But Whether Men Do

""The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.""

- B.F. Skinner

But Whether Men Do is a science fiction novel set Twenty Minutes Into the Future by first-time author R. Anthony Mahan. The story focuses on the creation and integration of incredibly humanlike robots — SHEMs, short for Synthetic Humanoid Emulation Machines — into society and examines society's willingness (or unwillingness) to accept them. Created by the genius Dr. Danson, SHEMs are meant to improve the lives of humans and serve them; they are programmed to feel joy in performing their assigned task and to feel pain if they disobey. To prevent any sort of robotic uprising, Danson ingrained a code of ethics into every SHEM produced, so that they may never harm a human being, even if ordered to do so.

This novel provides examples of:

 * The Atoner:
 * Brain Uploading:
 * Child Prodigy: Mankins.
 * Do Androids Dream: A large portion of the book is based around this premise.
 * Genki Girl: Alice at times.
 * Ho Yay: Some readers have gotten vibes between Mankins and Danson.
 * Humans Are Bastards: The SHEMs end up being the victim of too much mistreatment to count.
 * Jerkass: Danny's second baby sitter, who . Also, Danson and Mankins have bits of this.
 * Just a Machine: Invoked by many of the characters to justify their actions.
 * Significant Name: The SHEMs.
 * Spider Scientist Zombie Robot:
 * Ridiculously Human Robots
 * Robot Girl: Many, but notably Betty.
 * Shout Out: Officers Powell and Donovan.
 * What Measure Is a Non Human: The whole premise of the story.
 * The Woobie: Poor Bruce.
 * Zeerust: Using needles to etch the programming into the chips instead of, say, a focused ion beam or something equally capable of atomic-level etching.
 * Zeerust: Using needles to etch the programming into the chips instead of, say, a focused ion beam or something equally capable of atomic-level etching.