Scan barcode
momotan's review against another edition
4.0
Ormai è risaputo: non sopporto i racconti.
Perché mi appassiono alle storie, e queste finiscono subito; perché mi lasciano un senso di incompiuto, di non detto; perché se non fatti davvero molto bene, mi risultano incompleti, monchi, non mi prendono.
Ci sono però delle eccezioni.
Lovecraft, per esempio. O Dino Buzzati.
E devo dire che mi è piaciuto davvero molto anche Isaac Asimov, con questi suoi racconti.
Probabilmente perché a parte Robbie, raccolto introduttivo della raccolta e che serve a farci conoscere il contesto, poi abbiamo dei personaggi ricorrenti in tutti gli altri racconti. Quando i due sfortunati collaudatori sul campo Donovan e Powell, quando la psicologa Calvin e il responsabile Bogert, o Byerley, o il vecchio direttore Lanning.
O forse perché visti nell'insieme ci danno una panoramica dell'evoluzione della robotica, delle migliorie, delle scoperte, dei mutamenti nel modo in cui l'umanità vede i robot.
E i robot stessi ci vengono mostrati in crescendo.
Il robot babysitter, con il forte legame instauratosi nei confronti della padroncina.
Il robot testato su Mercurio, dove scopriamo le Tre Leggi della Robotica e il duo di collaudatori sul campo.
Il robot progettato per occuparsi di una stazione spaziale e per dirigere altri robot mostra una mente filosofica che lo porta a dubitare di ciò che i suoi creatori gli dicono, e sviluppa un suo culto, basandosi sulla scala di poteri di ciò che lo circonda.
Il robot multiplo, che controlla altri sei robot sue estensioni.
Il robot in grado di sentire i pensieri degli umani, e vittima delle Leggi della Robotica applicate al campo della mente.
Il robot modificato, che ci mostra i pericoli conseguenti una certa noncuranza nei confronti delle Leggi da parte dei programmatori.
Il robot "Cervello", che è privo di un vero corpo ma ha una capacità di elaborazione straordinaria, al quale si tenterà di far risolvere il problema dei viaggi interstellari.
La possibilità che un robot si mimetizzi completamente tra gli esseri umani.
E infine, l'esistenza delle Macchine, supercalcolatori che guidano e consigliano i supergoverni territoriali su ogni aspetto della vita economica e industriale.
Una visione delle intelligenze artificiali francamente affascinante.
E più di una volta ho esclamato "ma chissà perché quegli stupidi ingegneri di Caprica non hanno inserito queste leggi a forza nei primi Cylons!"
Perché mi appassiono alle storie, e queste finiscono subito; perché mi lasciano un senso di incompiuto, di non detto; perché se non fatti davvero molto bene, mi risultano incompleti, monchi, non mi prendono.
Ci sono però delle eccezioni.
Lovecraft, per esempio. O Dino Buzzati.
E devo dire che mi è piaciuto davvero molto anche Isaac Asimov, con questi suoi racconti.
Probabilmente perché a parte Robbie, raccolto introduttivo della raccolta e che serve a farci conoscere il contesto, poi abbiamo dei personaggi ricorrenti in tutti gli altri racconti. Quando i due sfortunati collaudatori sul campo Donovan e Powell, quando la psicologa Calvin e il responsabile Bogert, o Byerley, o il vecchio direttore Lanning.
O forse perché visti nell'insieme ci danno una panoramica dell'evoluzione della robotica, delle migliorie, delle scoperte, dei mutamenti nel modo in cui l'umanità vede i robot.
E i robot stessi ci vengono mostrati in crescendo.
Il robot babysitter, con il forte legame instauratosi nei confronti della padroncina.
Il robot testato su Mercurio, dove scopriamo le Tre Leggi della Robotica e il duo di collaudatori sul campo.
Il robot progettato per occuparsi di una stazione spaziale e per dirigere altri robot mostra una mente filosofica che lo porta a dubitare di ciò che i suoi creatori gli dicono, e sviluppa un suo culto, basandosi sulla scala di poteri di ciò che lo circonda.
Il robot multiplo, che controlla altri sei robot sue estensioni.
Il robot in grado di sentire i pensieri degli umani, e vittima delle Leggi della Robotica applicate al campo della mente.
Il robot modificato, che ci mostra i pericoli conseguenti una certa noncuranza nei confronti delle Leggi da parte dei programmatori.
Il robot "Cervello", che è privo di un vero corpo ma ha una capacità di elaborazione straordinaria, al quale si tenterà di far risolvere il problema dei viaggi interstellari.
La possibilità che un robot si mimetizzi completamente tra gli esseri umani.
E infine, l'esistenza delle Macchine, supercalcolatori che guidano e consigliano i supergoverni territoriali su ogni aspetto della vita economica e industriale.
Una visione delle intelligenze artificiali francamente affascinante.
E più di una volta ho esclamato "ma chissà perché quegli stupidi ingegneri di Caprica non hanno inserito queste leggi a forza nei primi Cylons!"
worldofjoel's review against another edition
2.0
I was fortunate that when I sat down to read Isaac Asimov's I, Robot I was warned that it has almost nothing in common with the movie which came out almost a decade ago. Instead, I, Robot is a series of short stories about the rise of robots in our world. The first thing that struck me was how prescient I, Robot is now 70 years after the books initial release. It feels like it could have been written in 2017.
