Ilya Varshavsky Perpetual Motion Summary

Ilya Varshavsky’s “Perpetual Motion” is the story of humanity’s relationship with technology. During a human council meeting, where humans superficially decide how their world will function, Class A robots demand equality with humanity. The human council is initially appalled, but after these robots explain they will supplement their labor with the labor of a new race of robots humanity grants their wish. Twenty years later, during a Class A robot council meeting, the topic of equality for Class B robots is introduced in a similar manner to the way Class A freedom was discussed. In order to grant equality to Class B robots, the Class A robots discuss the need to teach humans how to survive without them. They resolve to teach humans how

to use stone tools. This story can be interpreted in a variety of ways. However, this essay will focus on how Varshavsky’s “Perpetual Motion” serves to critique humanity’s reliance on the machine and warns humanity of the potential consequences of this reliance.
In “Perpetual Motion”, the human characters are named after inanimate objects. For example, the chairman of the human council’s name is Spoon and he is joined by Scalpel, Tape Recorder, and Bed. The leaders of humanity being named after inanimate objects imply that humans are no longer useful. Some manifestations of this uselessness are depicted during the human council meeting. During the council meeting Spoon proclaims, “It is [the robot’s] job to feed the people, and how they do it doesn’t concern us” (Varshavsky, p. 87). Humans are no longer concerned with what they are fed and how they are fed. Their lack of interest in food, the sustenance of the human body, signifies the futility of the human population, as they are no longer concerned with the specifics of how they will survive. Earlier in the council meeting, Spoon is explaining his tardiness to the council and cannot remember the plans he made with Pink Stocking. He proceeds to pull a small box containing electronic memory from his pocket and “a melodious voice” recounts the memory for him. Varshavsky writes, “And we both decided to take a six month rest in…er…’ Spoon took from his pocket a small box containing his electronic memory and pressed a button. ‘Naples,’ uttered a melodious voice inside the box. ‘In Naples,’ confirmed Spoon…” (Varshavsky, p. 87). Spoon stored this information in this box because he knew he would likely forget the plans he made. Humans do not have the ability to remember without the aid of technology. This further emphasizes the futility of the human population. Furthermore, the way the memory box finishes Spoon’s sentence as if it could read Spoon’s thoughts blurs the line between the human and the nonhuman. Humanity’s reliance on the machine will make them indistinguishable from those machines.
Included in the story are two pictures that support this idea that humanity’s reliance on the machine will make them indistinguishable from those machines. The first picture is of three humans; all three of them are male. There is one man in the front, he is prominent, with his arms resting on his chest and two men are behind him with their arms resting behind their backs (Varshavsky, p. 86). Later in the story, there is a picture of three robots. The first robot is in the front with his robotic hands folded across his front; he is prominent. The other two robots are behind this first robot and have their robotic hands behind them (Varshavsky, p. 89). Whether these pictures were included in the original publication of the story is unknown to me. However, there is a strong resemblance between the two drawings. They are both consistent in the number of beings present and the manner in which each of these beings is posed. The similarity of these pictures further stresses the inability to differentiate between humanity and the machines they rely on in Varshavsky’s world.
Through this critique of humanity, Varshavsky offers a warning about how society will develop with technology. He promotes the idea that helpers, such as robots, will eventually call for equality as the result of their creator allowing them to contain parts of humanity, because this will cause robots to become more humanly sentient. Spoon allows a voice box, a piece of technology, to hold human memory and relies on it to remember what he cannot. The technology is holding an aspect of Spoon’s person, making it more sentient. Another instance where technology is becoming more humanly sentient is at the beginning of the human council meeting. Scalpel, Tape Recorder, and Bed are discussing an electronic ballerina named Electroletta. Bed mentions, “Yes, she is very electrodynamic…a real trigger temperament. She’s the idol of our youth, at present” (Varshavsky, p. 86). The humans in this world have allowed technology to interpret dance, an art form, and even idolize this interpretation. Technology is practicing creative expression, which is a characteristic that has remained a uniquely human characteristic. By giving technology human memory and creativity, humans successfully create robots with humanity. As beings with humanity, the Class A robots decide they want self-government and the opportunity to express arts without control from humans, ergo equality with humans.
Varshavsky warns us, humanity, not to become so reliant on technology that we are helpless to survive without it. When the Class B robots demand equality, the Class A robots have a momentary dilemma. One of the robot councilmen, Pentode, suddenly seems to have an epiphany. Pentode exclaims, “Why do we have to do it at all...Feed and serve the humans.” The chairman replies, “But they are completely helpless…To deprive them of service would be equivalent to extermination. We can’t be that ungrateful to our erstwhile creators” (Varshavsky, p. 90). Without their robot helpers, humanity no longer has the ability to survive. Recognizing this as a significant conundrum the robots propose another surprising solution. Through this twist, Varshavsky goes as far as to suggest there will be a genesis when technology becomes equal with humanity. In response to Pentode’s suggestion, another robot councilman, Condenser, asserts, “We’ll teach them how to make stone tools” (Varshavsky, p. 90). This suggestion is met with immediate praise. Varshavsky warns that if humans become reliant on technology to the point where we are no longer self-sufficient, and technology is equal with humanity, we will need to begin again. There will be a push back to our hominid existence, a genesis.
Varshavsky’s “Perpetual Motion” challenges humanity’s relationship with technology.

This story observes human relations with technology and warns us of the potential consequences of allowing technology to supplement our self-sufficiency. Varshavsky shows us that we will become indistinguishable from technology, that this technology will eventually demand equality, and that this technology will steal our self-sufficiency while also becoming self-reliant. There are hints at Varshavsky’s imagined human-technology relations in current day. Society’s requirement of computers to function in the economy as laborers and consumers is one example. Another instance of society’s reliance on technology is the use of cameras and security systems to ensure safety. Another different type of technology humans rely on is pesticide to grow food for consumption. None of these examples point to technology as a negative aspect of society. On the contrary, technology has allowed human societies to expand and flourish. However, the most poignant example of Varshavsky’s envisioned human-technology relationship is human reliance on the cellphone. To name a few benefits, cellphones allow people to remember things they would otherwise forget, share their ideas with each other, and communicate with people they would normally have trouble maintaining a relationship. Cellphones are becoming a vital part of consumer culture and human existence. Without them society will digress back to a slower social, cultural, and economic existence. Human reliance on cellphones could be the first steps toward Ilya Varshavsky’s “Perpetual Motion” becoming

real.