We, Robots takes place in the future when humans have robots as household help. Dal and Chit purchase AV-1 to be a nanny to their daughter Angelina. After a few years, AV-1 is recalled by the manufacture. Humans fear robots taking over and dominating them so they have decided to give robots pain sensors. This way humans can control the robots through fear of a painful punishment. At the same time, technology has been developed that can remove pain sensors in humans. This novella explores the consequences of both actions on society.

This was a quick read; it's just under 100 pages. I found myself actually wishing that it was longer. There were some jumps in the story that confused me. If the book was longer, those plot holes could have been filled in. Other than that, it was a fun little piece of science fiction that was also thought-provoking. ( )

Set in a near future Earth where fully functioning robots are available at the local Wal-Mart, this story is about the coming of the Singularity. It is the point at which artificial intelligence will surpass human intelligence.

Knowing that robots could enslave humanity, if they so wished, humanity has come up with a grand plan to control the robots through pain and fear. All robots are to receive a pain interpreter. Instead of knowing intellectually that placing a hand on a hot stove, for instance, is a really bad idea, the robot will now be able to feel the pain and hurt from the hot stove.

This story is narrated by an AV-1 (one of the rules is not to name your robot). Its owners are a married couple named Dal and Chit, and Angelina is their newborn daughter. The robot is to be a live-in day care provider, while Dal and Chit work as domestics to rich humans. After Angelina reaches school age, the robot escorts her to school, through their bad neighborhood in New Jersey, levitates to the top of the school building with the other robots, then escorts her home at the end of the day.

After the installation of the pain interpreter, the narrator, who Angelina calls Avey, becomes a conflicted being, experiencing love, pain and anger. Part of the deal for the robots is that they voluntarily hand themselves over to be recycled, and their parts made into new robots. Almost at the same time, robots everywhere, including Avey, decide not to go along; they like their present existence. Many attempts are made by humans to "convince" the robots that recycling is a good idea; some robots are disassembled, in front of other robots, without removing their pain interpreters first. It doesn’t work. There will be no new robot models. Some humans have taken to physically modifying themselves to become part of the Singularity. These transhumans, looking forward to dominating Earth, are now out of a job.

It suddenly becomes popular for humans to neutralize their pain interpreters, to become more like robots. Taking advantage of their new ability (or disability), those who deserve to be removed from the gene pool, helpfully do just that. Humanity otherwise becomes quiet and docile. Without pain as a teacher, people won’t grow or know what questions to ask. Millions of years of human instinct are in danger of disappearing in a generation. Humanity becomes posthuman, without a single neural implant.

This is a short novel, about 100 pages, but it says a lot about concepts of humanity. It is easy to read, and very much worth reading. ( )