I, Blogger …

You know, something I didn’t realise, when I was putting together the teaser questions for yesterday, was the fact April the 6th was the day influential science fiction writer, Doctor Isaac Asimov died.

Now, beyond “I, Robot” and “The Rest of the Robots”, I’ve not actually read any of his stuff.   That’s something I’ll probably have to remedy.

That’ll be a long job; according to his entry on Wikipedia, the late Dr Asimov had at least one book published in nine of the ten major categories in the Dewey Decimal system.

Which is a mind boggling piece of info!

But I also know that 61 words of his have always stuck in my mind since I read “I, Robot”; The Three Laws of Robotics.   

And they’re significant simply because it introduced one breathtakingly simple thing into science fiction.   The idea that any future device, no matter how strange, advanced, what-have-you, would have something in common with technological devices, today.

Safety features.

A knife has a handle.   So does a sword.

A car’s brakes and ignition keys are pretty important.

And we get taught, as children, to look both ways, before crossing the road.

We get told how best to keep ourselves secure on-line.

From the little I know, Isaac Asimov  — annoyed at the huge numbers of bad Frankenstein variations that most Robot stories were when he started writing, and qualified biochemist and scientist that he was — got both logical, and quietly revolutionary, when he wrote them.   (Just as a sub point, his short story, “Liar” — one of the shorts featured in “I, Robot” — is also the earliest recorded use of the word ‘robotics’.)

But, here, here’s the Laws, themselves.

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.

Mind you, looking at them now, I wonder how many computer literate friends of mine would be looking at the Second Law, and wondering how to set up a super-user account on Lieutenent Commander Data …

There’s been variations, over the years; – including a Zeroth Law, added by Doctor Asimov, himself, and articulated by Doctor Susan Calvin, in another of the short stories in “I Robot”, called “The Evitable Conflict”, and some that redefined the word ‘human’

At any rate, the basic form of the Three Laws has stuck in my mind for years; and in the minds of many others.   But click on the title of this post.   You can browse through his home-page, FAQ, andWikipedia entry, yourself.    Those can articulate it much better than I.

Enjoy!