Book report: I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov
This book is a collection of tales about robot behavior. Asimov, anticipating a time when autonomous and intelligent robots would have to coexist with human beings, created his three laws of robotics: a robot must not cause or allow harm to a human, a robot must obey a human (except if it involves harming a human), and a robot must preserve its own existence (except where that conflicts with the previous two laws). These laws have been elevated to science fiction canon, and are often quoted and used in other works by other authors.
Each story involves robots acting in unexpected ways, and people trying to figure out why the robots are acting the way they are, and setting things right, if possible. They are all good stories, written as clever mysteries, and are well told.
But Asimov’s genius goes way beyond creating a world, and its rules, and strange situations in it, and telling entertaining stories about it. His genius is in recognizing that behavior governed by iron-clad rules would still be unpredictable. The three laws do not *determine* behavior, but only *limit* behavior. Like the bumpers on a pool table, a lot of complicated and astonishing stuff can go on within those limits.
This is not news in the world of physics. For example, physics has its three laws of motion (hmmm!), which completely describe what an object does. However, even for a situation as simple as three objects interacting by gravity (like the sun, earth, and moon), it is impossible to predict exactly what the resulting motion will be. This is called the “three body problem”.
What Asimov has done is move that kind of inherent unpredictability from the world of physics to the world of psychology. Because, let’s be honest here, his stories aren’t really about robots, are they? People aren’t that interested in why robots act wacky, but in why people act wacky. But, by placing tales about behavior in a world of robots and laws, Asimov can explore why people act the way that they do.
This is not the only place where Asimov does this. His “Foundation” series of stories is based on the idea that there is a set of mathematical laws of psychology – what he calls psychohistory – that allow the understanding and prediction –and possibly manipulation – of the behavior of societies. For a scientist – heck, for anybody – it is very compelling to contemplate the possibility of laws that govern behavior. But, as I say, Asimov goes beyond this, recognizing the possibility of unpredictability even within the constraints of those laws.
In some ways, Asimov is strangely ahead of his time in these stories. The main character in most of them is Dr. Susan Calvin, a brilliant expert on robot psychology. Considering that these stories were written in the 1940s, that’s a pretty socially modern casting decision to make. Yet, the robots themselves are implicitly all males, and are referred to as mechanical men.
By the way, the movie of the same name does not tell the tales told in the book. The movie takes place in the world that the tales created, with the robots, the three laws, and so forth. The plot is also a mystery: could a robot have murdered a person and, if so, how and why? Asimov worshippers won’t like the movie, because it strays too far from the book, but I like it a lot. The best line in it might be “Yeah” when a robot gets a real surprise from a human. We can be unpredictable, too!
Book: Recommended
Movie: Recommended
This book is a collection of tales about robot behavior. Asimov, anticipating a time when autonomous and intelligent robots would have to coexist with human beings, created his three laws of robotics: a robot must not cause or allow harm to a human, a robot must obey a human (except if it involves harming a human), and a robot must preserve its own existence (except where that conflicts with the previous two laws). These laws have been elevated to science fiction canon, and are often quoted and used in other works by other authors.
Each story involves robots acting in unexpected ways, and people trying to figure out why the robots are acting the way they are, and setting things right, if possible. They are all good stories, written as clever mysteries, and are well told.
But Asimov’s genius goes way beyond creating a world, and its rules, and strange situations in it, and telling entertaining stories about it. His genius is in recognizing that behavior governed by iron-clad rules would still be unpredictable. The three laws do not *determine* behavior, but only *limit* behavior. Like the bumpers on a pool table, a lot of complicated and astonishing stuff can go on within those limits.
This is not news in the world of physics. For example, physics has its three laws of motion (hmmm!), which completely describe what an object does. However, even for a situation as simple as three objects interacting by gravity (like the sun, earth, and moon), it is impossible to predict exactly what the resulting motion will be. This is called the “three body problem”.
What Asimov has done is move that kind of inherent unpredictability from the world of physics to the world of psychology. Because, let’s be honest here, his stories aren’t really about robots, are they? People aren’t that interested in why robots act wacky, but in why people act wacky. But, by placing tales about behavior in a world of robots and laws, Asimov can explore why people act the way that they do.
This is not the only place where Asimov does this. His “Foundation” series of stories is based on the idea that there is a set of mathematical laws of psychology – what he calls psychohistory – that allow the understanding and prediction –and possibly manipulation – of the behavior of societies. For a scientist – heck, for anybody – it is very compelling to contemplate the possibility of laws that govern behavior. But, as I say, Asimov goes beyond this, recognizing the possibility of unpredictability even within the constraints of those laws.
In some ways, Asimov is strangely ahead of his time in these stories. The main character in most of them is Dr. Susan Calvin, a brilliant expert on robot psychology. Considering that these stories were written in the 1940s, that’s a pretty socially modern casting decision to make. Yet, the robots themselves are implicitly all males, and are referred to as mechanical men.
By the way, the movie of the same name does not tell the tales told in the book. The movie takes place in the world that the tales created, with the robots, the three laws, and so forth. The plot is also a mystery: could a robot have murdered a person and, if so, how and why? Asimov worshippers won’t like the movie, because it strays too far from the book, but I like it a lot. The best line in it might be “Yeah” when a robot gets a real surprise from a human. We can be unpredictable, too!
Book: Recommended
Movie: Recommended
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