I, Robot

By Isaac Asimov

I, Robot was published by Isaac Asimov in 1950. It's a collection of short stories held together by a frame story. The stories are more tightly coupled than the stories in many other similar works, such as Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man or Martian Chronicles , but they are loosely coupled enough to stand on their own. One of the stories, in fact, I read in a Fantasy and Science Fiction class in high school without even knowing it was part of a larger body of work. I suspect that Asimov published at least some of the stories in magazines before collecting them together into the book. Many of the stories share characters, so they may have been part of a series, or perhaps he just liked reusing the characters.

Despite the title, no story is ever told from the perspective of a robot. All stories, except the frame story, are told as third-person narratives. The frame story is told from the first-person perspective, and is of a reporter interviewing the elderly head of the United States Robots and Mechanical Men Corporation. The frame story itself is not particularly interesting, and serves only to hold the disparate stories together.

I, Robot was published in 1950, and many of the stories that make up its content were probably written years before. Given that it was written so long ago, one has to overlook the specifications Asimov gives for his robots given the technological progress since this work's origin. For example, Asimov's robots are all analog devices, full of vacuum tubes and wires. To add a feature to a robot, such as the ability to talk, requires replacing the entire robot, not just adding a module or component.

Asimov's robots are the stereotypical humanoid variety that have populated science fiction stories for decades. Some are enormous—over seven feet tall sitting on the floor—while some are human sized. Asimov doesn't go into great detail describing the robots in his stories, which is a good thing. But he sprinkles descriptions of them throughout his story, just enough needed to advance the plot. With much more detail, this work would have felt even more antiquated than it already does.

Asimov was a little too optimistic in his predictions of the widespread adoption of robots. Many of the stories take place in our recent past (2002 or so), but we still don't have anything like Asimov describes in his book. His robots respond to verbal commands, but we're still having trouble getting simple PCs to understand spoken commands! Some of his stories take place in the near future, however (around 2050). So maybe we'll catch up by then.

In this book, Asimov advances his now famous Three Laws of Robotics. These are the three guiding principles that any robot must obey before it can be put into operation. The laws are hierarchical: the first law overrides the second, and the second the third. He repeats them often in the book. They 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 orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders 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.

The stories aren't really about the robots at all, but are more philosophical musings on how and what can go wrong with robots as they attempt to interpret the laws given various situations. In some cases, these situations lead to humans being in moral peril. In others, it drives the robots insane. In any case, most of the stories are thought-provoking and interesting.

Asimov also introduces the mechanism that allows robots to "think" in this book.  Asimov calls the device a "positronic brain."  He doesn't go into details about how it works, save that one cannot be constructed unless it follows the three laws of robotics.  There is some sort of physical or logical limitation that prevents its construction unless it follows the three laws.  I had heard positronic brains referred to before in science fiction (such as in Star Trek ), but had no idea this is where the idea originated.

Asimov's overriding message for this work, and especially the last story, is once you start using technology, you begin to rely on it. And once you rely on it, you can't live without it. I believe it. I can't imagine a world now without the Internet or personal computers. Can anyone? It would be a cold, dark place...

All in all this was a tolerable read (or listen, I heard the audio CD version). The writing may be a little slow for modern audiences, but I didn't dislike it. The last story is rather, well, pointless, except to deliver the above mentioned message. But most of the stories are interesting as the characters puzzle out what the heck is wrong with the robots this time.