October 11th 2009
The final chapter is basically an overview of the world in the year 2052. Powerful machines that run Earths economy and production, known as “The Machines”, have given orders against their function. These malfunctions haven’t caused much harm yet, but the fact that they are simply appearing is alarming. Stephen Byerley, the new elected World Coordinator, asks for advice from leaders of regions of the world, and Susan Calvin herself.
This final closing chapter to the book leaves me with tons of questions, and has me wondering. Could there ever be a world in the future that relies on Machines to run our economy? To me this idea seems great. If we could have these machines make our economic decisions in the most intelligent ways, then the idea of these machines sounds brilliant. Relating to the book however, our technology would have to be controlled so that malfunctions like this aren’t possible. It would be hard to have these machines run the government, for the sake that a malfunction like this could really mess up our government.
These machines believe that in order for humanity to not be lost in the near future, some inaction of law #1 is needed, ultimately causing small loss to the humans race to prevent mass loss in the future.
This is how I, and many other people like Asimov probably have envisioned a robots race’s fate. If humans ever created robots as what they are portrayed as in I, Robot, then the ultimate climax is that these robots, will malfunction, error and overpowering us to the point of our, or their destruction. I think that intelligence of robot in the future will be so great that robots will be able to become self-conscience, and will have the ability to make their own decisions, whether positive or negative.
My overall take on this book is that if you love challenging novels, and have an interest in science fiction, this is the perfect book for you! Each chapter is a different tale, and can be read in different order. There is no, one plot building up throughout the whole books. Only small plots in each chapter. They all, however, share the theme of humans, robots, and mortality.
For me, this book was slightly more challenging then I expected. Small details included very space like words and dialogue that you really have to read over carefully and think about what they mean, in order to understand these small details. Characters were hard to relate to, in terms of what they did. There wasn’t enough detail given on some character to determine relations
My rating on this book: 7/10
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
I, Robot - Chapter 7: Escape, Chapter 8: Evidence
October 10th 2009
Chapter 7
This Chapter is shortly followed after the events chapter 6. A rival company has developed blueprints to build a spaces ship that can complete an interstellar jump. However, the rival company’s computer was destroyed while trying to calculate the blueprints. US Robotic take these blueprints, and uses their super computer, know as “The Brain”, to calculate the blueprints and to give the orders to other robots to build the ship. Within a few weeks, the ship is completed and surprisingly seems flawless.
Mike Donovan and Greg Powell are sent to the ship to overview it, but the brain sends the ship out without warning. During the procedures of building the ship, The Brain malfunctioned, and became a practical joker. He sent the ship out with the men, into space with no showers or beds, and no manual controls.
How a super computer this intelligent could of messed this up beats me, but sending men into space with no showers, beds, only with milk and beans seems crazy.
So far this chapter has been my favorite in the book. It holds many suspenseful moments, and to be honest, this is the first chapter I have really, really enjoyed.
The Brain cannot harm a human being, and it knew the men would only be gone long enough that they will be perfectly healthy with just beans and milk. The scariest part though, is that with the interstellar jump, any humans must go through the process of… death. That right, for a mere moment, you have to actually die in order to pass through interstellar space. But it is only in the jump that you actually are dead.
This part really got to me. Would interstellar jump really temporally kill you? Whether or not this is true, it really shows we should expect the unexpected when it comes to space science.
Chapter 8
Chapter 7
This Chapter is shortly followed after the events chapter 6. A rival company has developed blueprints to build a spaces ship that can complete an interstellar jump. However, the rival company’s computer was destroyed while trying to calculate the blueprints. US Robotic take these blueprints, and uses their super computer, know as “The Brain”, to calculate the blueprints and to give the orders to other robots to build the ship. Within a few weeks, the ship is completed and surprisingly seems flawless.
Mike Donovan and Greg Powell are sent to the ship to overview it, but the brain sends the ship out without warning. During the procedures of building the ship, The Brain malfunctioned, and became a practical joker. He sent the ship out with the men, into space with no showers or beds, and no manual controls.
How a super computer this intelligent could of messed this up beats me, but sending men into space with no showers, beds, only with milk and beans seems crazy.
So far this chapter has been my favorite in the book. It holds many suspenseful moments, and to be honest, this is the first chapter I have really, really enjoyed.
The Brain cannot harm a human being, and it knew the men would only be gone long enough that they will be perfectly healthy with just beans and milk. The scariest part though, is that with the interstellar jump, any humans must go through the process of… death. That right, for a mere moment, you have to actually die in order to pass through interstellar space. But it is only in the jump that you actually are dead.
This part really got to me. Would interstellar jump really temporally kill you? Whether or not this is true, it really shows we should expect the unexpected when it comes to space science.
