Man and Roboman, or The Secret Co-Author of Man and Superman

abstract:This article examines a contradiction to the main story line of Man and Superman that derives from the presence in the play of John Tanner's chauffeur Henry Straker. As driver and fixer of a robot, an automobile, and graduate of a polytechnic school, Straker as a kind of "Roboman" represents the science and engineering prowess of humankind that has already thoroughly mechanized the planet and that threatens humankind with an increasing automation in all phases of life, potentially capped off by a world overrun with advanced robots. This possibility raises the question of whether the organic evolution from "man" to "superman" that is central to the philosophy of Man and Superman may find competition from an inorganic, Engineered Evolution that may follow from Homo sapiens inadvertently replacing itself with something superior to the projected "superman" in the form of highly sophisticated android robots that could "pass" as humans.