The counterfactual reality is not chronologically consistent: events from the past, like the Miner’s Strike, are inserted earlier than they occurred, and technologies which are being developed now, like automated cars, have already been tried- and failed. There are huge divisions in society, protests and demonstrations on the street, as Tony Benn is seen to threaten jobs with his talk of coming automation and the Labour Party plan to take Britain out of the Common Market. The story is set in the 1980s against the counterfactual reality of Britain having lost the Falklands war, Margaret Thatcher being ousted as Prime Minister and replaced by Tony Benn. Soon they are having lots of sex and wine, while Adam is a sort of housekeeper and friend/companion to them both. As Charlie learns how Adam works-thankfully clearly and succinctly explained for the reader- and integrates him into his daily routine, his relationship with Miranda develops. The purchaser has an important role in determining/programming the personality of Adam, the robot, and Charlie invites his neighbour from upstairs, Miranda, whom he fancies like mad, to share in creating Adam’s personality by inputting preferences under categories like Agreeableness, Extraversion, Openness to Experience, Conscientiousness- a bit like two people contributing their genes to create a real biological child. It’s a bit of an impulse buy-Charlie’s inherited money on the death of his mother which makes such reckless spending possible, and he’s quite fascinated by the personality and work of Alan Turing who developed the first computers. So, with all this on my mind, I’ve spent this week reading Ian McEwan’s recent novel Machines Like Me, in which a young man, Charlie, spends a lot of money on a robot, one of an exclusive range-to live with him as a companion in his flat in Clapham. Noreena Hertz, when discussing her new book The Lonely Century on the Talking Politics podcast, referred to studies which found that people talk with their vacuum bots, name them, take them on holiday and even make clothes for them! So I was a little taken aback to read in The Guardian recently that robots are to be used in UK care homes to reduce loneliness- they can apparently hold simple conversations, learn people’s interests and thereby improve mental health. Ok, I thought, all good, these little gadgets are just there to help us in the home.
A few months later, chatting with friends in their UK garden, a low clicking and whirring noise caught my attention- it was their automatic lawn mower setting off on it’s pre programmed course along their borders.
When a friend told me a couple of years back about the robot vacuum cleaners in the States I only half listened, thinking ‘it’s an American thing’.
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