Review/Critique: I, Robot

I, Robot

Isaac Asimov

"The Three Laws of Robotics:

1: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm;

2: A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law;

3: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law."

Review/Critique: I had really high hopes going into I, Robot. It's one of the cornerstone AI novels, a must read for anyone looking to dive into the evolution of Science Fiction. Unfortunately though, unlike most everything else I've consumed that helped lay the groundwork for an entire genre, "I, Robot" feels incredibly dated and out of touch. Now I know that this shouldn't come as a surprise. The stories in "I, Robot" were released up to seventy years ago, in the 1940s and 1950s. Keep in mind though that I am taking that fact into account when giving my final judgement. I'm not comparing it to books or movies nowadays that deal with AI, as those obviously have years of works (including this one) to pull from. I'm comparing it to similarly old or older pieces that were also highly influential for their time. With that in mind, I think "I, Robot" is a book that has a decent number of good ideas, but ultimately does not stand the test of time as well as similarly influential books.

         I think what ended up really solidifying my opinion on "I, Robot" was the last short story of the bunch. See, each chapter in "I, Robot" is a different short story published by Asimov that when read linearly forms a somewhat coherent narrative of the evolution of AI. This general narrative is somewhat interesting, and seeing different robot psychologists solve puzzles as to why certain robots are acting certain ways is a good deal of fun. The story ends though with twenty pages of exposition on topics that are wholly uninteresting. It sees one character we barely know talking with a bunch of other world leaders we don't know or care about at all for far too long. It's pretty much just twenty pages of exposition on the state of planet earth, something that could be interesting had Asmiov chosen to present it in any way other than two characters talking. I wanted to focus on this chapter not only because it was my least favorite, but also because I think it's a great chapter to analyze since it showcases every problem I have with the rest of the book, dialed up to eleven.

         The biggest problem I have with "I, Robot", is that it spends far too much time trying to work shoddy science and politics into its narrative. It may have worked too, were these not aspects that always age poorly in older pieces of media. Hearing different characters talk to each other about shipping containers, assembly lines, positronic brains, natural gas collection, all gets incredibly old and tiresome considering none of it is at all relevant today. It's not the fun kind of dated either where there are flying cars and people who shoot laser beams from their energy goggles, it's the boring kind of dated where old people talk logistics and economy. This stuff ages so poorly because it's not just boring, it doesn't make sense with the knowledge we have now. I would say that the book's better when the robot psychologists do their thing, having to figure out why robots are acting weird in accordance with the first three laws of robotics, but even then many of the answers feel like a big question mark. Often times when characters have their "aha" moment where they solve the mystery, the answers ends up being really boring or so convoluted that you just have more questions than you started with. These short stories are much better than the ones that deal with the economy or the populous, they just still rarely left me satisfied. It doesn't help either that many of the issues the better short stories deal with have been copied and repeated to death.

Recommendation: In all honesty, I wouldn't say to steer clear of "I, Robot" or Asimov's works for that matter entirely. Some of the short stories are genuinely really good and present interesting ideas in a cool way, (ie. "Robbie", "Reason" and "Liar!"). These I would recommend you read and think you would really like. I've also heard that much of Asimov's other short stories are far better than those in this novel. As for this book though, as for "I, Robot" in its entirety from start to finish, I can really only recommend it to the most die hard of Sci-Fi fans. It isn't a book with no merit and I can see how people really like it, I just think that it's incredibly overshadowed. Whether you want to read something that paved the way for its genre, or you want to read an interesting AI tale that presents fresh engaging ideas, there are better choices.

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And that's my review of "I, Robot"! The review of "Nier; Automata" will be coming out in the next few days.

Until then!