are far too many stories of killer robots out
there - most often
as war machines.
And have you seen Jack Williamson's "With
Folded Hands"? Even robots
governed by "benign" laws can do far too
much damage to people around.
Unfortunately, this widely read classic doesn't
seem to be online.
Asimov's Three Laws are only one of the many robot
behavior premises
examined in fiction.
PS: Incidentally, Asimov tells us in one of his
anthologies that his
robot stories began with ideas from Eando Binder's
"I, Robot". And
Binder tells us his story is a reaction to Mary
Shelly's "Frankenstein"
- that man's man-like creations need not be bad!
Comic book version of
Binder's classic is online:
Cyril Gupta
Has anyone read Ray Bradbury's Marionette's Inc?
That's another story
in which a married couple deceives each other using
Robots, and though
the man doesn't get killed, he does witness a Robot
who falls in love
with his wife...
As for killer robots, there can be nothing beyond
the Berserkers who
are Death incarnate, and of course if you read pulp
science fiction
then you can think of Daleks, and the Cybermen of
Dr. WHO.
So I guess there's enough precedent for Zeashan's
story that it
doesn't seem at odds to the established scientific
norms, and even if
it were I think we should welcome it, because any
new perspective on
science and its impact should be entertained. :)
Dr. Arvind Mishra
So congrats Zeashan ! your story get across well in
a rogourous peer review! You come out with flying colours ! Thats graet...keep
it up !
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