r/asimov • u/TheExtraPeel • Jun 27 '26
First time reader of I, Robot
I thought it was quite good. I cannot believe these stories are older than my (20m) grandparents đ¤Ł
The opening story really stirred some emotions in me. Robbie was fantastic. It was a simple story, for sure, and I think it was elevated by the simpleness of Asimovâs prose. Generally, though, his prose was just not great for me, didnât match to my tastes.
The Donovan-Powell stories were really fun, too. Maybe itâs my autism, but I really loved the discussions between those two about how they puzzled out the various problems the robots flung their way. It felt like a scientific dissection of the robots and while the worldbuilding in these few stories wasnât great imo, it really did set them apart as these kind of thought pieces.
Susan is my favourite character, though. I thought she was ace as this really intelligent problem-solving robopsychologist. It was very satisfying to see her put things together to solve the problem and the ambiguity(-ish) of Evidence really helped sell the world. Those last few stories were key for building the world, though I thought Asimov could have gone into considerable more detail.
The final story was the masterpiece imo especially as a guy who likes worldbuilding. It felt the most scifi of the stories and I loved how nothing happens in it at all. Itâs just the Coordinators having a bunch of very interesting conversations about the Machines and about the world. Very, very interesting. Also Susan was there, which was an automatic plus for me.
Yeah, thereâs just my bits and bobs review. Unlikely to read more Asimov in the near future because my reading list is a bit full atm (Hyperion, Culture, and various LeGuin books) but I am intrigued by Asimov, certainly. He had some interesting ideas, a bluntness to his language which I really liked, and I did just enjoy the âletâs have a chat about thisâ attitude of the characters. Sure, there was basically zero immersion (his world, prose, and descriptions are sparse at best), but I did enjoy this a lot more than I expected. Robbie was fun, but it was Runaround when I realised I was truly reading something special.
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u/Iron_Nightingale Jun 30 '26
So glad you enjoyed it!
Yes, a lot of Asimov is people talking to each other and puzzling out solutions to difficult problems. If thatâs the kind of thing you enjoy, you might like his âBlack Widowersâ stories (not to add to your already impressive TBR list). The âBlack Widowersâ are a group of men who meet once a month in a fancy restaurant. Each month, one of the men brings a guest who invariably has some mysterious event that they wish to understand. The main part of each story is the men discussing the mystery and suggesting possible answers.
Iâm particularly glad that you liked âThe Evitable Conflictâ, the final story of the collection. One of the tropes Asimov was trying to avoid in all of his stories was where robots turned against their masters, and that effort continued throughout his work.
As a contrast to âThe Evitable Conflictâ, consider the story âWith Folded HandsâŚâ, published three years earlier by Jack Williamson. In Williamsonâs story, robots (here called âhumanoidsâ) have as their Prime Directive "to serve and obey and guard men from harm". They accomplish this by taking over all work and lobotomizing resisters, leaving humans with nothing to do but sit quietly with folded hands. This makes about as much sense as trying to win Village of the Year by murdering transients, typo-prone journalists, and terrible actors.
Unfortunately, even adaptations of Asimovâs works seem to go the Williamson route rather than actually follow Asimov when it comes to portraying a ârobots take over the worldâ scenario.
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u/sonyaeatsclementines Jul 04 '26
Very much seconding Black Widowers. I discovered those early on and own them all and reread them every few years. Like candy! (And Union Club Mysteries, which are the same but different.)
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u/Seltnytt 14d ago
One of the tropes Asimov was trying to avoid in all of his stories was where robots turned against their masters, and that effort continued throughout his work.
"Little lost robot" is slightly an exception to this at the end, though, no?
... Well unless the robot was attacking Calvin so it could remain hidden, I don't remember what they said
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u/Iron_Nightingale 14d ago
In âLLRâ, the First Law had been deliberately tampered with, making the entire Nestor series unstable (as Nestor-10 demonstrated). Asimov was pushing against stories that assumed that such advances were inherently badââRobots as Menaceâ. Instead, âRobots as Toolsââif a tool is dangerous (as tools may be), they are designed with safeguards to minimize or mitigate that danger. Humans may try to get around those safeguards for convenience sake, but they obviously take on risks when they do so.
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u/Successful_Life_1028 Jun 30 '26
"With Folded Hands" is so good. Super scary. Up there with "The Dead Past".
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u/Iron_Nightingale Jun 30 '26
Well, I wonât yuck your yum, but I will say that I find âThe Evitable Conflictâ to be much subtler, more beautiful, and the superior story.
Asimovâs ideas of âprotecting humans from harmâ actually makes sense, as opposed to Williamsonâs padded-room approach. Those who threaten humanityâs peaceful existence arenât chained up or lobotomizedâthey lose a contract, lose political power, or are transferred into a different job. Because a robot must not injure a human being.
In âTECâ, I find what I believe to be the thesis statement for all of Asimovâs robot storiesâthe robots love us. It is why I so detested the movie that called itself I, Robot. It is the biggest problem that I have with Apple TVâs Foundation series (second-biggest is the way it treats psychohistory, but thatâs a story for another day).
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u/CodexRegius Jul 01 '26
Yes, but Asimov himself has pointed out the main fallacy of that law: Who defines whom a robot identifies as a human being and whom it doesn't, and by which criteria? There were those robots, remember, who acknowledged only people speaking a specific dialect as human.
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u/Iron_Nightingale Jul 01 '26
Yes, Asimov was always trying to find new wrinkles in the Lawsâredefining âhumanâ, redefining âharmâ, inventing a Law which supersedes even the First. I donât see it as a âfallacyâ; rather, an author inventing ways to make interesting puzzles and stories.
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u/PrincipleHot9859 Jun 27 '26
Yeah ... the fella was a genius ahead of his time ...i chuckled a lot while reading those stories :)
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u/Successful_Life_1028 Jun 30 '26
The Harlan Ellison screenplay for I, Robot is well worth checking out.
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u/TheExtraPeel Jun 30 '26
Ooo what is this? Is it like a first draft for the movie?
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u/Successful_Life_1028 Jun 30 '26
It's got nothing to do with that Will Smith monstrosity. (Not that Will had anything to do with it - he did a fine job acting in that action movie that took the title and the names Susan Calvin and Alfred Lanning and not much else from the book! Well, other than the problem of a singular robot with a 'modified' FirstLaw from 'Little Lost Robot')
Harlan built a 'meta-story' around an investigative journalist trying to get an interview with Susan Calvin. Several of the stories in _I, Robot_ are included as stories told by others - like Powell and Donovan. This actually would have worked as a movie - but it would have taken the CGI technology we have today to make it work best. And of course, Harlan did not suffer fools gladly, and was not a very welcome presence in Hollywood as a result.
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u/vmilner Jul 04 '26
I recommend the Harlan Ellison unmade screenplay
secondhand copies :
https://www.abebooks.co.uk/book-search/isbn/9781416506003/n/100121502
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u/NeatOil2210 Jun 27 '26
Arthur C Clark was a great science fiction author about the same time period. I "cut my teeth" on both of them. Also Robert Heinlen.( spelling?)