being a Treatise on the Awareness of Machines and Divers Effects thereof
You know, a couple hundred years ago they thought Robots would eventually do all the work that Humans used to and it would usher in a new, golden age of leisure and human fulfillment. Imagine! Why have thousands toiling in factories when machines can do it? Why have thousands-- tens of thousands, millions-- more building roads, or carrying mail, or
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This post reminds me of an idea I had for a short story. The idea is there's a guy called Keith who is part of some Freemason-style fraternity who one night is told a little secret - some 20% of the population have lifelike robots doing their work for them. Cooking, cleaning, answering phones etc. The robots go out to work and their masters go out playing tennis, tanning themselves in the sun or drinking at bars etc. No-one is any the wiser.
Keith asks why these robots aren't common knowledge. the answer is "keith, if your boss sees *you* answering the phones all day and writing reports, he will send you a paycheck. If he knew some robot was doing it he would just copy the robot and make you redundant. the entire economy would collapse if other people knew."
Keith gets a robot of his own (that works very well) and then discovers a day-time world he never knew existed - a worry-free world of hedonism away from the strains of modern life.
The twist at the end is, the robots are making new robots to do their jobs for them, so they can play about all day too. :O)
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