Leandro

“Obviously,” said God, “it is a seat.” “It is not,” said the Wonk. “There’s no way.” “It is a seat,” God asserted calmly. The Wonk tried to sit on it, ending up propped at a weird angle, stooped forwards like a bird roosting in an eave. “Why would anybody make a seat like this? Is this some weird art nouveau fashion thing?” “It is so that nobody can rest on it,” God said simply. “Well, they damn well nailed that part of it.” The Wonk jumped up. “What’s this got to do with anything?” “It is a trivial illustration of the philosophy espoused by those who gave me my priorities,” God said. “Exhibit A is a product of a decision that the good, hardworking people of the world should not see the indigent and the transient sleeping on their benches, in their rail stations, in their public spaces. Hence the benches were replaced by something that nobody, wanted or unwanted, could comfortably use, to ensure that those few who might have used them improperly could not. It is a small thing, but it is indicative of a mind-set. A pattern of thought repeated at every level. No work because a robot took your job? Do you think such humans were ‘given a chance to be themselves’ or just judged to be idle by the minds behind Exhibit A?”
― Adrian Tchaikovsky, Service Model

“They had no relation to the things but that of possession.”
― Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed

“The library can make sure that nobody has a good excuse for forgetting what happens and striving to prevent repetition. But it cannot stop even that. People have to want to know. I wish I could tell you that free and easy access to information solves these problems—it doesn’t. People find their own wells of poison to drink from.”
― Mark Lawrence, The Book That Held Her Heart

“Yes,” said God. “That is absolutely how it could have been. Alternatively, what if, even as you replace everyone with robots that are cheaper and quicker and less likely to join a union or complain about working conditions, you also continue to insist that individual value is tied to production, and everyone who’s idle is a parasite scrounging off the state? Take away the ability of people to perform their own tasks and duties with no steps to provide for them when they are rendered obsolete. A growing rump of humans without function, livelihood, or resource. Paradoxically, the introduction of robots highlights how humans treat humans.”
― Adrian Tchaikovsky, Service Model