We Will Use Manual Labor in the Future: Difference between revisions

While the [[Cool Starship]] of the series has fully automated food dispensers, and [[Instant AI, Just Add Water|artificial intelligence]] and [[Nanomachines|nanotechnology]] are realities, indentured servitude and slavery of sapient beings is still widespread, and the most common slave occupation by far in [[The Future]] (TM) is the lowly miner. Why mining? Because cave sets are cheap and easily redressed to represent different planets. However, we have to ask ourselves why such technologically advanced civilizations (presumably capable of building automated robot mines) choose to be so dependent on manual labor as to indenture or enslave thousands, even millions of sapient beings instead of applying technological solutions which are cheaper, more efficient, and more humane.

 

 

 

Part of the reason for this is that the evil being portrayed usually isn't the slavery itself, but the punishment which the workers must endure. Many "prison mine" examples are more about the punishment than the mining. In modern-day society, we have machines that are quite capable of automatically pressing license plates, but the DMV is still getting prisoners to do it. In addition, in the real world, slave labour or labour that borders on slavery is used in lieu of automation because it's often actually cheaper provided the workers are from a country with a much lower cost of living than the country their masters or employers are from.

* In ''[[Battlefield Earth]]'', the Psychlos are an alien race advanced enough to take down Earth's entire armed forces in a matter of minutes, but are stupid enough to believe that forcing captive humans into slave labor would make their mining practices ''more efficient''.

** The Psychols were using humans to mine in the radioactive areas where Psychlos wouldn't be able to breathe.

* In ''[[Future War]]'', humanity is enslaved to do physical work because "the masters have no hands" (how they managed to enslave humanity and dinosaurs in the first place is another matter), even though there are cyborgs available that would presumably be more suitable.

* In ''The Unearthly'' (a John Carradine horror movie that was once featured on [[MST3K]]), a mad scientist has a bunch of caveman-like mutant rejects in one basement room, most of whom are apparently pushing a large electric turbine around in a circle, like the giant mill that Conan the Barbarian had to push when he was a slave. Not a terribly efficient source of power, all things considered, but at least he's putting his rejects to work!

* Slavery is a major theme in [[Charles Stross]] ''Accelerando''. The very first chapter is about the precedent that prevents artificial intelligences and uploads from being treated as property. One protagonist is a male submissive; his daughter sells herself into slavery [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|to herself]] to get away from her mother, taking advantage of a loophole in Islamic law. {{spoiler|the alien and later human-made sentient corporations use minds as a currency}}. But manual labour itself is more or less entirely obsolete, what with [[The Singularity]].

* The Uplift Universe, based on the works of David Brin, works on the principle that each sentient race will create new sentient races, from modifying lower non-sapient lifeforms. These new 'client' races are then indentured to the 'patron' race for a period of 100,000 years. Patron races gain wealth and status based on this practice. When the indenture period has expired, the client races are then allowed full status to uplift new species for themselves, continuing the chain of uplift. This practice has gone on for 3 billion years.

* Played straight in the mines of [[Star Wars|Kessel]]. Use of anything other than manual labor risks exposing the glitterstim spice to light or heat and reducing its value and potency.

** A [[Fridge Logic]] explanation since most living beings generate their own heat, and require light to see by.

* ''[[Farscape (TV)|Farscape]]'': Rygel XVI, deposed Dominar of the (interstellar-spanning) Hynerian Empire, makes frequent references to servants and slaves in his royal court. Humorously, when visiting Earth, he states that if Earth is to be remembered for anything, it will be for the quality of our manual labor.

** Stark's species, The Baniks, are referred to as an entire race of slaves, and it's implied that not all of the Baniks have Stark's mystical abilities. One must wonder why the Peacekeepers, Scarrans, and other militaristic, aggressive species don't just hire a few super-powered alien mercenaries (of which there are absolutely no shortage) to do the work of a hundred or a thousand near-human Baniks.

