Literary Analysis (I,Robot) PDF

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Leonel Renteria Professor Yablon May 17,2017 Literary Analysis I, Robot Asimov's world of I, Robot is indeed a legendary glimpse into the advancement of robotic science in all its glory. When this book was first written in 1950, perspectives of robots were nowhere near what he illustrated throughout his book. Asimov was a visionary who saw the evolution of robots and our society in action and how it could be hampered. I, Robot is an intergalactic parable centered on robotic advancement and the fragile Laws of Robotics it is based on, and both the pursuit and the structure of the pursuit are in question. The characters throughout the story are faced with many mishaps, discoveries, and glitches with the robots they must test, try out and troubleshoot. Most of the mishaps are in the very logic or thinking process of these metal beings. Though limited, there seems to be a dawning of reflective consciousness, or rather the ability to understand the notion of "I am" which adds an increased complexity into keeping the Laws of Robotics workable and safe for humans. Somehow, some way these robots find ways around the laws, but are their attempts intentional? Has their logic evolved and we didn't know it? Is our notion of logic substandard. A reoccurring theme throughout the book surfaces amongst stories such as Robbie and Reasoning that foreshadow a future society that humans would eventually face with robots.

Renteria 2 Isaac Asimov influenced the robotics research and technology with his three laws of robotics that are today being used for basic AI of more advanced robots. Asimov never thought that this was going to happen when he wrote the robot stories in 1945. In those days, during the chaos of the Second World War, no one thought that someday robots would exist. Today, we have simple household robots for housework like vacuuming and floor-sweeping. With over five hundred books and articles, Isaac Asimov died in 1992 at the age of 72 leaving us a great idea for a better future His collection of short stories in I, Robot are told through an interview with Dr. Susan Calvin. Dr. Calvin is a robot psychologist working for U.S.R. (United States Robotics). She is one of the first pioneers who started the robot era. Through this interview she explains how robots evolved during the years. The first in Asimov’s collection of stories posits the idea that humans face a level of social issues due to robots. Titled as Robbie, Asimov introduces a young girl named Gloria Weston in his first story whose parents buy her a robot named Robbie to be her nursemaid and friend. Gloria is a demanding but charming girl who loves Robbie and is so attached to him, that she only wanted to be around him and was never interested in nor wanted to play with other children. From the beginning, Asimov makes it clear that Gloria’s mother is not fond of the artificial attachment between her daughter and a robot and focuses on separating them. She decides to badger her husband, George, to get rid of him until he finally gives in. Gloria is heartbroken when her parents take away Robbie and as time passed, she became very depressed and lonely. She didn’t eat much and was always moping around. Mrs. Weston then said that they need a change of scenery to separate Gloria from everything that reminded her to Robbie.

Renteria 3 After all of their efforts to help their daughter move on, Gloria still sought for Robbie. When describing Gloria’s pain, Asimov wrote, “But Gloria’s eyelids had overflown, ‘I don’t want the nasty dog—I want Robbie. I want you to find me Robbie.’ Her feelings became too deep for words, and she spluttered into a shrill wail” (Asimov 11). Gloria’s heartbreak depicts the same reactions that children today create when they are deprived of their robotic and machine toys. As unrealistic it may have seemed at the time Asimov wrote the composition, the approach he took exceptionally portrays what the modern world today truly is like. When children are stripped of their precious electronic toys and machines, they act exactly like Gloria did and stray away from socializing with kids their age and taking part in healthy outdoor activities. Thus, demonstrating how the short story Robbie foreshadowed the future world through Asimov’s words. In the short story Reason, QT-1 (Cutie), a new robot model, refuses to believe that inferior humans such as Powell and Donavon, created superior robots. Cutie, and other robots like him, were created to replace the jobs that humans once held to protect and run the Energy Converter. Cutie rejects the idea that he was created to replace humans since they are nowhere as durable, intelligent, and strong as robots and begins to question the alleged superiority of humans. He then draws the conclusion that an Energy Converter has created robots, and that he is the Energy Converter’s Prophet. Cutie’s religion spreads to the other robots which then begin to obey Cutie and perceive him as the prophet that he claims to be. Meanwhile, a potentially dangerous electron storm is approaching that could result in widespread destruction on earth if the storm is able to throw out of focus the

Renteria 4 energy beam sent from the station to earth. Instead of allowing Powell and Donavon to make adjustments to the energy converter, Cutie kicks them out and bans them from having such power or duty. To Cutie, humans are obsolete. Donovan and Powell try to argue with Cutie, but all their attempts fail. They then try to prove to Cutie that humans build robots by building a robot themselves. Cutie argues that the pair of men only assembled the robot, but they did not create it. Nonetheless, the fatal electron storm inches closer and, luckily, Cutie is able to maintain the beam and keep it focused because he believes he serves the Converter by keeping its instrumentation in balance. Powell points out that the Second Law (always obey human orders) requires Cutie to obey. No matter what robots believe to be the ultimate source of command, they will still do their duties. The underlying message behind Reason is that robots would eventually begin to replace human jobs, which is exactly what happened decades after Asimov’s stories. While we are not expecting any hovering cars anytime soon, artificial intelligence is projected to have a major impact on the labor force and will likely replace about half the workforce in the United States in the decades to come. The research in artificial intelligence is advancing rapidly at an unstoppable rate. So while many people feel threatened by the possibility of a robot taking over their job, computer scientists actually propose that robots would benefit a country’s efficiency of production, allowing individuals to reap the benefits of the robots. For the advantage of all, researchers and analysts have begun to mend the past ideas of human-robot interaction. They have pulled inspiration from literary works of Isaac Asimov whom many saw as the first roboticist ahead of his time, and have also

Renteria 5 gotten ideas of scholarly research done by expert analysts. These efforts then began to create the idea of a work force where humans and robots work together in harmony, on a daily basis.

Though quite entertaining, Asimov’s book delivers a warning, which humans should heed. Our increase dependency on these machines seems to cloud our judgment, risks us becoming a subspecies and even start questioning our place and worth in life's scheme. Give anything, including robots, consciousness and an ability to think for itself separately and in relation to its environment and you have the possibility of such being testing its will in that environment. In other words, robotics will take human understanding of our environment and ourselves to new levels. Through the short stories of Isaac Asimov and his book I, Robot, the future is depicted to have a society where robots are the norm, and even though we are close to that future right now, there is still more to come.

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Works Cited

Asimov, Isaac. The Complete Robot. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1982. Print. Clarke, Roger. "Asimov's Laws of Robotics" Roger Clarke's 'Asimov's Laws of Robotics' Xamax Consultancy Pty Ltd., Sept. 1994. Web. 25 Feb. 2014. De Wilde, Silke. "Visionaries of the Future: Isaac Asimov." Web log post. Futurista. Mantra & Wordpress, 3 Jan. 2013. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. Lynch, Brendan. "MIT Pair: Robots Taking Human Jobs." McClatchy - Tribune Business News Oct 25 2011. ProQuest. Web. 13 Feb. 2014 . Monaghan, Gabrielle. "Robots are After Your Job." Sunday Times: 13. Oct 16 2011. ProQuest. Web. 13 Feb. 2014....