Karel Čapek (1890–1938)

A first-rate satire, on a par with Mark Twain or Kurt Vonnegut. There are jabs at fascism, sure, given that it was written in late-1930s Czechoslovakia, but also communism, capitalism, and just about any ‑ism people in their benighted self-interest and ideological blinders can invent. It could have ended with the penultimate chapter and been perfectly satisfying, but the final chapter, the metafictional “The Author Talks to Himself,” is the icing on the cake.

“The world will probably disintegrate and become inundated—but at least it will do so for universally accepted political and economic reasons, at least it will do so with the aid of science, engineering and public opinion, with the application of all human ingenuity!”… (altro)

This 1921 play seems to be known mostly as the answer to a quiz question — “Where does the word ‘robot’ come from?”. I was mildly curious to see what it actually does with the idea of non-human workers. The answer seems to be: not all that much.

An eccentric inventor, Rossum, has discovered some sort of — unspecified — analogue to biological material, and his son has found a way to turn this into a successful commercial product, manufacturing human-like workers who incorporate all the useful features of real humans, like endurance, strength, versatility and ability to work autonomously, but omit ‘wasteful’ characteristics like personality, capacity for enjoyment, and the ability to reproduce. Of course they are a runaway success, humans are freed from the necessity to do unpleasant work, and everybody is moderately happy, until the robots — inevitably — do develop a capacity to seek greater fulfilment in their lives, and it all goes horribly wrong.

Interesting to see all this worked out from a 1920s perspective, long before the age of computers and all the rest, and it’s obviously meant as another warning about the dehumanising effects of 20th century industrial society, in the same spirit as Metropolis and Modern Times, but it’s executed as rather dull science fiction with human characters who are almost as predictable and mechanical in the author’s hands as their robot counterparts. I think it can safely rest on the shelf as the answer to that quiz question.… (altro)

"El provenir del mundo consiste, tan solo, en que se aumente continuamente la producción y el consumo" Diu irònicament i premonitòria Čapek. El relat, farcit d'ironia és una burla però també una denúncia contra el racisme, el colonialisme, els totalitarismes, el capitalisme feroç,,, en resum: de l'egoisme i l'afany depredador de la raça humana. La raça humana va cap a l'abisme, però per cobdícia o simple estupidesa, no és capaç d'aturar el desastrós final.
Les salamandres són, com els humans essers intel·ligents, que poden parlar i fer raonaments complexos.
En un moment donat, sembla que les salamandres no tenen organització ni criteris propis, semblen dependre de la manera de pensar i fer dels seus amos humans, i com aquests, es tornen nacionalistes, racistes i bel·licistes, o al menys això és el que es percep des del punt de vista dels diferents països dels homes, donat que les salamandres, com tot en aquest món, són només una altra propietat dels humans. Però desprès, comencen les salamandres a actuar com un tot homogeni i a desfer el món humà per afavorir els seus propis interessos.
Čapek alterna la narració i els diàlegs amb textos periodístics, articles científics, discursos oficials, missatges telegràfics... per donar un to més proper i realista al relat.
Altres cites del llibre: "La humanidad no considera misterioso lo que le sirve y beneficia, sino lo que la perjudica o amenaza" "[Las salamandras] son, según algunos, una estafa periodística y, según otros, más inteligentes que el mismo rey de la creación, como se llama aún hoy (quiero decir, despues de la Guerra Mundial...) al hombre." "Quizás se hunda e inunde el mundo, pero, por lomenos, ocurrirá por motivos económicos y políticos reconocidos por todos"… (altro)