Do Androids Dream of Electronic Sheep?
Rick Deckard's job is to "retire" these Nexus-6 beings that who are almost identical to humans.
Androids
This part organic, part synthetic machine that alters its own governor module
Murderbot
The fully automated machine that still works everyday even after the humans are gone.
The smart house
What provides humans with all the essential needs for living and manages all the humans' lives.
The Machine
What is the time scale for this short story?
Billions of years
Most humans have moved to Mars after this war turned Earth radioactive and dusty
World War Terminus
Through the book the humans stop treating Murderbot like a tool or a piece of equipment and start treating it like this
A team member
The shadows of the family burned into the side of the house after this event
A nuclear explosion
Even though humans can communicate, Forester shows this human relationship start to deteriorate as humans depend on the machine more.
Human connection or direct human contact.
Throughout the story generations of humans ask the computer the same question, if the universe's eventual death can be reversed?
Entropy
This virtual type of empathy that is centered around Wilbur Mercer that allows humans to have questions about faith
Mercerism
Even though Murderbot says it "doesn't care", it keeps doing this for the team
Protect the team
This short story is based on the 1950s fear about this global threat, making it a good example for social science fiction
Nuclear war
Throughout the book, people stop treating the machine as a tool and start to treat it as this when they accept its "book" as the truth.
A God or an object of worship
As the machine in this short story grows more powerful, humans begin to treat it in a way that shows how technology could replace faith.
Worship
Rick Deckard's obsession with real animals instead of this kind of pet shows one of the books themes of authenticity
By ending the book with Murderbot choosing this path instead of becoming company property/"pet", it sets up more books in the series
Leaving to find its own identity and purpose
Even though this house mostly maintains ordinance throughout the story, it falls to this simple force
A fire
This reflects Forester's critique about the world and is shown in the book when the machine starts to break down and tells people to adapt to it without question.
Obedience to authority
When the story ends the machine says something that is also a famous line in the Book of Genisis.
"Let there be light"
Humans who fail genetic standards are not allowed to emigrate to a new planet and are called this, showing dehumanization in a "human" society
Chickenheads
Murderbot's emotions like sarcasm highlight this science fiction question about artificial beings
What does it mean to be a person?
Bradbury shows us a world where technology outlives its creators which warns us about this science fiction
Warning us about the consequences of our creations
At the end of the book, Forester says that humanity's hope lies with people with this characteristic.
Independence of thought and ability to live without the machine
In this story, Asimov suggests that even when the human race goes extinct, this emotion or cognitive process will still drive creation.
Curiosity