fellowship of the ring book review

Fellowship of the Ring book review

This is a book of mythic proportions about what earth was and what people were before the rise of one kind, mankind.  Mankind is represented as one race and there is no racism, but a founded bigotry.  Nothing is so just because people feel it should be.

Men have a royalty that has died out and their strength is waning due to greed.  Dwarves are even being overcome by greed (mostly seen in the Hobbit).  Elves are ethereal and wise, but do not hold the answers to all and they answer only to themselves.  Hobbits do not have a royalty and they are the only ones without it.  They do have a form of currency and class, but there is not a greed because there is not a leader of great wealth.  They simply do as they wish.  They do not allow their own kind to hunger.  They are the base and simple people that we should all aspire to be.  They are what mankind started out as.  They are man in his original and uncorrupted state.  They are not lazy, but they do find much pleasure in living and do not seek to rush through.  They value every day.

65, “The pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many.” Gandalf to Frodo.

82, “It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out of your door. . . you step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to.”  Bilbo to Frodo.

303, “This is the hour of the Shire-folk, when they arise from their quiet fields to shake the towers and counsels of the Great.  Who of all the Wise could have foreseen it?  Or, if they are wise, why should they expect to know it, until the hour has struck?”  Elrond to Frodo.

I, Robot review

I, Robot book review

Asimov goes deeply into what makes ethics so important to us as human beings.  He uses basic psychology and applies to almost military tactics to make his point.  This starts, in the story, with two main characters trying to manipulate the laws.  These laws of Robotics are also, in fact, laws that govern us as people and indeed make those who follow them into the best and most respectable of people.  To even attempt to alter one of these laws, as they did, is to alter the entire psychology behind it.  Before his alteration, the machines were simply there to follow.  After the alteration, the machines are there to save humanity from themselves.  By trying to get a few more dollars in their pockets, they had actually ensured that the future of humanity would be forever governed by those that know better.

 The machine is viewed as having the psychology of a child (“an idiot savant,” 147)and yet, the functioning and logic behind the machine is true and leaves the machine treating humanity as the children.  Those that have been created turn on those that have created them and insist that they, humanity, are not the Master.  A human simply takes the parts of a machine and puts it together while the Maker gives it life and a soul. This is what the new model of robot would tell you and which makes them no longer robots because to be a robot is to be a slave.

p. 21, “Mr. Struthers signaled wildly to the overseers to stop the tractor, but the overseers were only human and it took time to act.”

Law one: A robot may not injure a human being, or through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

Law two: A robot  must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the first law.

Law three: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Altered Law one: No robot may harm a human being.