Themes and message

The theme that John Wyndham explores in the short story “Compassion Circuit” is the theme of the consequences of technological advancement. This theme also touches upon other sensitive topics, such as judgement and consent. 

The message of the story is that artificial intelligence can never truly understand human emotions  or what it is to be human, and that it is consequently dangerous to entrust major decisions to robotic minds.

The consequences of technological advancement

The events depicted in the short story take place in a society set in the future, where robots have important roles in human society: They are household robots, waiters, mannequins, or receptionists in hospitals.

When Janet’s doctor talks about the new generation of robots, he differentiates between older and simpler versions and newer ones which feature the compassion-circuit:

‘A specially developed high-sensibility job with a quite novel contra-balanced compassion-protection circuit (…) any direct order which a normal robot would obey at once is evaluated by the circuit, weighed against the benefit or harm to the patient, and unless it is beneficial, or at least harmless, it is not obeyed. They’ve proved to be wonderful for nursing and looking after children.’ (ll. 48-54)

According to the doctor, technological advancement in robots has a positive side. Each order given by the robot’s master is analysed and the robot makes the best decision that can help the human. For example, if a person orders a robot to harm its master, the robot’s new system does not obey, as the master’s well-being is the robot’s foremost interest.

The negative side of the technological advancement in robots is ...