Dacey's Patent Automatic Nanny

by Ted Chiang

The story concentrates on different emotional relationships that humans develop with machines. Reginald Dacey argues that a mechanical nanny is much better able to raise a child than a human one. At first, society accepts the idea and many families buy automatic nannies, but when one malfunctions and kills a child, people lose interest. Dacey attempts to prove the machine is still safe by using the machine to raise his own child, but no one is willing to be the child's mother. When his son Lionel finally adopts an infant and raises it exclusively using the automatic nanny, the result is a child who is only capable of interacting with machines and not humans.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fiction

15 pages, Unknown Binding

First published July 12, 2011

About the author

Ted Chiang is an American science fiction writer. His Chinese name is Chiang Feng-nan. He graduated from Brown University with a Computer Science degree. He currently works as a technical writer in the software industry and resides in Bellevue, near Seattle, Washington. He is a graduate of the noted Clarion Writers Workshop (1989) and has been an instructor for it (2012, 2016). Chiang is also a frequent non-fiction contributor to the New Yorker, where he writes on topics related to computing such as artificial intelligence.

Chiang has published 18 short stories, to date, and most of them have won prestigious speculative fiction awards - including multiple Nebula Awards, Locus Awards, Hugo Awards, and British Science Fiction Association Awards, among others. His short story "Story of Your Life" was the basis of the film Arrival (2016). He has never written a novel but is one of the most decorated science fiction writers currently working.

Chiang's first eight stories are collected in "Stories of Your Life, and Others" and the next nine, in "Exhalation: Stories".

Reviews

[Angela Blount · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was... okay. Sort of an alt-historical fantasy lite.

It certainly read like a brief historical documentary--a bit stiff and mechanical in ambiance. There isn't really an opportunity to become attached, or endeared to, any of the characters. As commentary on what was once thought progressive and wise, I have to appreciate the tongue-in-cheek moments.

Humans have certainly had some strange and harmful mainstream ideas about child rearing. (Although this is more of a Victorian setting, the author specifically mentions the poor personal outcomes for one of the founders of the Behaviorism theory.)

[Grace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Told as a sort of after-the-fact historical recounting of a man who built an automatic nanny in the mid-1900s, which was subsequently used by his son for his own child, and the unintended consequences. Very steam-punk vibes, and an interesting ~twist~ on the trope. I found this one to be quite charming and amusing.

[Varnavas Flourentzou · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8

[Shreyas · Rating 4 out of 5]

'Dacey's Patent Automatic Nanny' by Ted Chiang.

“Children are not born sinful, but become so because of the influence of those whose care we have placed them in,” he wrote. “Rational child-rearing will lead to rational children.”

Rating: 3.5/5.




Review:
This was a rather short story that provides a lot of food for thought. The prose and dialogue, as seen in most of Ted Chiang's short stories, are found to be lacking, but it is the themes that this story attempts to explore that make it a worthwhile read.

With scientific progress and technological advancement, robots and artificial intelligence are slowly taking over the jobs usually done by human beings. How would humanity fare if childrearing was done by robots instead of human parents and guardians? This story, although quite short, poignantly explores this concept. Such children, raised by robots right from infancy, show a lack of development to the extent that human interaction doesn't cognitively work with them anymore.

It is a sad, haunting, eye-opening tale that is reflective of today's time to some extent. And it does have a great potential to age better with time.

[Storm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collected in Exhalation, this was originally published in The Thackery T. Lambshead Cabinet of Curiosities. Since nannies are human beings with emotions, Reginald Dacey invents a mechanical nanny rationalizing human nannies are weak, can lose their tempers, behave badly and make mistakes, whereas a robot nanny will raise the child well so the child won't have any bad habits that need fixing later.


The invention is initially a success until one inevitably malfunctions and kills a child. This led to mass returns of robot nannies, and the death knell of the product because no amount of publicity can contend with this type of bad news, I mean, who wants THIS in their house??


Attempts by Dacey to show the robot nannies are safe by having it raise his own child fail since nobody is interested in being the kid's mom. This story reminds me of the current race to develop Self Driving Cars. Similar to robot nannies, a lot of parents probably would LOVE to outsource child rearing to others - daycare, extended family, nannies, so robots are just the next step. However just like self-driving cars, even if they are probably safe to use 99.9% of the time, it only takes ONE accident for the bad publicity to kill the entire product line. Kid's safety is paramount!


This rather simple story provides a lot of food for thought. We all know robots have already replaced human beings leading to mass loss of jobs. If an AI is developed such that self driving vehicles become a thing, many trucker jobs will be lost if humanity embraces this technology. However, is it possible to replace parents raising their children? What would happen in that case? This story answers that and it's actually plausible too.
Eventually his son Lionel adopts an infant raising it using an automatic nanny. Unfortunately the child raised grows up only able to interact with machines!!!

