Stumbling upon science fiction with ‘I, Robot’
When I was growing up, my father had a bookshelf with glass doors. Behind the delicate handles were elegant hardcovers, fairy tale collections with beautiful illustrations and sentimental classics, like “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy he had bought and read back in the 1970s. But he had another bookshelf, a doorless one, that made all its books far more accessible, attainable, but in some ways slightly less alluring.
That case housed mostly thriller, fantasy and science fiction, so I still perused it many times. From there I learned to recognize the names of Stephen King, R.A. Salvatore, Stephen R. Donaldson, Isaac Asimov and Michael Crichton.
Fantasy was a welcome world to me, one that I happily ran towards between the pages of a book, but horror was forbidden by my parents (I was already too much of a scaredy-cat) and science fiction went over my head, so it never quite grasped my interest. After a failed, boring attempt at “Jurassic Park” at the age of 11, I gave up on science fiction. That is, until now. My friend lent me Isaac Asimov’s “I, Robot” (Del Rey, 2008, 256 pages) and since finishing it, I now regret not giving science fiction a second chance sooner.
What began in the 1940s, as a series of sci-fi stories published in magazines, eventually got compiled and published as the book, “I, Robot.” The stories were originally read as stand-alones, but the book adds a framework narrative that connects them: an interview between a reporter and Dr. Susan Calvin. The narrator is the reporter asking questions to Dr. Calvin, and each answer leads to another one of Asimov’s short stories.
The interview takes place sometime in the 2050s or later, but the questions help give a chronological glimpse of this futuristic world, one where humans and robots interact, as they prompt Dr. Calvin to reminisce on the ethical dilemmas and new behaviors that arose in the early stages of robotics. Born in 1982 and earning her “robopsychology” degree in 2008, Dr. Calvin worked as one of the head psychologists of U.S. Robotics and Mechanical Men, Inc. She recounts stories of different robots and the various experiences in her career as a robopsychologist trying to decipher how the robots’ positronic brain functioned or sometimes seemingly malfunctioned.
These stories depict a fascinating interplay and fleshing-out of Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics. One, robots can never harm a human; two, robots must obey human orders; and three, robots must act upon self-preservation. No law can be bypassed, but the binding imperative can be affected by the others. In other words, law three cannot violate one and two, and law two cannot violate one.
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All the stories feature Dr. Calvin, but there are other recurring characters too. A few of them follow Gregory Powell and Mike Donovan, two engineers for U.S. Robots who troubleshoot issues and malfunctions with robots on space stations and elsewhere. Through both lovable and entertaining characters, we’re given more insight into how the Laws of Robotics work, and more interestingly, how that doesn’t always yield positive results. In “Reason,” we see what happens when a robot starts questioning his purpose and his creator, believing that a human wouldn’t have had the intelligence to create a superior being. Powell and Donovan are there in “Runaround” as well, when a loop between the First and Second laws seems to never end.
While all the stories deal with the Three Laws of Robotics, they also depict different types of robots, expanding even more on into this fictional world. For example, “Robbie” is about an earlier, more primitive, robot model who was used as a housemaid. In “Liar!” we meet Herbie, a robot who has telepathic powers, and we see the issues that arise for the people involved. We even touch on more humanoid type robots in “Evidence,” where a politician is accused of being one.
Not only is “I, Robot” entertaining, even humorous at times but each story is also thought-provoking. As artificial intelligence continues to grow more and more prevalent in our own age, books like this prompt questions and futures we don’t always ask ourselves. Although I can’t say I agree with much of Asimov’s implicit value judgments on technological advancements and humanity, it’s definitely given me things to think about and has been, overall, a very enjoyable thought experiment.
Another aspect worth pointing out is the lightness. I had assumed it would be darker and more dystopian, mostly based on a very vague memory of the Will Smith movie; however, I was pleasantly surprised to find it wasn’t. I appreciated reading a fiction that didn’t feel like it had an agenda and was simply an amusing read.
One last note that should be mentioned. It wasn’t until writing this review I discovered my copy, “I, Robot,” wasn’t complete. Apparently, there’s “The Complete Robot” that has even more stories than mine included. However, that version omits the introductory narrative of the reporter and Dr. Susan Calvin, and I really enjoyed that framework. It added a very nice, creative touch to the story, so my suggestion would be to read “I, Robot.” Plus, since it’s less than a third of the complete collection, that may be a good way to try out a sample size. But I have to admit, this book has left me wanting more, and now that I know there is, I’ll be happily heading to my parents’ house soon to raid my dad’s bookshelf.
(Anna Barren is a lifelong lover of books and reading.)
