The Willingness to Trade Human Connection for Technological Advances

Weinstein's theme of replacing human interaction with technology-based experiences is his way of warning people about the deep hurt that sets in when synthetic experiences are favored over real ones and the eventual societal crumble that will take place if true disconnection occurs.

In the first story, "Saying Goodbye to Yang," people are starting to replace caretakers for robots. When Yang is disassembled, many neighbors offer to babysit the daughter since Yang is no longer available. We see this replacement process advance when, in "The Cartographers," Adam is fooled into thinking that his relationship with Cynthia is real. Even after he learns that it is not a real human connection, Adam is still seen working on his love letters to his fictional memory. In "Excerpts from the New World Authorized Dictionary," people are described as using technology that...