[R.J. Spruce · Rating 5 out of 5]

All we have to do is look at the mental stability of American behaviourist, John B. Watson’s four children.

Watson believed, amongst other things, that parents should limit the emotion shown to their children.

He raised his four children under these beliefs.

His son, John, died at forty from bleeding ulcers. William, died by suicide at forty and James attempted suicide several times. His only daughter, Polly struggled with alcohol addiction.

Automated nanny’s are not only a bad idea because a spring could malfunction, but because we emulate behaviours experienced and witnessed, from those malleable years of development.

[Oliver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review copied from StoryGraph: A cautionary tale. Chiang bases many of his stories on present-day concerns, and this is no exception. Set in a time of misogyny and male-dominated rational science that might be uncomfortable for some (yet is no less realistic), this short window into a possible history outlines some perceived dangers of machine-led upbringing of children. In a modern world where kids under 5 are routinely left in front of screens, should we be surprised when all those kids seek in later life are more screens and less human contact?

[Rick N. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story seemed like a work of journalism, i.e., a true story. I'm still not sure if Reginald Dacey was a real man who actually invented a wind-up robotic nanny in the 1890s. The whole scenario seems somewhat plausible to me, which is probably a mark of a good sci-fi story. I felt like I was reading an exposé on Mr. Dacey and his son Lionel, who used the automatic nanny to rear his adopted son, with disastrous consequences. The story raises ethical concerns for the use of AI/robots to raise children. We may very well see some real world examples of this in our own future society.

[Shadi · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find it so satisfying when sci-fi mirrors elements of real-life media, giving the impression that this is a not-so-far-away alternative to the way we already are.

This story is written in the form of a piece accompanying an item in a museum, and sparks thought about child-rearing practices in light of certain theories in behaviour psychology.

A similarly thoughtful and exciting read by Chiang is his short story “Liking What You See: A Documentary”.

[Lucas Donaldson · Rating 3 out of 5]

As always with Ted Chiang, there is a really interesting story here. However, within the context of his works, this is definitely one of the weakest for me. I think the theme of the piece didn’t really resonate with me.

[Ben Vogensen · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rating each of the short stories from previous book separately because I didn't end up wanting to finish it.

Okay story about machine nurses that ultimately doesn't amount to much for me personally. Its fine.

[Amir · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read it as a part of

Didn't like it. Kinda had to force my way through it.

[Ayibatari Ogounga]

Interesting concept here

[Mario · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short story is very similar to Borge's, where a puece of fiction is presented as a scientific fact. And it is pretty good at what it achieves.

[Forked Radish · Rating 4 out of 5]

But at least a machine doesn’t have an evil, selfish, prerogative aka a soul.

[Raimo · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting concept, but not as original or as touching as some of Ted Chiang's other stories.

[Mike Lisanke · Rating 3 out of 5]

This author has many automaton stories and many involve human AI interactions. I'm not certain I find this idea compelling but I don't know much about the concept of European Nannies. QED

[mark propp · Rating 3 out of 5]

ok. nothing major, but in the context of the collection is a nice short breather between two longer stories.

[Danly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maybe like 3.75 Star 🤷
Definitely closer to 4 than 3.

[Kajoch Kajoch · Rating 4 out of 5]

Notes: okay, so I originally was going to rate it lower because the prose and dialogue is, like many Chiang stories, stunted in some respect... But that kind of makes it more endearing given the subject matter; and that subject matter is superb: a child reared by a robot so that human interaction doesn't cognitively work with it anymore. It's sad, confusing, reflective of times, historically wacky, and just... I think this might age better, actually.

[Aimée G · Rating 2 out of 5]

I see what the story was trying to do, but it didn’t leave much of an impression on me.

[Klowey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Review here in collection.

[Kireth · Rating 2 out of 5]

2/5

A short-lived but interesting tale. Reginald Dacey is a mathematician committed to developing his entrepreneurial "teaching robots", which he then transforms into nannies upon becoming a single father. Despite making sales using negative marketing against human nannies, an accidental death causes the invention to be forgotten. We then follow his son Lionel Dacey, who without knowing raises his father's illegitimate child using the robotic nanny technology in an attempt to show the worth of the creation, and the psychological institute that becomes involved in the child-raising process.

Whilst the sweet ending means to highlight the positive and necessary presence of a human parent, the lack of compassionate characterisation within the Dacey family reduces the overall story impact.