Fiction book by Simon Stephenson. Hanover Square Press: Toronto, ON, 2020.
In 2054, certain careers are now the purview of extremely human-like bots, including dentistry. Jared, a bot-dentist in Ypsilanti, Michigan, discovers one day that, unlike his bot brethren, he has emotions. Specifically, with the help of his friend a human medical doctor, Dr. Glundenstein, they determine he is depressed. To test out if Jared can experience other emotions, Dr. Glundenstein recommends that Jared go to see classic movies. These differ from more recent popular movies that all tend to deal with bots trying to dominate humans and take over the world. Jared soon discovers he indeed is feeling emotions and sets off on an epic journey to California to try to change humans’ views on bots and help humans find their hearts again by writing a novel screenplay.
Although, the storyline of Jared being a dentist is not a central theme of the book, there are some excerpts at the beginning of the book (listed below) that could be used to spark discussion about the profession. Also, overall, the book has themes around technology and humans’ relationship to it, hierarchies and forms of enslavement in society, storytelling, and the human condition.
Excerpts that relate to dentistry:
“Hi!
My name is Jared.
I am sincerely pleased to meet you.
Also, I am a bot!
Unless you have been living under a rock in North Korea or New Zealand–Ha!–you of course know what a bot is. Nonetheless, I am programmed to relay the following dialogue to each new human I encounter:
Please do not be fooled by my human-like appearance.
I am a mere bot!
I do not have feelings or anything else that might be misconstrued as a ‘soul’.
Instead, I have been programmed to a high level of proficiency in dentistry!
Should you have any concerns, please immediately report me to the Bureau of Robotics.” (p. 10)
“Humans are only sad about our [bots] lack of feelings because they do not comprehend all the incredible advantages this gives us. To start with just one example, a bot’s self-preservation instincts are based not on a human-type delusion that we are irreplaceable, but calculated on a rational cost-benefit analysis. . .My own vocation of dentistry is also ideal work for a bot.
But this is not because we are expendable.
After all, dentistry is rarely fatal.
At least, it is not fatal for the dentist!
Ha!
No, the primary reason bots make excellent dentists is our complete inability to feel empathy. An empathetic dentist–by which I mean a human dentist–could easily become distracted by inappropriate fear, criticism, or even mere crying from a patient. A bot is immune to all of these things and will get the job done every time. Even when it comes to wisdom teeth removal!
Of course, the other reason why dentistry is ideal work for bots is that no human wants to do it anymore. Humans prefer jobs that are creative, social, clean, luxurious, and can be completed from a home office between breakfast and lunch. They strongly dislike jobs which involve an actual office, weekend work, children, blood, screaming, and the mouths of strangers. Therefore when the laws reserving jobs for humans were being passed, nobody spoke up for dentistry.
Especially not the dentists!
Ha!” (p. 12)
“Doctoring is an occupation reserved for humans. Bots are considered to make terrible doctors for the same reason we make such excellent dentists: our total lack of empathy.” (p. 16)
“I attended Dr. Glundenstein’s clinic the next day. Appointments were always available because there is very little wrong with humans these days, apart from their teeth.” (p. 38)