Chapter 8
In the year 2032, lawyer Stephen Byerley is running for mayor in New York City. However, a man known as Francis Quinn has developed a theory that Byerley is a robot, as he is never seen eating, or sleeping.
Quinn heads to US Robotics to find people to support his claim. Once Byerley arrives, they ask him to eat an apple, as robots do not eat. Without hesitation, Byerley eats the apple. This has Quinn to surprise, but he still does not believe that Stephen is human.
This really has me wondering that in the future, if robots our introduced as equal as men, will there ever be any robots running in politics? It may seem hard to believe, but I think that if we develop them enough, they could prove to do better jobs then most humans.
All of Quinns actions to prove Stephen a robot fail, and Stephen ends up winning the election.
Quinn heads to US Robotics to find people to support his claim. Once Byerley arrives, they ask him to eat an apple, as robots do not eat. Without hesitation, Byerley eats the apple. This has Quinn to surprise, but he still does not believe that Stephen is human.
This really has me wondering that in the future, if robots our introduced as equal as men, will there ever be any robots running in politics? It may seem hard to believe, but I think that if we develop them enough, they could prove to do better jobs then most humans.
All of Quinns actions to prove Stephen a robot fail, and Stephen ends up winning the election.
I enjoyed the chapter a lot. The whole political plot to this story brought a relief to me. I was slightly sick of all the space plots, as they help a little to much information that I couldn’t take in.
I, Robot - Chapter 6: Little Lost Robot
October 8th 2009
This chapter got off to a slow start. It was full of "hyper space" talk, that really threw me in to a couple of brain freezes. The chapter is on Hyper Base, in space, an asteriod base where scientists are working to develope a hyper space drive. 63 robots with Law #1 (Robots must never harm a human being) modified have been transported to the Hyper Base, in order to complete special operations. One of the robots was annoying one of the workers apparently, and the worker told him to go "lose yourself". The robot did just that, and hid among the other robots of the space stations.
These robots happen to not have serial number, and are expected to apply to their work. With this incident, Susan Calvin, and co-workers are asked to come to hyper base to locate this lost robot.
I am starting to notice a pattern in these chapters. I have noticed that most of these plots involve robot failures and errors, but I guess what these events are that Susan Calvin is describing are key events in the US Robotics history. I feel it is an understandable structure in the book, but it seems to be getting just a little bit repetitive.
Susan must put the robots threw a series of operations in order to determine what robot is Nester 10, the lost robot. In the end, Susan finds the robot, after a long very boring chapter.
At this point, the novel looses a bit of my taste. A lot of these stories are hard to follow, but it really does amaze me how much detail is thrown into a novel like this written in the 40s!
Again, the chapter was a little long and boring in my opinion, but it did include a very clever plot by Isaac.
This chapter got off to a slow start. It was full of "hyper space" talk, that really threw me in to a couple of brain freezes. The chapter is on Hyper Base, in space, an asteriod base where scientists are working to develope a hyper space drive. 63 robots with Law #1 (Robots must never harm a human being) modified have been transported to the Hyper Base, in order to complete special operations. One of the robots was annoying one of the workers apparently, and the worker told him to go "lose yourself". The robot did just that, and hid among the other robots of the space stations.
These robots happen to not have serial number, and are expected to apply to their work. With this incident, Susan Calvin, and co-workers are asked to come to hyper base to locate this lost robot.
I am starting to notice a pattern in these chapters. I have noticed that most of these plots involve robot failures and errors, but I guess what these events are that Susan Calvin is describing are key events in the US Robotics history. I feel it is an understandable structure in the book, but it seems to be getting just a little bit repetitive.
Susan must put the robots threw a series of operations in order to determine what robot is Nester 10, the lost robot. In the end, Susan finds the robot, after a long very boring chapter.
At this point, the novel looses a bit of my taste. A lot of these stories are hard to follow, but it really does amaze me how much detail is thrown into a novel like this written in the 40s!
Again, the chapter was a little long and boring in my opinion, but it did include a very clever plot by Isaac.
Monday, October 12, 2009
I, Robot - Chapter 5: Lair!
October 7th 2009
Chapter 5, I am finally starting to understand the structure of the book a lot more. At each chapter, a new story is introduced by Susan Calvin, who is giving an interview to a reporter in 2057. The book plays out a lot like the movie Titanic, story structure wise. I think Isaac does a good job using this structure.
The next plot is set in 2021. Susan Calvin and her team at US Robots are testing the new RB-34 model of robot, nicknamed “Herbie”, capable of reading the human mind!
This chapter was one where you really had to think in order to understand. A robot that can read humans mind, I think, would be a very bad idea in my mind. Just think; robots walking around that can just look at you, and tell you exactly what you are thinking!
