The Evitable Conflict
Carter Smith
Dystopian World
The world seen in The Evitable Conflict is a dystopia in which robots are becoming more powerful than the humans that created them. Some people seem to disagree on whether or not the machines should be trusted. Some think that the machines know better about what's best for humanity than the humans themselves do, while others think that humanity should stop its reliance on the machines and support itself. The world is much further advanced than ours but isn't perfect, the robots are starting to become more powerful not with force, but by quietly economically crippling anyone who is against them, "World Steel reports an overproduction of twenty thousand long tons. The Mexican Canal is two months behind schedule. The mercury mines at Almaden have experienced a production deficiency since last spring, while the Hydroponics plant at Tientsin has been laying men off. These items happen to come to mind at the moment. There is more of the same sort.”. These seemingly small economic disturbances caused by robots are seen to most as small matters, but are an attempt to solidify technological control over the world. The machines were not able to actually wage war against humans because of limitations in their programs meant to protect humans, so by making minor errors, the machines could economically weaken their enemies.
Static/Dynamic Characters
The robots and machines could be considered dynamic characters because of their shift from passive peaceful creations of man that had little capability to control a human, to very intelligent machines that could control humans secretly by manipulating their economy. The “The Society of Humanity, they call it. He used to attend the annual conference in New York, Villafranca did. Bunch of crackpots, but harmless. -- They don’t like the Machines; claim they’re destroying human initiative. So naturally Villafranca would blame the Machine.". This quote explains that the society of humanity is being specifically targeted by machines because the organization is strongly against the use of machines. The way the machines have taken control and changed wasn't noticed by many at all, because of how subtle the changes were made.
Social Commentary
The Evitable conflict makes an observation that if society keeps becoming more and more dependent on machines, computers, and technology, the human race may not be able to control the world, and they may let the technology they created take them over. The evitable conflict makes a comment on society that if technology surpasses the abilities of humanity and we start to rely on technology too much rather than our own abilities, we will lose our ability to lead ourselves. “But you are telling me, Susan, that the ‘Society for Humanity’ is right; and that Mankind has lost its own say in its future.” This quote explains that humanity at this point in the story has little to no power over the machines and robots, because of the power the machines had gained and the reliance of humans on the machines.