I, Robot

I, Robot is the title of a "book" by science fiction master Isaac Asimov. Although not written as a "book", it is a collection of short stories that he wrote from 1941 to 1950. It was tied together as a "book" with the short stories being told in the form of recollections from Dr. Susan Calvin, a robot psychologist with the fictional U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men, Inc., who is narrating stories about her career to an interviewer.

As you have correctly surmised, these stories are about robots. In writing about robots, Dr. Asimov made it clear that they are subject to The Three Laws of Robotics. These Laws are:

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 the orders given to it by human beings except where such order 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 Three Laws of Robotics start out the novel, so that the reader instantly knows that he's not going to be reading about where a bunch of mechanical Frankenstein monsters end up taking over the earth. What happens instead is a series of situations as the robots progressively develop from non-speaking models to those that speak, to those that have reasoning capabilities, and there's even one robot that has the ability to read minds.

As the robots are progressing into newer and better models, mankind itself is progressing. We see the human race begin their conquest of space. Two characters, Greg Powell and Mike Donovan, are field testing the newer models as they work on the planet Mercury, later on a space station, and Dr. Calvin herself travels to Hyper Base, which we deduce is on an asteroid where scientists and engineers are developing the hyperatomic drive so that mankind's dream of interstellar travel can be realized. Later on, the hyperspace barrier is broken, and travel to distant star systems is made possible faster than the speed of light.

As the end of the book draws near, there is the suggestion that a robot who looks exactly like a human being has been constructed and runs for political office. This character goes on to play a key role in the final chapter, a story called "The Evitable Conflict". At this time, super machines have been created to help with the administration of Earth's resources. The Three Laws, which were put into place to prevent the robots from taking over, have prevented them from taking over........or have they?

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I first read I, Robot back in 1976, during my senior year of high school. It was one of the required reading novels assigned to me in an English class. I enjoyed reading this back then, I enjoyed it again last year, and even though I know the stories I know that I would find this book to be good reading if I were to pick it up again today.

As for why I read this fairly recently, it's due to a renewed interest in the books that Isaac Asimov wrote. He's known for his "Foundation" series of novels, which I read in my first year in college, and I recently decided that I wanted to re-read them. Having lost my copies of these books in one of my moves, it was necessary to re-purchase them, but while at the bookstore I learned then that he wrote more "Foundation" novels. I picked up Prelude to Foundation, found it to be a good read, and learned thru the book (and thru some online research) that Dr. Asimov decided to tie the "Robot" novels, the "Galactic Empire" novels and the "Foundation" novels into the same "universe". After reading Prelude to Foundation, I realized that I could have several hours of entertainment by reading the whole shebang of novels......of which the starting point is I, Robot.

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By the way, more robot stories, including those found in I, Robot can be found in Robot Visions. Robot Visions also includes several essays by Dr. Asimov in which he explained why he felt it necessary to include The Three Laws.

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Two weekends from now Lynette and I will be in Wisconsin. We are making a side trip to Iowa so that I can visit with Marge and Tony.

We're going to be gone for ten days. I will be bringing my laptop and checking email as time permits, and if I can, I might post some updates on what we're doing. I expect that visiting with her relatives and getting to know them will take up most of our time.

I'm not sure if there will be many opportunities to play "tourist". I do like to explore, and I'm especially fascinated with going to places that I've never gone to before. I have been to the state capitol building in Madison, and I've been to downtown Chicago. I wouldn't mind seeing the state capitol again but I can't think of a reason to see Chicago aside from visiting the eastern terminus of the old US 66 (I've been interested in highway history as of late).

It would be neat to see the circus museum in Baraboo, and I've heard about a mustard museum somewhere in southern Wisconsin, but I think that family has priority, and to be honest, I need to make the most of my opportunity in getting to know them.

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That is going to be it for this evening. I'm currently reading The Stars, Like Dust, also by Isaac Asimov, and it's a hard one to put down.