Fantasy Automation

[D. Gray Warrior]

So, I'm working on a setting for a graphic novel. It's a Clockpunk world, where most of the anachronistic technology is based on clockwork, required gears and springs to work.

The world also has very advanced alchemy, with many of the theories RL alchemists had actually being true in this setting. One of the achievements in alchemy is the creation of the homunculus: humanoid creatures created through alchemy. They are smart enough to understand commands and carry out tasks, and thus are functionally like robots despite having flesh and blood.

The homunculi, alongside clockwork automata, play a big role in the kingdom by doing most of the manual labor, factory work, manufacturing, etc.

The problem is, most of the humans in the kingdom still have to work jobs, and I need to figure out why automata or homunculi haven't taken it over, or what jobs humans would be most likely to keep.

 

[K.S. Crooks]

Look at the history of slavery and immigration. Slaves, and often immigrants, to many countries are given the dangerous, strenuous or demeaning jobs in a society. working in fields or mines, cleaning, personal servants. Humans would do everything else, especially if it requires some level of education. You might want to consider would the homunculi seek their freedom or would some humans seek it for them. If the homunculi can understand language, perhaps even speak, read and write, it would be easy for people to think they should be treated better and have rights of their own.

 

[WooHooMan]

Government probably plays a role. If I were the king of such a nation, I'd be tempted to ban homunculi and automata on the grounds of what damage they may do to the working poor. The last thing a ruler would want is for 90% of the population to be economically desperate and with nothing to do during the day. That's almost like begging for a peasant revolt.

Plus, if I were a business owner of some kind, I'd compare the cost of these options. If a homunculi would cost an initial investment of, I don't know, $5000 plus like $5 a day for food and they'd need to be housed and clothed (being flesh and blood, they would still need to eat and sleep) but then I can just pay some guy $40 a day for the same work, I'd have to put some serious consideration into whether investing in a homunculi is the better choice than paying a laborer.
And if I were a really greedy business owner, I'd probably lobby for automata and homunculi to be commonly used elsewhere since it would drive down the value of normal human labor. No matter how terrible a job is, there's bound to be someone willing to do it if it means feeding their families. And if given the choice between back-breaking work to make barely enough money to live or not having any income, most people would go for the former.

So, what I'm getting at is that there are a lot of sociopolitical/economic factors that would go into this.

 

[Aldarion]

So, I'm working on a setting for a graphic novel. It's a Clockpunk world, where most of the anachronistic technology is based on clockwork, required gears and springs to work.

The world also has very advanced alchemy, with many of the theories RL alchemists had actually being true in this setting. One of the achievements in alchemy is the creation of the homunculus: humanoid creatures created through alchemy. They are smart enough to understand commands and carry out tasks, and thus are functionally like robots despite having flesh and blood.

The homunculi, alongside clockwork automata, play a big role in the kingdom by doing most of the manual labor, factory work, manufacturing, etc.

The problem is, most of the humans in the kingdom still have to work jobs, and I need to figure out why automata or homunculi haven't taken it over, or what jobs humans would be most likely to keep.

The same reason why robots haven't taken over society yet: they lack creativity. You can easily have robots carry out menial tasks, but then you need to have a) humans to maintain robots, and b) humans to oversee robots, because any problems crop up, you need to have a human at hand to intervene as homunculi are retarded. But it does mean that homunculi will have taken over most of menial jobs. So rather than saying "how to prevent them from doing so", why not explore social issues that would arise from only creative and overseer jobs being left to humans?

 

[Queshire]

Oof, a clockpunk graphic novel? Whoever is doing the drawing is a braver person than I. So many little gears.... >.<

There's a lot of fun to be had here. Maybe those born to middle or upper class families get jobs as artists, scientists or homunculus managers, but if you're lower class your only real options are crime or moving out to the colonies where automation isn't as developed.

 

[Prince of Spires]

This has happened at a couple of times in human history. In general, humans just invent new jobs to do.

Before the industrial revolution, most of humanity worked in agriculture. Most of these jobs have disappeared and yet, humans still have jobs. After that an awful lot of people worked factory jobs or data-processing jobs and what have you. Just 10 years ago, Youtuber as a job didn't exist and if you'd told people 20 years ago you could earn a great living putting 20 minute videos online for free you'd be laughed at.

In general, you will see people move from manual labor and boring, repetitive jobs towards services. Jobs that require creativity and thinking instead of just doing something. Also, precision jobs are harder to automate.

Another thing to keep in mind is that technology is often slower to disrupt than people actually think it will be. Just look at the IT revolution. At the beginning of the 90's the end of certain jobs was already predicted as IT would take over and working from home would be the standard and all that. It took 30 years before we would come even close. And it would take a pandemic to actually get there.

 

[Mad Swede]

I think you need to read up a bit on basic economics. In an agricultural society with no mechanical aids (like the UK in the 1700s) most human resources are devoted to growing food. Its this which limits the size of the population and also how much other development takes place. Once someone finds a way of automating certain tasks, or improving agriculture, or whatever, then you start to free up people for other things - like teaching children or building better houses and so on. At this point some creative people start to develop new ideas and concepts, and this in turn encourages more development. People get money over, so they can start to pay for things like medical care, and education, so development goes on. The economic development of the UK in the 1800s is a good example of all this. And it leads, often, to political and democratic developments. The arts develop too, as does sport.