On the contrary, it wouldn’t be so bad. Imagine having robots taking the place of humans interrogating criminals. There wouldn’t be much interrogating needed.
In the end, the robot is outsmarted by the wit of Susan Calvin, and the robotic law #1 over powers its abilities: that a robot must not harm a human being.
Chapter 5, I am finally starting to understand the structure of the book a lot more. At each chapter, a new story is introduced by Susan Calvin, who is giving an interview to a reporter in 2057. The book plays out a lot like the movie Titanic, story structure wise. I think Isaac does a good job using this structure.
The next plot is set in 2021. Susan Calvin and her team at US Robots are testing the new RB-34 model of robot, nicknamed “Herbie”, capable of reading the human mind!
This chapter was one where you really had to think in order to understand. A robot that can read humans mind, I think, would be a very bad idea in my mind. Just think; robots walking around that can just look at you, and tell you exactly what you are thinking!
On the contrary, it wouldn’t be so bad. Imagine having robots taking the place of humans interrogating criminals. There wouldn’t be much interrogating needed.
In the end, the robot is outsmarted by the wit of Susan Calvin, and the robotic law #1 over powers its abilities: that a robot must not harm a human being.
I, Robot - Chapter 4: Catch That Rabbit!
October 6th 2009
Chapter 4 again follows Mike Donovan and Greg Powell. It’s 6 months later, and they are on an asteroid station, overlooking robot model DV-5, nick named “Dave” and his DV mining team. While watching the robots in their one-week overview to make sure everything is okay, well, things turn out to be not okay. Dave is sending out strange commands to his robot team. Greg and Mike have seen the robots doing marches up and down the mining perimeters. However once Mike and Greg come in contact with them, they immediately go back to work, and when questioned have no memory of the, malfunctions, so to speak at all.
Again, Isaac Asimov shows a very creative but realistic idea of how the future should play out. Asteroid mining in Isaac’s future plays a big role in economy, and if our world some time in the future could extend to something like this, we would probably be a lot more stable and sophisticated.
Dave commands six robots around the asteroid, often referred to by Mike and Greg as Dave’s fingers. In the end, 6 robots turned out to be one too many, as Dave couldn’t handle operating 6 different radio frequencies at once. His level of robotics just wasn’t capable of it.
All of these stories in space kind of have me wondering what life on earth is like in Isaac’s 2015. It appears we really haven’t progressed to this future that the author portrayed, or at least robot and space travel wise. I, Robot was written in the 1960s and back then, some people thought that robots and flying cars were to be introduced as early as the 80s, so it is easy to understand why Isaac chose to vision this kind of future.
Chapter 4 again follows Mike Donovan and Greg Powell. It’s 6 months later, and they are on an asteroid station, overlooking robot model DV-5, nick named “Dave” and his DV mining team. While watching the robots in their one-week overview to make sure everything is okay, well, things turn out to be not okay. Dave is sending out strange commands to his robot team. Greg and Mike have seen the robots doing marches up and down the mining perimeters. However once Mike and Greg come in contact with them, they immediately go back to work, and when questioned have no memory of the, malfunctions, so to speak at all.
Again, Isaac Asimov shows a very creative but realistic idea of how the future should play out. Asteroid mining in Isaac’s future plays a big role in economy, and if our world some time in the future could extend to something like this, we would probably be a lot more stable and sophisticated.
Dave commands six robots around the asteroid, often referred to by Mike and Greg as Dave’s fingers. In the end, 6 robots turned out to be one too many, as Dave couldn’t handle operating 6 different radio frequencies at once. His level of robotics just wasn’t capable of it.
All of these stories in space kind of have me wondering what life on earth is like in Isaac’s 2015. It appears we really haven’t progressed to this future that the author portrayed, or at least robot and space travel wise. I, Robot was written in the 1960s and back then, some people thought that robots and flying cars were to be introduced as early as the 80s, so it is easy to understand why Isaac chose to vision this kind of future.
I, Robot - Chapter 3: Reason
October 5th 2009
Chapter 3 is set half a year later on a solar station. Mike and Greg have just come back from a much needed vacation, and are training robot QT-1, nicknamed “Cutie” to run the solar station and harness the energy of electrical storms without any humans presence on the station. Cutie is the highest quality robot ever created, and Mike and Greg are having troubles teaching the robot, as it believes he was not created by humans, and overlooks “the master”. This throws Mike and Greg into a huge problem, as Cutie is supposed to be trained and ready to go in a 2 days.
This really has me wondering if that by the time we do have robots working at our service and fulfilling jobs normally humans would do, will these robots have “errors” like this, and will they become so smart that they question their own existence? Personally I hope not, because in my mind it has humans vs. robots written all over it.
