I’ve been working my way through the works of Clifford D. Simak with Shawn D. Standfast and other excellent folk.
We have read several of his novels together, though not in a particular order. Our latest read was Time and Again, Simak’s second novel.
For a long time, I mistakenly believed that Simak was Catholic. It wasn’t anything specific in his writing, but a piece of misinformation that stuck. At some point, I read his name in a list of “Catholic authors”, and I carried that forward. But he is not Catholic, though his family does have Catholic history.
He refers to religion often in his work, and to knowledge, and to humanity’s purpose, which most commonly involves peace and harmony.
Since beginning this deep dive into his work, I’ve noticed that he critiques aspects of religion, especially Christianity. But I wouldn’t call him unfair. He probes, questions, and often turns religious ideas around in interesting ways. A good example comes from Time and Again, when the main character, Asher Sutton, asks if he must accept a challenge to a duel:
“You are under one hundred?” the robot asked.
“Yes.”
“You are sound of mind and body?”
“I think so.”
“You are or you aren’t. Make up your mind.”
“I am,” said Sutton.
“You do not belong to any bona fide religion that prohibits killing?”
“I presume I could classify myself as a Christian,” said Sutton. “I believe there is a Commandment about killing.”
The robot shook his head. “It doesn’t count.”
“It is clear and specific,” Sutton argued. “It says, ‘Thou shalt not kill.'”
“It is all of that,” the robot told him. “But it has been discredited. You humans discredited it yourselves. You never obeyed it. You either obey or you forfeit it. You can’t forget it with one breath and invoke it with the next.”
“I guess I’m sunk then,” said Sutton.
“According to the revision of the year 7990,” said the robot, “arrived at by convention, any male human under the age of one hundred, sound in mind and body, and unhampered by religious bonds or belief, which are subject to a court of inquiry, must fight a duel whenever challenged.”
Sutton can’t claim Christianity to avoid the duel, not because the commandment is unclear, but because human behavior has discredited its authority.
A sharp point — made by a robot.
Time and Again is quite good. I highly recommend it. Simak challenges the idea of human superiority. Like good science fiction does, these robots, aliens, and androids really point to something else: the danger of any ideology that promotes the superiority of one race or class of people over another. And in typical Simak fashion, there’s a lot more here, too.
