Robots, Androids and Smart Computers

Many of Asimov's early robot short stories had Man's Inhumanity to Robot as a theme. The Lost-in-Space Robinsons employed their robot as a sort of general factotum, and even Gort, of Klaatu Barada Nicto fame, was only following orders.

Robots as Symbols ...

Robots in sci-fi are often used as symbols of other things; most typically as a minority ethnic group, as in Isaac Asimov's famous short story, the Bicentennial Man. As Andrew became more and more sentient and manlike, the 'darky' treatment he was accorded by the humans in his life become more and more unnerving and distasteful.

A more ancient theme is sometimes still seen - that in which mankind flies too close to the sun, opens the pandora's box, or in general doesn't think through the consequences of their actions. This is the more 'frankensteinian' theme of the Terminator movies - be careful abou creating objects smarter or stronger than you, or you might find yourself wholly expendable.

... and as characters

We typically start seeing manufactured people called 'androids' as they become more and more individual characters in science fiction, a term popularized by Lucas in his Star Wars series. While he can take credit for circulating the word, his androids aren't exactly fully formed characters in their own right, but rather plot devices with a characteristic array of mannerisms.

It is left to the Star Trek franchise, with the deployment of Lt. Commander Data, and the Alien movies, to bring us artificial persons who were fully functional characters with inner lives and motives of their own.

Computers as Players

Who can ever forget HAL saying, "I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that"?

Computers have had minds of their own at least as far back as Robert Heinlein's 1966 classic, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. In this novel, the colony on the Moon, originally started as an earth penal colony much like old Australia, rebels against earth rule. The computer that runs much of the systems that make the colony livable is sentient, a fact apparently known only to the computer repairman, Manny. When Manny joins the rebels, he brings his mysterious friend 'Mike' in with him. Mike is available only by phone, and organizes the rebellion into covert cells, and plans their strategies. The rebellion is successful and Mike is a hero, with no one knowing that the 'leader' was a collection of processors and software.

An often-overlooked computer character is found in a novel by David Gerrold of Trouble with Tribbles fame; When H.A.R.L.I.E. Was One, from 1972. This novel focuses on an early Artificial Intelligence program named Harlie, and his relationship with his creators.

And we haven't even gotten into the characters that only exist -within- computers.