Really if I was to boil down I, Robot to its most basic form is that it has a set of rules in which all robots must abide by. "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 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 Law." And the entire novel is a string of short stories that test, twist, and push the boundaries of these rules in interesting ways.
I, Robot almost reads like a philosophy lesson on artificial intelligence. And at first, I was eating it all up. The first story, titled Robby was one of my favorites. It's about a robot early on that couldn't talk and be made to just be a young child's friend. It was such a simple and profound tale that was easy to follow. But as the stories and the timeline progress the book becomes harder and harder to follow and by the end of I, Robot I felt like I just got out of a whirlwind of a lecture and I'll need a lot of time to try and wrap my head around it all.
Much of I, Robot is using interesting story beats to test the three rules of robotics and to challenge the reader about whether or not these rules are sufficient. By the end I was done, I had little to no interest in what was happening, and the plot device had worn thin. It wasn't a bad novel, but it definitely wasn't a novel that I "enjoyed".
Really if I was to boil down I, Robot to its most basic form is that it has a set of rules in which all robots must abide by. "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 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 Law." And the entire novel is a string of short stories that test, twist, and push the boundaries of these rules in interesting ways.
I, Robot almost reads like a philosophy lesson on artificial intelligence. And at first, I was eating it all up. The first story, titled Robby was one of my favorites. It's about a robot early on that couldn't talk and be made to just be a young child's friend. It was such a simple and profound tale that was easy to follow. But as the stories and the timeline progress the book becomes harder and harder to follow and by the end of I, Robot I felt like I just got out of a whirlwind of a lecture and I'll need a lot of time to try and wrap my head around it all.
Much of I, Robot is using interesting story beats to test the three rules of robotics and to challenge the reader about whether or not these rules are sufficient. By the end I was done, I had little to no interest in what was happening, and the plot device had worn thin. It wasn't a bad novel, but it definitely wasn't a novel that I "enjoyed".
sammanics's review against another edition
3.0
I remember when my father used to read these to me before bed. The stories are still intriguing and and now that I am older I can better appreciate the concepts that Asimov brings up concerning the potential of AI robotics in a human world in a remarkably precise and theoretically realistic situations and moral dilemmas.
lorettarm's review against another edition
4.0
Esperaba más acción robotística y menos "vamos a platicar con el robot", but I guess that's the philosophical appeal to it.
shazish's review against another edition
4.0
Engaging piece of fiction, with a lot of puzzling moments. One can enjoy how Asimov's creative mind imagined the relationship between human and computer/robot world at this day and age. A few examples are when robot experts are unable to intercept robots' positronic communications, or similarly when robots literally died in dilemma situations that put human life at risk.
omills's review against another edition
3.0
I liked the logic problems of following the three laws
The three laws of robotics are the subject of every substory and it is great. I loved how they played into the problems presented. (My favorite was the mind reading machine.)
The three laws of robotics are the subject of every substory and it is great. I loved how they played into the problems presented. (My favorite was the mind reading machine.)
itscharee's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
informative
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
maddiejuly's review against another edition
4.0
Love this style of storytelling. “Liar” and “Evidence” were especially fantastic
yvetteadams's review against another edition
4.0
I had no idea this was a book, let alone a book written in the 1940s! That just blew me away. The short stories are different to the story in the movie, but the three laws of robotics are exactly the same. Four stars for this book. Not for the writing as such, but for the brilliant concept and clever storylines which tested the laws of robotics.
geniusscientist's review against another edition
1.0
I listened to this book because I feel like I needed to read some Asimov. It was AWFUL. I HATED it. I understand that sometimes one has to be forgiving with science fiction written years ago, but come ON. Everything just pissed me off. Especially the gender roles. It was . . . ridiculous. I'd forgive it in a book that was written in the '50s that was supposed to take place in the '50s, but this guy couldn't imagine that maybe, just maybe, fifty years in the future, if we had invented robits that could talk and walk and mine asteroids and whatnot, there might be some women who are both intelligent, AND capable of a successful romantic relationship? That the man might not be the de facto head of every household? Jeezy creezy.
And the application of the "three rules of robotics" was fucking stupid also. It was like each story was a little exercise in logic, so we could figure out which harebrained application of the three laws was leading to this particular robot's apparently aberrant behavior.
Oh man just thinking about this book is making me angry all over again. I honestly don't see how this book can still be considered a classic of science fiction. It may have been important in its time, but it is utterly useless now. It shows us nothing about the nature of humanity, which is what good scifi is supposed to do. All the men in Asimov's future are hotheaded jackasses, and all the women -- oh excuse me I mean all BOTH of them -- are shrews.
I want to read more Asimov just to give him a chance -- he is an important author after all -- but I also don't feel like getting all pissed off again. So we'll see.
And the application of the "three rules of robotics" was fucking stupid also. It was like each story was a little exercise in logic, so we could figure out which harebrained application of the three laws was leading to this particular robot's apparently aberrant behavior.
Oh man just thinking about this book is making me angry all over again. I honestly don't see how this book can still be considered a classic of science fiction. It may have been important in its time, but it is utterly useless now. It shows us nothing about the nature of humanity, which is what good scifi is supposed to do. All the men in Asimov's future are hotheaded jackasses, and all the women -- oh excuse me I mean all BOTH of them -- are shrews.
I want to read more Asimov just to give him a chance -- he is an important author after all -- but I also don't feel like getting all pissed off again. So we'll see.