All of these words are commonplace in Aldiss' future. He writes of a future where people are aided by robots that are more functional than anything else. Anything you can think of a housekeeper doing, a robot could do instead, except perhaps making critical mistakes.
 

If David is what we can expect of a humanoid robot with problems, future robots can bring humans as close to an artificial being as to a real human. David and Teddy both have some concept of reality. David questions his own existence, to which the bear replies "'You and I are real, David.' It specialized in comfort." Teddy seems incapable of discerning its own existence in relation to biological beings.

Throughout the short story David questions how he can tell Mummy he loves her. At the same time, Monica questions why she cannot act as a normal mother to David and hold her as a son. She asks herself, "Why waste time talking to this machine? Why not simply go upstairs and scoop David into her arms and talk to him, as a loving mother should a loving son?" With a computer for a brain, David could easily be programmed for some basic response about love, but he doesn't act in such a way. He is capable of contemplating a mother's love for himself, and questioning some of the fundamentals humans currently ask today. David's questions are left incompletely answered, leaving this robot wondering about the basic questions of existence.