Caves of Steel

I am a huge fan of Isaac Asimov, he was a great author. I’ve just started to read caves of steel, his first robot book. I’m about three chapters in and I’m pretty sure I’ve managed to pin down the central theme of the book. Asimov made no secret of the fact that he was a socialist, in caves of steel he builds an image of Earth as an overpopulated planet inhabited by giant cities built on the Marxist views of “from those according to his abilities to those according to his needs.” The system works, although people are ranked according to classifications, so not everyone is equal. The citizens of New York however (where the book is set) are starting to feel a lot of tension (to put it lightly) against the new robot workers who it seems are taking their jobs, and therefore subjecting the newly unemployed to a life of misery at the very bottom of society.

The book clearly echoes fears that workers often have about being replaced due to “unfair” competition. Protectionism was born out of this fear and has been responsible for much of the third world poverty that exists today. It is not untrue to say that in Asimov’s world robots would be a better choice for many jobs than their human counterparts, many jobs have already disappeared to machines in today’s world, and Asimov may even have been mirroring the riots in India against the new textile machines (I would have to check my dates as his book may in fact pre-date the riots). Even in our own industrial revolution the same thing happened. But as a result of the use of machines our quality of life is far beyond the wildest imaginations of people of the day. I also do not believe that it would be unfair to say that even in Asimov’s world the robot labour force would create a new standard of living for the inhabitants beyond that available to the most privileged at the time the book is set.