[ExI] In ‘Klara and the Sun,’ We Glimpse an Eerie Future Through the Eyes of a Robot

[William Flynn Wallace]

On Thu, Mar 25, 2021 at 1:50 AM John Grigg via extropy-chat <
extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:

> I very much look forward to reading this science fiction novel, written by
> one of the world's finest writers...
>
> "In a store in the center of an unnamed city, humanoid robots are
> displayed alongside housewares and magazines. They watch the fast-moving
> world outside the window, anxiously awaiting the arrival of customers who
> might buy them and take them home. Among them is Klara, a particularly
> astute robot who loves the sun and wants to learn as much as possible about
> humans and the world they live in.
>
> So begins Kazuo Ishiguro’s new novel *Klara and the Sun*
> <https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/653825/klara-and-the-sun-by-kazuo-ishiguro/>,
> published earlier this month. The book, told from Klara’s perspective,
> portrays an eerie future society in which intelligent machines and other
> advanced technologies have been integrated into daily life, but not
> everyone is happy about it.
>
> Technological unemployment, the progress of artificial intelligence
> <https://singularityhub.com/tag/artificial-intelligence/>, inequality,
> the safety and ethics of gene editing, increasing loneliness and
> isolation—all of which we’re grappling with today—show up in Ishiguro’s
> world. It’s like he hit a fast-forward button, mirroring back to us how
> things might play out if we don’t approach these technologies with caution
> and foresight.
>
> The wealthy genetically edit or “lift” their children to set them up for
> success, while the poor have to make do with the regular old brains and
> bodies bequeathed them by evolution. Lifted and unlifted kids generally
> don’t mix, and this is just one of many sinister delineations between a new
> breed of haves and have-nots.
>
> There’s anger about robots’ steady infiltration into everyday life, and
> questions about how similar their rights should be to those of humans.
> “First they take the jobs
> <https://singularityhub.com/2019/07/22/will-robots-take-our-jobs-careful-its-a-trick-question/>.
> Then they take the seats at the theater?” one woman fumes.
>
> References to “changes” and “substitutions” allude to an economy where
> automation <https://singularityhub.com/tag/automation/> has eliminated
> millions of jobs. While “post-employed” people squat in abandoned buildings
> and fringe communities arm themselves in preparation for conflict, those
> whose livelihoods haven’t been destroyed can afford to have live-in
> housekeepers and buy Artificial Friends (or AFs) for their lonely children.
>
> “The old traditional model that we still live with now—where most of us
> can get some kind of paid work in exchange for our services or the goods we
> make—has broken down,” Ishiguro said in a podcast discussion
> <https://www.economist.com/podcasts/2021/03/04/is-ai-capable-of-falling-in-love>
> of the novel. “We’re not talking just about the difference between rich and
> poor getting bigger. We’re talking about a gap appearing between people who
> participate in society in an obvious way and people who do not.”  Leading
> to the idea of just paying people to do nothing, so they won't revolt
> bill w
>
>
> https://singularityhub.com/2021/03/24/in-klara-and-the-sun-we-glimpse-an-eerie-future-through-the-eyes-of-a-robot/
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