Tuesdays with Media: I, Robot

When I was in high school, I would often pass near the public library on my way to catch my bus.  Sometimes I would go the library to pick something up to read while riding said bus.  One of the first books that I remember checking out during one of these trips was the collection of science fiction short stories I, Robot by Isaac Asimov.  I remember that I recognized the author's name from my dad's collection of paperbacks - and I was in high school, so I was required to think that robots were cool - so I decided to give it a try.

I really enjoyed the stories, but I didn't understand the theme until I reread it a few years ago.  The stories all had a similar format with a problem with a robot presented to the human characters who had to find a solution using the laws of robotics, which were:

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 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.

Pretty straightforward, but with enough variation in each story to stay interesting.

The theme that I missed the first time as an adolescent?  Exploring what it means to be human.  That's the great thing about science fiction: on the surface it's about robots and space ships and aliens, but just under the surface are deep, philosophical themes.

Asimov was really great at the science part, but the fiction portion wasn't as strong.  His characters are usually fairly flat and the dialogue can be pretty dry, but the stories' conflicts are entertaining enough to keep you engaged.  While I do recommend this collection, I also recognize that it's probably only for sci-fi fans.  And for the record, I was disappointed the 2004 film of the same name departed so dramatically from the source material.

(By the way, I thought that it was kind of cool that I first read I, Robot during the year in which the first story is set: 1998.)

I, Robot was originally published by Gnome Press