I think I'd mentioned before that I had read a fair amount of science fiction in my youth, although I really didn't read much outside the major authors - Heinlein, Bradbury, Herbert, and of course Isaac Asimov. I was fascinated by his Foundation Trilogy, especially the phony science of psychohistory, which allowed Hari Seldon to predict mankind's future through a melding of history, sociology and statistics. Asimov had two other series, The Galactic Empire novels and the Robot novels, neither of which I ever got around to reading. Although written later, The Galactic Empire books are a prelude to the Foundation series, chronicling the empire whose knowledge and culture the Foundation was an attempt to preserve. In the 80s, Asimov wrote two sequels to Foundation which tie in his Robot series. These books, combined with some other prequels, create a vast 15 volume set that covers thousands of years of galactic history. Asimov was even good enough to create a recommended reading order, a copy of which can be found here:
I stumbled across this list a few weeks ago and decided to tackle the first book, I, Robot. I doubt I'll get to the rest of them anytime soon, but this will make 6 of the fifteen that I have already read.
Book 21 - I, Robot - Isaac Asimov
For those of you who are wondering, aside from a few character names and the Robotic Laws, Will Smith's movie bears little resemblance to Asimov's book. First off, I, Robot, is not a novel but rather a collection of short stories originally published in Science Fiction magazines, which Asimov stitched together with an interview with the fictional Dr. Susan Calvin. Calvin, a renowned robopsychologist and an old woman at the time of the interview, is recounting stories of her lifelong career in the development of robot technology. These robots, which were produced starting in the 1980s (it's always fun when you read a fiction story set in a future that is already the past), have varying degrees of artificial intelligence - some are designed to perform very specific menial tasks, some have more general capabilities, and still others are designed to be purely thinking machines, but they all share one thing in common, the three rules of robotics:
1) A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2) A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
These laws form a moral code for the Robots, and are instilled in the brains of every robot that is manufactured. It is against the law to have a robot that does not have these three laws ingrained into its artificial psyche. The laws also provide Asimov with a framework on which to hang a variety of logic puzzles based on the interplay between them. The balance and order of these laws are key. In one story, the third law is strengthened on a particular robot because it is new technology and they don't wish it to be destroyed, but this causes an imbalance between self-preservation and following orders that renders the robot unable to function correctly. In another story, the second half of the first law is disabled for robots that have to work in situations where humans are deliberately putting themselves in harms way, so that the robots don't stop the humans from doing their jobs. As was stated earlier, this is highly illegal, and when one of these robots goes missing, a desperate "manhunt" ensues, not only because of the legal repercussions, but also because of the potential dangerous results that occur from not having the second part of the law in place.
While all of this sounds very "geeky", there is a surprisingly human element to all these stories, and the explorations of the robot psyche seem to apply to humans as well. In "Liar!" an anomaly creates a robot with psychic abilities, however when queried by various researchers about what their colleagues' secrets, the robot is forced to lie to them because the truth would hurt them, and therefore violate the first law. In "Robbie" a young human girl forms a loving bond with her nursemaid robot. In "Evidence," several scientists are tasked with trying to prove that a particular individual running for public office is really a robot. This proves difficult without a medical exam, and probable cause is needed for such an exam. It is suggested that if he were to violate one of the laws, that would be a giveaway. However being good human being behaving with high moral standards (i.e. following the "Golden Rule") would be indistinguishable from a robot adhering to the laws.
Look, I know science fiction isn't everybody's cup of tea. Heck, even I don't read that much of it anymore, although I still enjoy an episode of Star Trek or Babylon 5 from time-to-time. Asimov is one of the greats though, and while I'm not sure if I'd categorize this as his best work, it is still classic and worth reading. However, if you were only going to read one Asimov book, you might opt for Foundation instead.
BTW - Speaking of Star Trek, although Gene Roddenberry chose to use the more specific term android rather than robot to refer to the artificial life form known as Lt. Commander Data on the "Next Generation" series, he used Asimov's coined term "positronic," to refer to the circuitry of the android's brain, and Data seems to be governed by a moral code similar to the Laws of Robotics.
Geez, I'm a nerd!
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