The article opens with alerting the reader to the “trivialisation” of robots in today’s society, where many don’t know or don’t seem to understand how robots are treated or how dependent society has become on robots.  It is when they start to look like people that concerns are raised- how are we as a people supposed to react when someone can build a robot that looks like anyone they idolize, and then use it for their own personal gratification? Do you agree that this objectification of humanoid female robots as result of how women are treated and perceived in today’s society, or is this an inevitable result of the use of technology in the adult industry?

Graham reminds us in Chapter 4 that a common, traditional Jewish reading of the Golem story is that the moral comes from the Golem’s defectiveness, humans must know that “while created in the likeness of God – possessing reason, speech and creative agency – humanity can never fully achieve the creation of life.” (89) We have been with Yod essentially from the start of his life to the end, have Malkah, Avram, and Shira achieved creation? How does Piercy interact with the traditional moral?

Graham contends that He, She and It maintains a “nostalgia for the integrity of the ‘natural’ body” (105). What significance does embodiment have in the novel? Does Yod’s sacrifice at the end support or contradict Graham’s claim?

Throughout the book, Avram has discounted the value of Malkah’s programming in Yod . While Malkah counters that it “made the difference between success and failure,” did Malkah’s programming really help Yod (Piercy 429)? It allowed him to feel, but did that ruin his chance of being content with his life? Did it curse him to live as a sentient being used as a weapon? Would he have been better off without emotions?

In Piercy’s novel Riva steals (“liberates”) information because she believes that  “Information shouldn’t be a commodity” (193). How has the reverse idea of information as a commodity shaped the way things work in the multi domes?

We’ve now met two cyborgs in the reading. Yod and Nili. Is one more human than the other? Why?

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/sep/24/margaret-atwood-rewriting-shakespeare-tempest-hagseed

In Piercy’s He, She, and It there are references to the Y-S ideal, and of the Y-S dome having very patriarchal laws in place to govern their society. How does the Y-S idea of a perfect society compare to our ideal society? How are they different?

Both Yod and Joseph are creatures charged with the protection of humans but they are constantly reminded that they are not human. How do you think this effects their abilities to be protectors? Are emotions really necessary for their purpose?