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.
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