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"Escape" involves computers rather than robots, but the problems are the same: in this case, how can a robot (computer) be forced to solve a problem if the solution might involve the death of a human being? Such a conflict with the First Law has, apparently, burned out the computer of a competitor, Consolidated Robots,5 which approaches USR to hire its computer to solve a problem, probably concerning the development of an interstellar hyperatomic or space-warp drive. USR's computer, called "The Brain," incorporates USR's patented emotional brain paths and operates on a childlike, "idiot-savant" level. The ship that it builds turns out to "kill" the occupants (Donovan and Powell) but only temporarily while they are in the space-warp. The computer's emotional imbalance during the drive, however, turns The Brain into a practical joker. |
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"Evidence" presents another problem in discrimination. In "Little Lost Robot" the question was how to detect the one in a group of identical robots that has been instructed in the strongest terms to get lost. In "Evidence" the question is how to tell a humanoid robot from a human when the individual in question stands on his rights as a presumptive human. Stephen Byerley, running for mayor, is accused by political opponents of being a robot. The evidence is presented: no one has seen Byerley sleep or eat. But this is not proof that he does not. He refuses to be searched or X-rayed and wears a device that protects him against X-rays attempted by subterfuge. He practices as a district attorney but does not actually condemn convicted criminals to death (which would violate the First Law). The Asimovian touch is contained in the fact that he is a good district attorney, a good man, and would make a good mayor. When asked if robots are so mentally different from men, Susan Calvin says, "Worlds different. Robots are essentially decent." At the climactic moment of the campaign, Byerley strikes a heckler, something a robot would be unable to do. But after the election, Susan Calvin notes that it would have been possible for him to strike a robot made up to look human. |
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"The Evitable Conflict," the final story in I, Robot, concludes the saga of the robots for their first decade at least by dealing with the question of robot superiority and the ambiguity in the First Law about what constitutes harm or good. The Machines, which have become too complex for humans to understand (here Asimov anticipated a number of contemporary computer scientists, as well as an aspect of Cyberpunk), have taken over the operation of the world's economy. For |
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5. This is the only mention of competition in the robot business. |
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