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The Robot's Decision

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About this listen

Far into the future, many of humankind’s everyday problems have been solved. We no longer suffer from overpopulation or a lack of natural resources. Our colonization of the solar system and our utilization of robotic workers has solved all that.

And yet, embedded in the human psyche is a disorderly constant fact: emotion. The everyday rational decisions we make are so often askew with emotion and, as this tale unfolds, we come up against a heart-breaking decision, one which we had thought to hand over to a robot like Chen. But does that make handling emotion any easier?

This tale unfolds with pace and grip. The listener is caught in an awe-inspiring journey to Earth II – a trip that carries with it huge responsibilities and one encompassing hidden doubt. If the robot cannot absorb and resolve the emotional conflict, then the whole expansion of humankind into the universe is threatened. In exploring resolution to that doubt, the author plunges us into our emotional selves and highlights our everlasting uncertainties.

©2020 David Gwyther (P)2020 David Gwyther Fiction Science Fiction Space Opera Emotions Robotics Technology
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I was lucky enough to receive a code for this book, so I was looking forward to settling down for a listen...

The story takes an interesting moral dilemma and explores the idea, comparing human/robot philosophies, and ultimately leaving the reader to ponder their own thoughts on the matter.

The story is quite short: the sort of thing you'd expect to find in a collection of short stories, and none the worse for that. I believe it's narrated by the author - which you'd think would be a good thing - but I have to confess I found the reading style a little offputting for some reason. I'm not entirely sure why - after all, it's actually read well, and clearly enunciated - but nevertheless, I think I found it somewhat distracting. I think another narrator with a more relaxed, natural style may have worked better for me.

Overall though, this was an interesting concept and one that would fit very well in with a collection of other short sci-fi stories.

Interesting idea for a short story

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Listener received this title free

Seemed like the author decided to cut it short. After such a well prepared entrance, intriguing follow up and quite well set up -if half-expected- outcome, the story ends abruptly. It’s like someone told him “get it over with” and he took the next exit on the motorway. Pity, as the premise had a lot of “juice”. I’d say there is a lot to be seen in the future by this author. Still worth the money and the time to read. The voice and the reading is a bit strange but it goes on you. Yup, “I’d buy THAT for a dollar”. Ok looking forward to something more prepared and complete from him. On my watch list. “Starters anyone? “

Perfect setup, bit of a deflation ending...

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