ISAAC ASIMOVISAAC ASIMOV

I, ROBOTI, ROBOT

THREE LAWS OF ROBOTICS

A ROBOT MAY NOT INJURE A HUMAN BEING, OR, THROUGH INACTION, ALLOW A HUMAN BEING TO COME TO HARM

A ROBOT MUST OBEY ORDERS GIVEN IT BY HUMAN BEINGS EXCEPT WHERE SUCH ORDERS CONFLICT WITH THE FIRST LAW

A ROBOT MUST PROTECT ITS OWN EXISTENCE AS LONG AS SUCH PROTECTION DOES NOT CONFLICT WITH THE FIRST OR THE SECOND LAW

THE TIME BEFORE THE LAWS

In science fiction people used to follow the Frankensteinthe Frankenstein patternpattern – robots eventually destroy their creator(s).

LAW ONELAW ONE

A ROBOT MAY NOT INJURE A HUMAN BEING, OR, THROUGH INACTION, ALLOW A HUMAN BEING TO COME TO HARM

LAW TWOLAW TWO

A ROBOT MUST OBEY ORDERS GIVEN IT BY HUMAN BEINGS EXCEPT WHERE SUCH ORDERS CONFLICT WITH THE FIRST LAW

LAW THREELAW THREE

A ROBOT MUST PROTECT ITS OWN EXISTENCE AS LONG AS SUCH PROTECTION DOES NOT CONFLICT WITH THE FIRST OR THE SECOND LAW

RUNAROUND

Gregory Powell and Michael Donovan work on photo-cell banks on Mercury and robot Speedy helps them.

Speedy gathers selenium from the selenium pool. One day he doesn’t come back on time and they find him running around the pool in circles.

Powell refers to the three fundamental laws of robotics in order to come to a logical explanation of Speedy’s behavior and that is the first time Asimov mentions all three of the rules!

RULE THREE IN SPEEDY’S CASE

In Speedy’s case Rule Three has been strengthened, so his allergy to danger

is very high.

THE CLASH OF RULE TWO AND RULE THREE Powell explains his unusual behavior by

the means of deduction and comes to a conclusion that Rule Three drives him back and Rule Two forward, so he stays on the locus of all points of potential equilibrium and runs in circles.

THE INCREASE OF THE RULES

To make him stop they try to modify (increase) any of the three rules.

THE POWER OF THE FIRST RULE

Powell makes him stop by accidentally increasing Rule One potential by exposing himself to a dangerous

situation.

Rule One is above all others!

EVIDENCE

Dr Calvin argues: The 3 laws are nothing more but the the essential guiding principles of essential guiding principles of many world’s ethical systemsmany world’s ethical systems.

THE INTERPRETATION OF THE 1ST LAW

Every good human being is supposed to love others as himself, protect his fellow man, risk his life to save another.

THE INTERPRETATION OF THE 2ND LAW

A human being with a social conscience and a sense of responsibility respects authority, listens to his doctor, boss, government, etc. follows rules and obeys laws

THE INTERPRETATION OF THE 3RD LAW

Every human being is supposed to have the instinct of self-preservation i.e. humans avoid harming themselves

THE ANALOGUES OF THE LAWS IN THE DESIGN OF TOOLS A tool must be safe to use. Knives have

handles, swords have hilts, grenades have hooks, etc.

A tool must perform its function efficiently unless this would harm the user

A tool must remain intact during its use unless its destruction is required for its use or for safety

2004 MOVIE I, ROBOT

The movie I,Robot starts with the three laws of Robotics, the perfect circle of protectionthe perfect circle of protection as they call it later.

Will Smith’s character makes a comment: Laws are Laws are made to be broken! made to be broken!

He argues with Dr Calvin about the laws and the posibility of robot committing a crime.

Dr Calvin makes a funny observation when she says that a robot cannot commit a murder no more a robot cannot commit a murder no more than a man can walk on water…than a man can walk on water…

Will Smith’s character responds: Well, you know, Well, you know, there was this one guy long time ago…there was this one guy long time ago…

MARK W. TILDEN’S LAWS OF ROBOTICS

Mark Tilden is Canada’s most notorious and internationally known robot scientist. He has created his own Three Laws of Robotics as a response to Isaac Asimov’s:

TILDEN’S FIRST LAW

A robot must protect its existence at all costs

TILDEN’S SECOND LAW

A robot must obtain and maintain access to its own power source

TILDEN’S THIRD LAW

A robot must continually search for better power sources

THE THREE ‘COMMANDMENTS’These ideas are often summarized as:

1. Protect thy ass

2. Feed thy ass

3. Get thy ass to better real estate

WORKS CITED

Asimov, Isaac. I, Robot. London:HarperCollinsPublishers 1967.

Proyas, Alex. I, Robot. 20th Century Fox in association with Mediastream IV; Davis

Entertainment Company/Laurence Mark/Overbrook Films production, 2004.

http://www.robosapiens.org/Robosapiens.html

http://zhurnal.net/ww/zw?ThreeLawsOfRoboticsRevised

http://www.robotics.utexas.edu/rrg/learn_more/history/

http://blog.outer.com/archive/2006-11-16-n44.html

http://www.irobotmovie.com

http://www.infinitematrix.net/stories/shorts/i-robot.com