Final answer:
The portrayal of lower caste workers as robot-like in the elevator episode underscores their dehumanization in the industrial capitalist system, where they function mechanically, stripping them of individuality and humanity, echoed in science fiction narratives.
Step-by-step explanation:
The episode in the elevator that depicts the robot-like characteristics of lower caste workers illustrates how modern industry has transformed human laborers into mechanized entities. With the growth of industrial capitalism, workers become parts of a vast machinery, losing their individuality and subject to a stringent hierarchy akin to that of soldiers in an army. They are not only at the mercy of their bourgeois employers but also bound by the mechanical and repetitive nature of their tasks, mirroring the unthinking, programmed behavior of machines or robots.
Science fiction has often explored the concept of androids being mistaken for humans due to their sophisticated design, raising ethical debates, such as the Data Controversy over Rights in 'Star Trek: The Next Generation.' This mirrors the concern that when humans are reduced to mere cogs in a capitalist machine, they are stripped of their human qualities and rights. The portrayals of lower caste workers as robot-like highlight the dehumanizing effects of such an industrial system, as seen in the provided text and the analogy of a worker's brain being analogous to feeling fingers tasked with laborious work; a metaphor for the extreme sensitivity and potential suffering engendered by such roles.