From: Matt Grimaldi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: Killer Bs Discussion <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: Killer Bs Discussion <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: brin: the three laws of robotis are evil, why they mustbeeradicated
Date: Wed, 02 Apr 2003 07:10:50 -0800
From: Alberto Monteiro > > >The laws are to protect humans, > > >not to harm robots.
David Brin wrote: > > And my point is that this is the wrong > > approach. Once they become smart they > > will become lawyers and interpret the > > 'laws' any way they wish. Which is > > exactly what happens in Isaac's universe. >
"G. D. Akin" wrote: > > The only instance I can think of off the top of my > head is Giskard's development of the "Zeroth Law" (snip) > > Are there other instances I've forgotten? > > George A >
What about the story where they installed a new control robot in an orbital power station, who then decided that humans were not the builders of robots (rather, they were co-creations of some greater being, to which the satellite was sending power), and that the technicians sent to install the robot were in no circumstances to be allowed near the controls of the station. The technicians decided in the end that the situation was OK because they weren't being threatened by the robot directly (it had to protect the creator's minions as per the 3 laws), and the robot kept the power beam on target during a bad solar storm, and had no signs of malfunction other than it's misguided conclusions.
I also remember a (very) short story where the Dr. Calvin had to kill one of the early robots because it had found a way around its 3-laws programming.
-- Matt
The first story is called "Reason. The latter one was called "Liar!" Both are in the book "I Robot". There's a minisynopsis of both at http://www.babesinspace.net/book/reviews/29.html
Both "Liar!" and Giskard involved telepathic robots.
Asimov also examined what happens if you redefine the meaning of "human being" to a robot in "Robots and Empire". Humans with a Solarian accent were defined as human. All others weren't.
Jon
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