Concept
The central concept is that robots are programmed to believe that when they die they go to "silicon heaven", even though everyone else believes they just get dismantled. Silicon Heaven can be seen as a parody of the human predisposition to believe in God.
The concept was introduced in the episode "The Last Day", in which Kryten, on learning that he is to be replaced by a more advanced model, tells Lister that he is resigned to his fate as he knows he will receive his reward in Silicon Heaven. Lister's attempts to convince Kryten that Silicon Heaven doesn't really exist meet with no success; although Kryten later tells his replacement, Hudzen 10, that there is no Silicon Heaven, causing Hudzen to break down when he attempts to cope with the idea, he admits to Lister that he only said it to confuse Hudzen, and that his own faith is still strong:
KRYTEN: "He's an android. His brain could not handle the concept of there being no silicon heaven."LISTER: "So how come yours can?"KRYTEN: "Because I knew something he didn't."LISTER: "What?"KRYTEN: "I knew that I was lying. Seriously, sir. 'No silicon heaven'? Where would all of the calculators go?"
Taken from The Last Day, Series III (1989)
Equipment going to Silicon heaven include robots, calculators, toasters and hairdryers. Cheap robots such as skutters are sometimes not fitted with a belief chip due to cost, but Holly and Kryten hang on to the belief.
However, in the later episode "The Inquisitor", Kryten tells Lister that he believes in Silicon heaven. His right knee then starts jiggling, a reflex to lying, suggesting that Lister has shaken his belief. In the books it is revealed that when Holly's intelligence was at its peak he didn't believe in Silicon Heaven, but as his IQ slowly declined his faith became "unshakable". According to the novel Backwards, the concept of Silicon Heaven was eventually replaced with a variant on Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics.
A "Silicon Hell" is also referred to several times in the TV series.
Read more about this topic: Silicon Heaven
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