I, Robot (Robot, #0.1) in Building a SciFi/Fantasy Library

Mar 06, 2009 Amy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: read-in-2009, science-fiction

I liked the way this collection of short stories were framed as recollections from Dr. Calvin after a long life. The stories progressed from more primitive robots to some advanced enough to be intriguing.

Robbie: A robot serves as a child's playmate and loves to tell stories. In this story, Robbie seems to have as much affection for Gloria as she does for him. This is presumed to be a case of Robbie being compelled to obey the first law of robotics. Can love and affection be distilled down into a I liked the way this collection of short stories were framed as recollections from Dr. Calvin after a long life. The stories progressed from more primitive robots to some advanced enough to be intriguing.

Robbie: A robot serves as a child's playmate and loves to tell stories. In this story, Robbie seems to have as much affection for Gloria as she does for him. This is presumed to be a case of Robbie being compelled to obey the first law of robotics. Can love and affection be distilled down into a simple statement to be programmed into a robot? At the end of the story, it is implied that Robbie lives with Gloria until finally she outgrows him. This also points to something implicitly troubling - is it moral to create something with the capability to think and have the relationship be one-way? The Robot has allegiance to humans programmed in - over self-preservation!

Runaround: This story shows what happens when two laws are in conflict - they come to an equilibrium, and the robot literally ends up going in circles - the radius of the circle determined by the equilibrium point! At this point, robotics is a logic/engineering challenge. In this story (and other early stories) the nicknames of the robots are derived from their serial numbers - SPD 13 becomes "Speedy". Kind of clever.

Reason: This is a hilarious story and one of my favorites. A robot (QT-1 or Cutie) does not believe he was created by humans. Trying to use his brain to figure out his origin, he determines that the humans are a lower life form created by his Master - he is the perfected product, making the humans obsolete! His "Master" is the solar station designed to transmit power from the sun to distant planets. The two humans debate trying to overcome his beliefs - when they discover that 1) his beliefs have no bearing on his ability to do his job and 2) the first rule is still intact, they decide to let him live with his delusional religion.

Catch That Rabbit: DV-5 (Dave) is a robot designed to control six subsidiary robots. He functions perfectly when watched by humans, but as soon as he's left unsupervised, he's got his robots marching in drill-like formations. If unaware of the laws of robotics, the technicians would assume he was plotting some sort of uprising. Eventually, it is determined that Dave functions fine except when danger causes him to give orders to all six robots at the same time. This causes Dave to overload and go 'crazy.' Again, this shows that human logic is superior to the robots at this point.

Liar: I had to read this story twice. A robot is accidentally created who can read human minds. Herbie (RB-3) reads people's minds - and then, because the first law prevents him from hurting them, he tells them exactly what they want to hear. Dr. Susan Calvin, a plain, 40ish robo-psychologist, has a crush on a younger coworker. Herbie convinces her that her feelings are returned. When the ugly truth is finally revealed, Dr. Calvin intentionally drives Herbie insane. Two things disturbed me about this story. One is the portrayal of Dr. Calvin as an unfulfilled plain woman. Cracks were made about her inexpert application of makeup. The old stereotype that a woman can't be feminine and successful at the same time.
The second is the deliberate cruelty Dr. Calvin employs in destroying Herbie. She has a tendency to trust robots above human; if she is anthropomorphizing Herbie, than it is completely unacceptable for her to deliberately destroy him while she is enraged. And if she is remembering that he is a robot, she should put him out of commission in a less vindictive fashion. The story uses a robot to expose weaknesses in human nature.

Little Lost Robot: This story was one of the most amusing to me. A number of Nestor (NS-2) robots have been created with a modified first law. They are designed to allow humans to take expose themselves to harm in an important physics experiment. This is all top-secret. One of the Nestors is told by a young scientist to go lose himself, after getting royally cursed out. The Nestor does. He hides in a cargo ship containing 62 other Nestors destined for sale elsewhere - these 62 all have an intact first law. The hidden Nestor is a possible danger and must be discovered. The scientists use several rounds of tricks before finally getting the Nestor to expose himself.

Escape: Two rival robot companies. The race to develop interstellar space travel. Two powerful robot thinking brains. One destroys itself solving the problem - another is successful, only because instructed to not worry about the death of humans. Turns out, humans die briefly but are resurrected during interstellar travel.

Evidence: Robots have evolved to the point where it is conceivable possible that a robot could masquerade as a human. One lawyer running for political office is accused of being a robot. This story discusses this kind of charge and the possible defenses.

The Evitable Conflict: The most chilling story in the book was saved for last. Four powerful brains control all economic activity on earth. They each control a region. Lately, some indicators have been slightly off in each region. Is something wrong with the robot brains? Or are the humans disregarding the instructions of the brains? Turns out, the brains know what is best for humans. They are actually intentionally messing things up, to expose members of a conservative group opposed to robots having so much power....The robots know what is best. They will control things to provide what is best for humans. Just do what the robots say and everything will be all right....

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Sep 05, 2007 Tracey rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, re-read

I'd wanted to re-read I, Robot this summer, before seeing the only-tangentially-related movie, but some SOB stole/lost the library's copy & the only copies I could find locally had Will Smith's smug face all over them.

I found a lovely hardback edition with an artsy dust cover still intact at the used bookstore last weekend & restrained myself from devouring the short story collection in one gulp. While I found that I remembered the majority of the denouements, (with poor Donovan & Powell bearing ...more

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