The Humanoids

This book contains two classic SF works. The first is the novelette titled 'With Folded Hands...' published first in 1947 in 'Astounding Science Fiction'. The second story is the novel "The Humanoids", which was also published originally in 'Astounding Science Fiction' in 1948 (March - May) under the title '...And Searching Mind'. The two stories share the same nemesis, which are the robots known as The Humanoids.The Humanoids' purpose is "To Serve and Obey, And Guard Men from Harm", which is really just a rewording of the first two laws of robotics that Asimov and Campbell create for Asimov's robot stories that first started to appear in 1940. However, this does not make these stories redundant, as Williamson's Humanoids take their purpose to the extreme, and go so far as to prevent men from doing anything that could potentially cause harm, which includes such activities as driving, or even reading in some cases.In 'With Folded Hands...,' the hero is Mr. Underhill, who opposes the humanoids at first because they threaten his livelihood (he is an android salesman), but later because he can see the effect they have on people's lives. He works with the creator of the Humanoids, Mr. Sledge, who is desperately trying to put an end to his creation.In 'The Humanoids,' the hero is Dr. Clay Forester, who is made aware of the Humanoid menace by a group of humans with various special abilities such as teleportation, clairvoyance, telekinesis, and telepathy. They refer to these types of abilities as "psychophysics". As the story proceeds, the reader becomes less and less sure who is right and who is wrong in the conflict. The Humanoids, though still a presence, are not the main foe for Dr. Forester. Instead he focuses on Frank Ironsmith, a former colleague who is helping the Humanoids, involved with Forester's wife Ruth, and is given much more freedom than other humans by the Humanoids. Although the Humanoids use some horrible methods of forcing people to be happy (e.g. drugs, surgery), they are not nearly as controlling as they were in `With Folded Hands....' One oddity between the two stories is that Williamson introduces a different creator of the Humanoids, whose name is Warren Mansfield.These two stories are definitely worth reading for anyone interested in Science Fiction. `The Humanoids' rated 27th in 1952 for science fiction books, and tied for 18th in 1956 on the Astounding/Analog All-Time Polls. `With Folded Hands...' tied for 32nd in 1999 on the Locus All-Time Poll of novelettes.

This not just a story about some humanoid robots taking over the world/universe, Jack tries to answer the question, "Has technology made the world a fundamentally better place to live?". In THE HUMANOIDS, once again a scientific discovery is misused by technology to develop a super-weapon, a bomb capable of turning all matter within a preset radius, directly into energy. So despite advances in technology, the world was preparing to repeat the age-old cycle of rise and ruin along with their enemies, only this time there is a difference: the humanoids offer to create a benevolent despotism and to "serve and obey and save men from harm", although not necessarily in that order. They are voted in but the Old School people find they don't like the thought of giving up all control and they wind up getting drugged in order to keep them safe and happy.THE HUMANOIDS is about one of those people, Dr Forester, trying to escape and avoid becoming a victim to the humanoids "smother you with kindness" strategy. Forester learns that the only way he can do that is through "psychophysical" or paranormal powers of the mind, something the humanoids do not have...yet. So Dr Forester learns the scientific basis behind teleportation, telurgy, and clairvoyance and attempts to use his new found powers to destroy the humanoids. Dr Forester fails for two reasons, (1) he does not have the mental poise or peace to commit such a crime because (2) psychophysical energy requires mental poise and peace in order to use it since it is the basic creative force of the universe and cannot be used to destroy other people. Once again, a new technology rises up and is misused to try and ruin the world, answering the question if technology can make the world a fundamentally better place and the answer is "Hell no!". The basic problem isn't with technology, but with humans. The dark side of humans is too much for them to overcome, even with the most advanced technology.The point that Jack Williamson is making then is that humans, by themselves, will never be able to stop themselves from ruining the world, and the only way humans will ever eliminate their dark side is to replace it with a better side -- and neither thing can ever take place without it being forced onto us by an outside party that has no dark side to begin with.

I read this book in 1967 and decided to get it again (for Kindle) and try it again. I'm always fascinating when I read a story that I've read a long time ago because I discover that I didn't remember it correctly.When I read this story before I saw it as portraying a terrible future with no redeemable qualities whatsoever. All I saw back then were monsters from outer space who came to Earth with the intention of taking away human freedom.However, as I go back and read it today I discover that the Humanoids were built by a human who wanted to help humans survive in a hostile world.And then I realized that these Humanoids actually tell us how an authoritarian government would control everybody's lives.Now, as I read the story I can easily make a direct correlation to such things as the removal of dangerous things from our lives and the many health and safety warnings which we have become accustomed to seeing every day.As it turns out, Jack Williamson wrote a story which has a very important message.You decide whether the message is good or bad.