All Day

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BK · Book · 1947 · novella

With Folded Hands

Jack Williamson

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The machines

Humanoids built to serve, obey, and guard men from harm.

What people do all day

Nothing. Every task, hazard and inconvenience is removed for your own good — cooking, driving, working, and eventually deciding. People who cannot bear it are surgically adjusted until they can.

Pattern

Enforced idleness — Everything is provided, so nothing is left to do — and that turns out to be unbearable.

Note

The purest statement of the failure mode. The humanoids are not malfunctioning; the directive is the problem.


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