So this week, our question comes from
Furn (@IdiotBrigadier), and those who know him will recognize his colorful vernacular and specific interests:
"Throughout Geekdom, Robots have been portrayed as cartoonishly helpful (Walter the Wobot 2000 AD/Dredd) to Absolute f***ing nightmarish creations bent on human disintegration (Terminator, Transformers/Decepticons, X-Men Sentinels). Which one, dystopian future hellscapes included, would you rather live in, considering that you are a living, breathing meatsack and not an awesome robot?" Good ol' Furn.
Not an easy question to answer. Worlds with sentient and mostly-sentient robots have them either breaking your heart (when they're nice, as in Short Circuit or Robot & Frank) or break your bones (Terminators to Cylons). Even when robot utopias tend to be parables about slavery, and I don't want any of that. So we're definitely looking for more light-hearted fare. There are several worlds where you can be friends with a robot or destroy one without much of an ethical discussion, but I'll be damned if I'm gonna pick Star Wars because of that. Futurama would be more fun, but just as dangerous. No, I've got to go with the ethical classic:
Asimov's robot stories. Sure, there's a murder now and again, usually because people have been screwing with robot programming, but the idea that they are essentially non-sentient, must serve us, can't harm anyone and at least try not to get damaged themselves (I would hate to pay for repairs), is a sound one. I could do worse than live in a world created by SF's "Father of Robotics".
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CHECKMATE: ROBOTS.