ANDROID—human-made artificial “humans”; augmented, transformed human bodies; vivisection; cyborgs and robots, and more; questioning “What is Human?”
“Android” is only one of a host of possible terms to describe the theme of the human-like creature, made by a human, who ultimately challenges the definition of humanity. Allied terms include Robot, Cyborg, Automaton, Golem, Homunculus, sometimes Zombie—and any other artificial, human-like being. There is a separate, unique history for each of these terms, of course. The ancient Golem and alchemical Homunculi, for example, and the Android in its oldest senses, influenced Shelley’s story; her novel, in turn, is an obvious precursor to the invention of Robots and Cyborgs in literature. But thematically, the database is more interested in what connects them all: the creation of an artificial “human-like” being in stories where making a new human-type life threatens to usurp the power of creating life from the natural act of child-birth and/or from the divine act of Creation.
“Android” means “manlike”, and though “not commonly used in sf until the 1940s”, the earliest recorded usage is in 1727 by Albertus Magnus, one of the alchemists who inspires young Victor Frankenstein (Clute and Nichols, Encyclopedia of SF). “Android” was often used to describe early automata that resemble humanity; beyond that, Philip K. Dick influentially interchanged “android” and “robot,” confusing (usefully, from the point of view of the database and its themes) attempts to separate machine-based and organic-based artificial human-like constructions from one another, as well as from humanity.
The question “What is Human?” is key, and has a long history in sf. The issue reaches back before the extraordinary “Supermen” and alien encounters in early pulp sf and moves beyond Dick’s “Andys” or Tiptree’s “girl who was plugged in.” The 1980s subgenre of Cyberpunk, for example, blurred the line between humanity and our intimate connection to the tech we inhabit, wear, and implant. Norman Spinrad, in “The Neuromantics” (1986), argues that one meaning of Neuromancer, the title of William Gibson’s central Cyberpunk text, is “new Romancer.” Cyberpunk writers, he suggested, should be called “Neuromantics,” as their work was “a fusion of the romantic impulse with science and technology.” Cyberpunk frequently tests the limits of the human in the remaking of humanity through machine augmentations and biological engineering. Bruce Sterling, in fact, defines the subgenre by the presence of such modifications (see, the “Introduction” to his foundational 1986 collection, Mirrorshades: The Cyberpunk Anthology). Suffice it to say, the limit of the human is a constant sf concern; Mary Shelley’s novel is the origin point for this ongoing, vital discussion in sf.
“Android” centers on the body, from vivisection and grave-robbing to the moment of “birth” of patchwork bodies, sometimes mixed with animals, sometimes with machines, to make a new life. As the question turns from “What is Human?” to the more introspective “Am I Human?”, matters of consciousness take precedence and the POSTHUMAN and LAST MAN theme takes precedence in the exploration of emergent issues when a new being tasks its maker with existential questions from an alien mind.
References:
For “Preface to Mirrorshades” (1986) by Bruce Sterling:
http://project.cyberpunk.ru/idb/mirrorshades_preface.html
Androids: http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/androids
Cyborgs: http://www.sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/cyborgs