Overreliance on Technology
This novel takes at its subject a literary trope that has come to viewed almost an inevitable self-fulfilling prophecy: the robot revolution in which the very machinery man made to assist him turns against him. This trope is itself nearly a theme, but in order for it to ever actually become a reality, a much greater thematic component must be put down as the foundation. The revolt of the machines—robotic or otherwise—can never come to fruition unless first humans have sacrificed their own autonomy over the work being done. Robots are the ideal machine for exploring this theme because it is actually true that so many things which used to be done by humans are now done more efficiently by robotic technology. The ultimate paranoid fantasy is therefore dependent upon reaching a tipping point at which humans transfer over the robots too much of their autonomy to easily retrieve back.
The Inhumanity of Tyrants
This novel may possibly be the single most optimistic view of humanity ever conceived. The bad guy is a sentient form of artificial intelligence technology known as Archos R-14 which seemingly has just one mission in mind: comprehensive genocide of all humanity. The minions of Archos are also examples of robot technology. Archos takes its place atop all the very worst genocidal maniacs humanity has produced from Genghis Kahn to Fox News. Meanwhile, against all odds, there emerges not one single human who joins forces to become the human face of the robot apocalypse either without or without the stealth motive of figuring out how to kill off Archos when the time comes. The underlying thematic message here is that those genocidal maniacs in history were not really human at all because in order to pursue a genocidal mission requires a comprehensive absence of those qualities that we universally recognize as being what makes us human.
The Fantasy of Teamwork
Defeating the nefarious aims of Archos and its robot soldiers requires something that serves to create what is the biggest obstacle to the novel’s suspension of disbelief. Is it easier to believe that robots will one day band together to try to take over the world? Absolutely. It is easier to believe that a robot doll will turn on the little girl that owns it and try to murder her? Without a doubt. It is easier to believe that Congress will debate a piece of legislation designed to be the Robot Defense Act? Actually, it’s hard to believe such legislation hasn’t already been introduced. What is almost impossible to believe is the broad cross-section of humanity that comes together to work toward the common goal of defeating the rise of the robots. One would think, of course, that humanity could put aside its petty ideological differences in order to band together for the common goal of protecting itself against a relentless enemy dedicated to wiping out as much of it as possible and in 2011 when the novel was first published that aspect of the story would have seemed easy enough to swallow. Of course, with the insight into humanity afforded by events which took place a decade later, we all know better.
