As a kid, I read some Isaac Asimov, but not a lot.
Robot Dreams, the Robot Novels (
Caves of Steel, etc..). About eight years ago I read one Foundation novel hopelessly out of synch with what I was supposed to be doing and read
Prelude to Foundation, you know,
before Foundation, which was apparently not correct as it came out much after the original books - but did include a favorite character of mine (spoiler).
But like things do when you're 13, the robot stories stuck with me. I believed in the infallibility of the
Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics. I barely even remember the stories from
I, Robot anymore, but I read it three times before I finished high school. Still remember knocking a huge chunk of it out while sitting on my folks' front porch one sunny day.
But I knew Will Smith was nowhere to be found in any of the short stories that make up the anthology of
I, Robot.
The movie of
I, Robot was released in 2004, and marked a very conscious decision for me not to pay to see something that I knew I would find disappointing. I didn't remember the book well even 9 years ago, but I was pretty sure none of the stories contained within starred The Fresh Prince.
- A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
- A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
- A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws.
In some ways, the movie is a new story based in the world of Asimov's US Robotics and with robot psychologist Dr. Susan Calvin, a recurring character in the stories of I, Robot, who appears in multiple stories at different points in the character's fictional lifetime.
