Galley Slave

The idea that the human intellect will eventually become defunct is a frightening one. Already we can see that simulation of humanity - in the digital world at least - is often quite enough for most people. Scavenging is very much a part of the modern human and maybe this is why it has been so easy for the people with power to attain it in the first place, and secondly, to keep it and grow it, by distracting the masses with free scraps thrown to them.

In his short story, Asimov creates the character of Professor Simon Ninheimer, an academic who ultimately seeks an acknowledgment that his life's work has meaning, and cannot be simply replaced by soulless machines. I often reflect on the fact that, to me at least, a photo of a piece of art always fails to capture the soul of the piece. Seeing art face to face, as it were, imparts something of the artists on the viewer that is lost in the act of reproduction. Indeed, perhaps it is merely any act of reproduction, but certainly, I have always felt that a painting is alive in a way that a photograph is not.