| From where
did the concept of the robot come? |
|
Four different
meanings for the robot within s/f narrative:
- the robot
is a metaphor for the human enslaved by mechanization
[1]
- the robot
is a rival to the human [2]
- the story
of robots run amok [3].
- robot as
friend, partner, and a complex agent with rights
[4]: e.g. "Robbie"
|
|
Intellectual
Contexts 
- Alan
Turing: cracking the Enigma code; the Turing Game
- Norbert
Weiner: the cybernetic turn: from machines to information
- the computer
intelligence and human intelligence
- the robot,
Elektric and his dog, Sparky, are featured at the 1929
New York World's Fair (look how big this robot is!)
|
|
Isaac Asimov
(1920-1992)
- Asimov
is born in Russia, arrives in Brooklyn at age 3, and has
unlimited access to s/f because his father owns a candy
store
- writes
all but one of the I, Robot stories for John Campell,
the editor of Astounding Stories
- make the
scientific strata of his fiction up to date and rigorous
- balances
essential optimism about the advance of modern science
against a pessimism about the directions of social life
|
The basic elements
of the I, Robot stories
- anomalous
robot behavior: a problem to solve
- understand
things from teh robot's point of view
- humans
and robots: an essential social relationship
- novem:
"positronic brain" and 3 laws
|
|
The Three
Laws of Robotics (first developed for "Liar")
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 the orders given 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.
- recursive
and embedded
- institutes
operational hiearchy
- in application,
how does one balance these laws?
|
| "Roundabout"
(1942) and the endless loop |
| "Reason"
(1941) robot independence, and the question of superiority
|
| "Liar" (1941):
robot kindness and human anger |
|
I,
Robot: questions for discussion in section and next lecture
|
|
"Robbie"
(1940): what does Gloria's response to Robbie suggest
about robots?
|
|
"Runaround"
(1942): what does Speedy getting caught between the
conflicting imperatives (obeying and self-preservation)
suggest about the tension between a software programming
ideal and real world implementation?
|
|
"Reason"
(1941) : what does this story, and its display of
Cutie's reasoning powers, suggest about reason as
humans practice it?
|
|
"Catch
That Rabbit" (1944): what does this story suggest
about the dangers implicit in giving one agent (here
Dave) absolute power over his subordinates?
|
|
"Liar!"(1941):
what are the unintended consequences of a robot like
Herbie gaining the power to read human minds? what
sort of ethical crisis does this produce between the
robot and the humans? what do you think of Susan Calvin's
solution?
|
|
"Little
Lost Robot" (1947): Why is the modification of
rule 1 a dangerous business? how does Nestor 10 surprise
his human pursuers? What does Calvin's successful
tricking of Nestor 10 suggest about the essential
conflict between humans and robots?
|
|
"Escape!"
(1945): What gives "the Brain" in this story
its distinct power? What is the point of the near-death
experience? How has "the Brain" used its
power on Powell and Donovan? on Calvin? on Itself?
|
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"Evidence"
(1946): Why does Calvin 'side' with Byerley in his
conflict with Quinn? How does this story resituate
our understanding of the 3 laws?
|
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"The
Evitable Conflict" (1950): What is the "conflict"
and why is it "inevitable"? Are you convinced
by the suggestion that robots might manage human conflict
better than humans?
|
|