Eventually, Cutie over takes control of the robots running the station, and has them under command, and working under the rules of this so called “master” Cutie is praising. Mike and Greg have to get Cutie under control and running the station before the electrical storms hits, or the storm could go out of focus and destroy the station.
This future is one I would really like to see humans take forth. If we could have our main source of energy supplied from electrical storms in space, then this could solve a lot of our energy problems down here. Electrical Storm power could take away usage of fossil fuels, preventing pollution. Unfortunately I fear this future may be too far away before we can stop any long-term negative effects our habits have caused.
In the end, Cutie shows that he can focus an electrical storm and harness its power. Despite the “errors” Mike and Greg ran into, they leave the station.
Again, I ran into some pretty confusing words in this chapter, but overall, it was understood. The author chose a funny way of using futuristic dialog. For example, phrases like “Jumping Jupiter”, and “Sizzling Saturn” are seen a lot.
So far the book seems to be a little ahead of my league, but I am understanding the overall story structure.
Chapter 3 is set half a year later on a solar station. Mike and Greg have just come back from a much needed vacation, and are training robot QT-1, nicknamed “Cutie” to run the solar station and harness the energy of electrical storms without any humans presence on the station. Cutie is the highest quality robot ever created, and Mike and Greg are having troubles teaching the robot, as it believes he was not created by humans, and overlooks “the master”. This throws Mike and Greg into a huge problem, as Cutie is supposed to be trained and ready to go in a 2 days.
This really has me wondering if that by the time we do have robots working at our service and fulfilling jobs normally humans would do, will these robots have “errors” like this, and will they become so smart that they question their own existence? Personally I hope not, because in my mind it has humans vs. robots written all over it.
Eventually, Cutie over takes control of the robots running the station, and has them under command, and working under the rules of this so called “master” Cutie is praising. Mike and Greg have to get Cutie under control and running the station before the electrical storms hits, or the storm could go out of focus and destroy the station.
This future is one I would really like to see humans take forth. If we could have our main source of energy supplied from electrical storms in space, then this could solve a lot of our energy problems down here. Electrical Storm power could take away usage of fossil fuels, preventing pollution. Unfortunately I fear this future may be too far away before we can stop any long-term negative effects our habits have caused.
In the end, Cutie shows that he can focus an electrical storm and harness its power. Despite the “errors” Mike and Greg ran into, they leave the station.
Again, I ran into some pretty confusing words in this chapter, but overall, it was understood. The author chose a funny way of using futuristic dialog. For example, phrases like “Jumping Jupiter”, and “Sizzling Saturn” are seen a lot.
So far the book seems to be a little ahead of my league, but I am understanding the overall story structure.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
I, Robot - Chapter 2: Runaround
October 4th 2009
The chapter starts off relating to the introduction, an interview with Susan Calvin, who appears to be the narrator of the story. She begins tells the reporter of the Mercury Mining Expeditions of 2015, which is where the next plot takes place. Mike Donovan and Greg Powell are running the facilities, and have just sent out thier robot, “Speedy” to go get Selenium. I personally have no clue what selenium is or why they needed it, the book does not explain too well. Speedy then doesn’t return, so the two must leave the facility by mounting 2 old robots stored away from earlier expeditions, to retrieve Speedy. I am a little annoyed how the plot jumps so quickly, I just hope that it does not do this so very often.
They soon rescue Speed and bring him back to the facility after a long, confusing journey into the Mercury Desert. Again, I am a little confused, there are quite a lot of scientific terms and words used, and I really haven’t gotten into space study in science class yet. Their rescue mission had some very thrilling moments, and even funny ones.
This chapter was not very long, compared to chapter one. I am left with a few questions. Who are Mike Donovan and Greg Powell? Will they play a role further on in the book? I hope so. I don’t really like a constant change in characters.
The chapter starts off relating to the introduction, an interview with Susan Calvin, who appears to be the narrator of the story. She begins tells the reporter of the Mercury Mining Expeditions of 2015, which is where the next plot takes place. Mike Donovan and Greg Powell are running the facilities, and have just sent out thier robot, “Speedy” to go get Selenium. I personally have no clue what selenium is or why they needed it, the book does not explain too well. Speedy then doesn’t return, so the two must leave the facility by mounting 2 old robots stored away from earlier expeditions, to retrieve Speedy. I am a little annoyed how the plot jumps so quickly, I just hope that it does not do this so very often.
They soon rescue Speed and bring him back to the facility after a long, confusing journey into the Mercury Desert. Again, I am a little confused, there are quite a lot of scientific terms and words used, and I really haven’t gotten into space study in science class yet. Their rescue mission had some very thrilling moments, and even funny ones.
This chapter was not very long, compared to chapter one. I am left with a few questions. Who are Mike Donovan and Greg Powell? Will they play a role further on in the book? I hope so. I don’t really like a constant change in characters.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)