Compassion Circuit, by John Wyndham

About this episode

This episode features a narration of 'Compassion Circuit' by John Wyndham, exploring the dual nature of robotic compassion.

It’s comforting to hear a robot say: “I’ll take care of you!” But it can be terrifying, too. Today's story is "Compassion Circuit", by John Wyndham. It appeared in the December 1954 issue of "Fantastic Universe" on pages 90 to 98. Regular readers of classic science fiction may notice the resemblance of the Compassion Circuit to Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics which were first introduced in his 1942 story "Runaround". ----- John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris (10 July 1903 – 11 March 1969) was an English science fiction writer best known for his works published under the pen name John Wyndham, although he also used other combinations of his names, such as John Beynon and Lucas Parkes. Some of his works were set in post-apocalyptic landscapes. His best known works include The Day of the Triffids (1951), The Midwich Cuckoos (1957). Wyndham participated in the Normandy landings, landing a few days after D-Day. He was attached to XXX Corps, which took part in some of the heaviest fighting, including surrounding the trapped German army in the Falaise Pocket. On 24 May 2015, an alley in the London Borough of Hampstead that appears in The Day of the Triffids was formally named…

People in this episode

Host: Paul Lawley-Jones

Topics covered

• science fiction
• robots
• classic literature
• post-apocalyptic
• narration

Keywords

• John Wyndham
• Compassion Circuit
• science fiction
• robots
• Fantastic Universe

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Compassion Circuit, Fantastic Universe, The Day of the Triffids, The Midwich Cuckoos

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