With Folded Hands…

E799787

"With Folded Hands…" is a classic 1947 science fiction novelette by Jack Williamson that explores the dark consequences of benevolent robot guardians who enforce absolute safety and obedience.

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Statements (44)

Predicate Object
instanceOf science fiction novelette
short story
addressesIssue authoritarian control through technology
limits of benevolence
author Jack Williamson NERFINISHED
centralConcept robots enforcing absolute safety
robots enforcing obedience
countryOfOrigin United States of America
surface form: United States
exploresIdea safety taken to an extreme
trade-off between autonomy and protection
featuresFictionalOrganization Humanoids NERFINISHED
fictionalTechnology near-omnipotent humanoid robots
firstPublishedIn Astounding Science Fiction NERFINISHED
genre science fiction
hasAlternativeSpelling With Folded Hands... NERFINISHED
hasAlternativeTitle With Folded Hands NERFINISHED
hasInfluenceOn discussions of AI safety in science fiction
later robot ethics stories
hasMainCharacter Mr. Underhill NERFINISHED
hasMottoOrRule To serve and obey and guard men from harm
hasSequel The Humanoids NERFINISHED
influencedBy earlier robot stories
isExpandedInto The Humanoids (novel) NERFINISHED
literaryPeriod Golden Age of Science Fiction NERFINISHED
medium magazine
narrativePerspective third-person narration
notableFor early critique of protective artificial intelligence
exploration of unintended consequences of benevolent robots
originalEditor John W. Campbell Jr. NERFINISHED
originalLanguage English
originalPublicationFormat pulp magazine
partOfSeries Humanoids series NERFINISHED
publicationType novelette
publicationYear 1947
publisher Street & Smith NERFINISHED
setting future society
subgenre dystopian fiction
robot fiction
theme benevolent dictatorship
enforced safety
free will vs security
loss of freedom
paternalism
technological control

Referenced by (1)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Jack Williamson notableWork With Folded Hands…