I, Robot: A Classic Science Fiction Short Story Collection by Isaac Asimov - A Book Review
I, Robot by Isaac Asimov is a collection of science fiction short stories. Although the stories are independent, they all share a common theme: how humans and robots interact, and most importantly, Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics.
Book Review: I, Robot by Isaac Asimov (Robot Series - Short Stories)
I first read this book years ago after watching the movie with the same name, I, Robot (2004). I found that there was not much connection between the book and the movie, except for the main theme. This is the second time I have read the book, and I did so because Asimov's Foundation series sequels mention robots and a world with robots. They also mention how humanity spread across the galaxy with the help of robots. However, the robots eventually disappeared.
In the Galactic Empire and during the Foundation rule, no one even knows that robots existed. How can such a technologically superior thing become extinct? Why don't humans use them anymore and forget about them completely? This is what makes the Foundation sequels so interesting and makes the reader want to find the answers to these questions.
Read more about Asimov’s Foundation Series’ sequels:
Book Review: Foundation’s Edge by Isaac Asimov (Foundation Series - Book 4)
In the Galactic Empire and during the Foundation rule, no one even knows that robots existed. How can such a technologically superior thing become extinct? Why don't humans use them anymore and forget about them completely? This is what makes the Foundation sequels so interesting and makes the reader want to find the answers to these questions.
Read more about Asimov’s Foundation Series’ sequels:
Book Review: Foundation’s Edge by Isaac Asimov (Foundation Series - Book 4)
Book Review: Foundation and Earth by Isaac Asimov (Foundation Series - Book 5)
At the beginning of the book, we are introduced to Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics. The book and most of the short stories are tightly related to these laws. The stories constantly reference them, and without them, it would be difficult to understand what the robots are doing and why. These are the rules that were first put into positronic brains. So here they are:
The short stories in the book are:
The book starts with an “Introduction” chapter, where we see Dr. Susan Calvin, a robopsychologist, while she is retiring. A reporter is trying to get some interesting stories from her. These are the words how the book introduces us to Dr. Calvin:
In Susan Calvin's world, robots are commonly used. But she can still remember a world without robots. For her, robots are not just pieces of metal or parts. They mean more to her. That's why she says:
By the way, the reporter says, "The Interplanetary Press reaches the entire Solar System." This means that humanity has already spread across the Solar System. Soon, they will also settle across the Galaxy.
Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics
At the beginning of the book, we are introduced to Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics. The book and most of the short stories are tightly related to these laws. The stories constantly reference them, and without them, it would be difficult to understand what the robots are doing and why. These are the rules that were first put into positronic brains. So here they are:
First Law
A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
Second Law
A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
Third Law
A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.
Handbook of Robotics, 56th Edition, 2058 A.D.
Asimov’s Robot Series and Robot Short Stories
The book starts when a reporter comes to interview Dr. Susan Calvin, the first robopsychologist at U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men. We see her in most of the stories, and she tells the reporter some unique stories about robots.
Other main characters in the book are Gregory Powell and Mike Donovan, a team of field testers who always encounter interesting robot cases when testing new robots. Robots are forbidden on Earth, so they mostly test them on other planets or in space.
Other characters we see are Dr. Alfred J. Lanning, the Director of Research at U.S. Robots, and Peter Bogert, the mathematician.
The short stories in the book are:
- Robbie
- Runaround
- Reason
- Catch That Rabbit
- Liar!
- Little Lost Robot
- Escape!
- Evidence
The book starts with an “Introduction” chapter, where we see Dr. Susan Calvin, a robopsychologist, while she is retiring. A reporter is trying to get some interesting stories from her. These are the words how the book introduces us to Dr. Calvin:
“She learned to calculate the parameters necessary to fix the possible variables within the “positronic brain”; to construct “brains” on paper such that the responses to given stimuli could be accurately predicted.
“In 2008, she obtained her Ph.D. and joined United States Robots as a “Robopsychologist,” becoming the first great practitioner of a new science. Lawrence Robertson was still president of the corporation; Alfred Lanning had become director of research.”
In Susan Calvin's world, robots are commonly used. But she can still remember a world without robots. For her, robots are not just pieces of metal or parts. They mean more to her. That's why she says:
“Then you don’t remember a world without robots. There was a time when humanity faced the universe alone and without a friend. Now he has creatures to help him; stronger creatures than himself, more faithful, more useful, and absolutely devoted to him. Mankind is no longer alone. Have you ever thought of it that way?”
