Professor Peel Comments on 'A Logic Named Joe,' 1946 Sci-Fi Short

THE REGISTER -- Ellen Peel, professor of English and Comparative Literature at San Francisco State University, noted that Joe, by design, is never truly portrayed as a villain or menacing figure, as machines are so often viewed in more dystopian works of science fiction. “It’s often interesting to look at the names (or the lack thereof) for robots and other constructed bodies,” Peel told The Register. “By giving the logic a name, the narrator makes it less threatening. Since the name is a human, common, and informal one, it’s even less threatening.”