*** That being said, Leviathans can do stuff that non-living ships can't (maintain themselves, starburst).

* ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined]]''. Human beings in the ragtag fleet are forced to work in dangerous and [[No OSHA Compliance|unregulated]] mining and refining ships, but these are refugees from a civilization that turned its back on advanced cybernetics after fighting a war with the Cylons. Water extraction was apparently a dangerous occupation too, and the leaders of the fleet conscripted prisoners to do it in exchange for reduced sentences.

** Yes, they are [[Card-Carrying Villain|Card Carrying Villains]] and do it just to be evil. But they are also described as supremely power-hungry. Despite this, none of them ever try putting their technology to proper use to out-produce all the others.

*** Ahh, Anubis kind of did, and he dominated them.

** The Ori continued the trend. Even with all the knowledge of ascended beings, their ships are still built by their primitive human worshippers.

*** Partially [[Justified Trope|justified]] in that the Ori have complete control over the human population of their galaxy and thus most likely didn't even have many ships prior to them learning about humans in the Milky Way- they most likely had them built specifically for their crusade. They wouldn't even need many ships to keep the primitive humans of their galaxy under control (after all, said humans have been worshipping the Ori ever since the Ori created them, and the Priors are around to keep them under control most of them time anyways). Also, like the Goa'uld, they probably wanted to keep adavanced technology out of the hands of their worshippers for the sake of ensuring that they continue to believe that said advanced technology is "magic from the Gods".

* In a recent ''[[Gaia Online]]'' event, each of the four towns was assigned two fantasy races to assist them in the upcoming "Rejected Olympics". The futuristic town of Aekea got [[Our Orcs Are Different|Blizzard Style Orcs]], in addition to the previously introduced Aliens. The new aliens were created by leftover [[Applied Phlebotinum]] that the ''real'' aliens left behind, while the orcs were [[Handwaved]] away by saying they were a newly discovered species that have been hired as manual laborers. One character even wonders if the orcs are actually being payed for their work. ...Of course, there's just one problem. ''AEKEA IS A CITY FULL OF ROBOTS''. It's the only city that's even ''allowed'' to have robots, as they were banned everywhere else after some [[Noodle Incident|war that no one talks about.]] But the fact that you are enslaving ''orcs'' to effectively do something that could be accomplished by a ''tow truck'' or a ''pulley'' is a bit confusing...

* In ''[[Eve Online|EVE Online]]'' the Amarr Empire makes a wide use of slaves. Although they could easily replace most of their slaves with advanced technology, like the other nations have done, the Amarr believe that, by enslaving "lesser" peoples like the Minmatar, they are saving these people's souls. It's no surprise that the Amarr are quite far behind technologically when compared to the Gallente and especially the Caldari.

* Averted in ''[[Tales of Symphonia (Video Game)|Tales of Symphonia]]'' when you eventually learn the slaves in the [[Magitek]] human ranches aren't there for any real work. The bad guys just need them to waste away while the implanted [[Green Rocks|exspheres feed off of their anguish.]]

* The batarians in ''[[Mass Effect]]'' still practice slavery, despite a being starfaring civilisation for centuries. They argue that slavery is a "cultural right" of their people; the [[The Federation|Council]] doesn't buy it.

** Those that did think the steam engine was great tended to not be taken seriously. One guy was pretty sure that Hero's Engine could be used to predict the weather. Given that the boiling point of water varies depending on air pressure, and that quite a bit of the weather is dependent on moving high/low pressure fronts, he was probably actually on to something.

** It's wise to remember that a steam engine requires fuel, and the truth of the matter really comes that in that day a human life was cheaper than the wood.

** Consider also the medieval Chinese, who invented so many amazing feats of chemistry, engineering and metallurgy yet somehow were eclipsed by the western European nations and remained a bit of an industrial backwater for hundreds of years. Though much of this was cultural, as Confucianism taught rigorous adherence to the status quo.

** Anthropologist Jared Diamond goes into this at great lenght in ''Guns, Germs, and Steel.'' I can't summarize it all here except to give say that in his view all human development basically hinges on your geography and every factor which follows that. It's really quite interesting.

[[Category:Cyberpunk Tropes]]

[[Category:A Slave to The Index]]

[[Category:We Will Use Manual Labor In The Future]]