“To you, a robot is a robot. Gears and metal; electricity and positrons. Mind and iron! Human-made! If necessary, human-destroyed! But you haven’t worked with them, so you don’t know them. They’re a cleaner, better breed than we are.”
By the way, the reporter says, "The Interplanetary Press reaches the entire Solar System." This means that humanity has already spread across the Solar System. Soon, they will also settle across the Galaxy.
Related post: Book Review: Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov (Robot Series - Novel 1)
As Asimov mentions robots in his Foundation series, he also mentions the future of humanity in this book when he says, “And then -- U.S. Robots has interstellar travel, and humanity has the opportunity for galactic empire.”
I, Robot
by Isaac Asimov
Robot Series - Short Stories
Gnome Press
1950
253 pages.
Genre: Science fiction / short stories / book series / space
The Power of Love: A Robot and a Little Girl's Unbreakable Bond
"Robbie" is a very touching short story. It shows how a nanny robot and a little girl can bond with each other. Even when the girl's parents send the robot away, she will keep looking for it. And when she finds it, she is overjoyed.
“Gloria had a grip about the robot’s neck that would have asphyxiated any creature but one of metal, and was prattling nonsense in half-hysterical frenzy. Robbie’s chrome-steel arms (capable of bending a bar of steel two inches in diameter into a pretzel) wound about the little girl gently and lovingly, and his eyes glowed a deep, deep red.”
The Robot Who Thought It Was Better than Humans
Imagine that humans made a robot. But when the robot compares itself to humans, it might think that robots are better and superior to humans. The robot in the short story "Reason" thinks like this:“Look at you,” he said finally. “I say this in no spirit of contempt, but look at you! The material you are made of is soft and flabby, lacking endurance and strength, depending for energy upon the inefficient oxidation of organic material -- like that.” He pointed a disapproving finger at what remained of Donovan’s sandwich. “Periodically you pass into a coma and the least variation in temperature, air pressure, humidity, or radiation intensity impairs your efficiency. You are makeshift.
“I, on the other hand, am a finished product. I absorb electrical energy directly and utilize it with an almost one hundred percent efficiency. I am composed of strong metal, am continuously conscious, and can stand extremes of environment easily. These are facts which, with the self-evident proposition that no being can create another being superior to itself, smashes your silly hypothesis to nothing.”
Little Lost Robot
Consider the quote above and try to answer this question: If a robot is better than a human in all ways possible, why will it obey humans? Why can't it say "I would prefer not to" to all commands from humans? Like in the short story "Bartleby, the Scrivener" by Herman Melville. The answer is again in the laws of robotics:“All normal life, Peter, consciously or otherwise, resents domination. If the domination is by an inferior, or by a supposed inferior, the resentment becomes stronger. Physically, and, to an extent, mentally, a robot -- any robot -- is superior to human beings. What makes him slavish, then? Only the First Law! Why, without it, the first order you tried to give a robot would result in your death.”
"Escape!": Short Story About The Birth of Interstellar Travel
In this story, Asimov lays the foundation for how humanity could escape the limits of their solar system. The story is about how people discovered hyperspace travel, which is essential for space travel to other systems and the establishment of a galactic empire. Robots, especially a supercomputer with a positronic brain at U.S. Robots, helped people to discover hyperspace travel. And who do you think were the first people to test the first hyperspace ship? As I mentioned above, Gregory Powell and Mike Donovan, as a team, always test everything first.“And Powell pointed a trembling finger at the single gauge. The needle stood stiff and proud at the hairline whose figure read 300,000 parsecs.
Powell said, “Mike if it’s true, we must be out of the Galaxy altogether.”
Donovan said, “Blazed Greg! We’d be the first men out of the Solar System.”
“Yes! That’s just it. We’ve escaped the sun. We’ve escaped the Galaxy. Mike, this ship is the answer. It means freedom for all humanity -- freedom to spread through to every star that exists -- millions and billions and trillions of them.”
As Asimov mentions robots in his Foundation series, he also mentions the future of humanity in this book when he says, “And then -- U.S. Robots has interstellar travel, and humanity has the opportunity for galactic empire.”
by Isaac Asimov
Robot Series - Short Stories
Gnome Press
1950
253 pages.
Genre: Science fiction / short stories / book series / space
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