"I, Robot" vs. I, Damsel

No robots were used in the writing of this book review.

I don’t know if I’ve said this on my Substack yet, but sci-fi is not a book genre that crosses my path often. Sure, I’ll read one if it sounds interesting or if I’ve read other works by that author, but when it comes to outer space, I prefer movies/tv shows.

But

Scoot

recommended I give this Asimov book a try and so I did. (He’s also responsible for the above picture.)

And you know what? I was pleasantly surprised.

It’s not a single plot, but rather a collection of vignettes examining a world where humanoid/complex robots are a regular part of the world. These robots are governed by the Three Laws:

A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm

A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law

A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws

Given the importance of those Laws and how each robot is installed with them, every vignette ends up tackling how the robots can run afoul of their programming, whether through mistakes/calculations by humans or unforeseen complications in the way the Laws clash with reality. It’s almost a mystery book, but instead of a whodunnit murder to solve, it’s a howdunnit puzzle to unravel. Almost each story has the part where the humans gather round and try to find the exact point when the breakdown happened. They make guesses, run tests, reassess and reconfigure, and finally come to the answer. As with murder mysteries, I did not try to solve the problems presented; I had much more fun watching the experts come at the obstacle from multiple angles than trying to add my own theories. And that is the funnest part of the book: finding out the answer to the riddle. These answers arrive about every twenty pages, so it’s like having a bunch of little treats instead of one payoff that may or may not land. It makes me want to write my own collection of loosely connected short stories.

I think it’s interesting and amusing to see the future that people in the past were imaging. One of the reoccurring characters was born in 1982 and by the time she’s seventy-five, things have gone far beyond “simple” space travel. Machines are more or less controlling how Earth is being run and while these Machines are threading a tiny needle to stay in line with the Laws, they have more power than even the smartest humans realize. These super machines and lifelike humans are what Asimov thought would be starting right about now and I look around and think, “Yeah, it’s a bit of a miss.”

But reading this book now also puts into perspective what people back in the day thought extreme technology would be used for: robot servants, lunar bases, space ships, harvesting stuff from other planets, and just a general outward projection. This fictional world is by no means perfect or desirable, but the ambition, curiosity and vision these characters have is more admirable than humanity’s current use for AI: writing school papers and turning whatever you want into a picture. Today’s technology is available to the masses and instead of propelling us to the stars, it’s given everyone their own little fake world to get lost in and completely lose sight of what’s beyond their arm’s reach. Progress has become a tool to feed one’s own vanity and inner couch potato. Everything that’s required for space travel exists, but the moon bases very much do not, and while I don’t care about life outside Earth, it’d be a more intriguing use of time than another AI update that makes the chatbot more empathetic or whatever.

The robots in this book do have some personality though. Their dialogue is an old-fashioned, golly gee whiz attitude and I wasn’t expecting that at all, but it oddly works. I’m not a fan of the colorless tone or the smooth-talking intellectualism of robots in other stories, so if we could go back to 1950’s lingo, that’d be pretty fun.

Normally I’d be disappointed in the human characters’ lack of personality and vibrancy, but they’re not the focal point, so it’s fine. They’re there to problem solve and problem make, really. These two guys, Donovan and Powell, were impossible for me to keep separate. I think they act differently, but not enough for me to instantly know which was which. But again, the humans are the landscape upon which the robots roam and they keep the terrain varied.

Powell reached for the “Handbook of Robotics” […] and opened it reverently. He had once jumped out of the window of a burning house dressed only in shorts and the “Handbook.” In a pinch, he would have skipped the shorts.

There is one main-ish character and that’s Susan Calvin, a renowned robopsychologist. The book starts with a guy interviewing her and as he asks about her history, she brings up certain incidents and then the narrative switches to those involved in that event. Sometimes she appears in the event, in the role of consultant, and she’ll add her expertise on a robotic hiccup.

Were someone else to write this same idea, they might have made her the main POV and have all the problems originate within her eyesight. Maybe that would’ve worked. But by keeping her removed, she becomes a special guest—the expert they summon when things get too complicated. This means she has enough information on these incidents to be able to comment on them later, but she’s a satellite and doesn’t color events with her own thoughts. It’s a better way of doing this type of setup instead of like in Wuthering Heights were it stretches the imagination that that narrator would have witnessed absolutely all the stuff that occurs. So yes, Calvin is important, but we get to hear what actually happened and not only what she could’ve seen. It allows for a broader outlook on things and I like that.

I’ve read a lot of classics/old books and sometimes the writing is obviously from a bygone era, and other times the writing is real easy to get into and doesn’t cause any problems. This falls into the latter category. The first chapter (about a girl who gets a robotic “nursemaid”) is my favorite for that reason; I was impressed and relieved that it’s easy to understand, aside from the technical jargon thrown around and some oddly worded sentences. Which, not to throw shade at the classics, but a big issue with them is their unwieldy, dense writing that doesn’t add nearly as much as it’s trying to. This book is short, it isn’t full of useless paragraphs, and it doesn’t meander in circles. And there’s a dash of humor, which I always appreciate.

This still hasn’t made me a huge sci-fi believer, but I’m willing to read more Asimov.

“There was a time when humanity faced the universe alone and without a friend. Now he has creatures to help him; stronger creatures than himself, more faithful, more useful, and absolutely devoted to him. Mankind is no longer alone. Have you ever thought of it that way?”

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