The World Inside / Robert Silverberg

The World Inside
by Robert Silverberg

science fiction, collection
copyright 1971
read in January 2013

rated 7 /10: well worth reading

In the introduction to this book the author points out that this is a collection of short stories. It is not a novel. This is both interesting -- and a weakness.

Interesting, because it allows Silverberg to tackle the human hive topic from several different directions. Also interesting for an insight into the writer's approach to his task...

I think I'll write a story on over-population, he thinks. I think I'll be different and see over-population as a good thing. Now, what story shall I wrap around the over-population theme...

The first story is almost a cliche for its style.

A happy drone introduces a visitor -- today's Everyman -- to the hive. The visitor has reservations, the drone explains the benefits. One incident shows that all is not perfect. The visitor -- and the reader -- are given an understanding of how the hive works / would work, successfully.

No real plot. Just an explanation of a solution where the what-if is, what if over-population problems were solved by crowding lots of people into one very large building...

Subsequent stories have a bit more plot, with individuals being followed through good times and bad. Many of the individuals interact, to give a sense of continuity to the stories.

Yet as a whole, there is no coherent plot. And this is the weakness of the book -- of the book if considered as a novel called The World Inside.

We don't have a novel. We have seven short stories by one author, exploring various aspects of a human hive.

Bearing all this in mind, the book is still worth reading. Feel free to take a break between stories, you won't lose the thread of the overall story. And don't hope for a conclusion in the final story... it's just one more story in the common world.

A world where happiness is maintained at the cost of individuality. Where those in charge are as debased as anywhere else. And where the non-conformist is sacrificed to support the status quo of unthinking mass happiness.

It's a *good* day.

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Problems ? Solved

The Positronic Man / Isaac Asimov & Robert Silverberg

The Positronic Man

(category: science fiction)
by

Isaac Asimov & Robert Silverberg

published by Pan Books in 1993
(based partly on Asimov's 1976 short story, The Bicentennial Man)
Nick read a library book, in April 2010

Nick's rating: 6 out of 10

Nick's opinion:

Another of Asimov's explorations of robots and their three laws... I don't really believe the logic that allows this robot to commit suicide despite the third law (to protect its own existence). Still...

The book is just a tad unbelievable with its view of the future. Robots in every household and several planets settled -- and that's in 2007. Okay, all near-future books are subject to unfortunate comparisons with reality. The shrinking population of Earth is harder to accept.

After 200 years -- by the end of the story -- Earth has lost most of its population to the space settlements. All the go-getters have got up and gone, only the placid, unimaginative stay-at-homes have remained, so Earth's remaining people are slow and steady and failing to breed. Perhaps this is simply an American point of view; a present day European could have a different view of "new world" versus "old world" drives and creativity...

The basic theme is slavery versus humanity: slavery is acceptable if the slaves are declared to be not human. As an exploration of black-vs-white in the US, the story is not too bad. As a science fiction story of robot liberation, it's a bit boring, almost twee... over sweet. It was written before the Robin Williams movie, The Bicentennial Man -- but I can easily see this story as the inspiration for what I believe was a sickeningly sweet, embarrassingly awful movie.

Read the book for its place in Asimov's robot series. Or save time, read the short story and you won't have wasted quite so much possibly valuable reading time.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes & documents, email nick leth at gmail dot com.