Title: I, Robot

Author: Isaac Asimov

Date of First Publication: 1950

Place of Publication: New York, NY: Gnome Press

Bibliographic Reference: isfdb

Type: Short story

Keywords: ANDROID; POSTHUMAN; SYMPATHETIC MONSTER; FRANKENSTEIN MONSTER

Critical Summary: Asimov’s collection of nine short stories investigates the possibilities of a future with extensive collaboration between humans and robots. All the stories are framed by a conversation between a journalist and Susan Calvin, a robopsychologist for the robot manufacturing company U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men, many years after the events in the stories have taken place. A motif in all nine of the stories is the Three Laws of Robotics: that a robot may not harm a human (or by inaction cause a human to come to harm), that a robot must obey all orders given to it by humans (insofar as it doesn’t conflict with the first law), and that a robot must not allow itself to come to harm (insofar as it doesn’t conflict with the first or second laws).

Many of the stories involve the characters attempting to outsmart their robot counterparts, relying heavily on the knowledge that these machines must obey the three laws of robotics.

A major theme represented in Asimov’s work and Shelley’s works is the concept of the created realizing they are superior to humans and trying to take control. In Frankenstein, the creature kills several human beings and threatens the life of his own creator. In I, Robot, the androids don’t directly harm the human beings, but this threat looms more subtly over the entire collection. Robots described in the text often surpass the human character’s understanding or expectation, and they must resort to outwitting the robot to restore balance. Additionally, there is an overarching fear that at some point the robots will be able to take full control over humanity and will replace humans as the superior beings. This same fear is displayed in Frankenstein when Victor refuses to make a mate for the creature, as he believes the creatures’ reproduction will bring about the destruction of human beings. Some of Asimov’s robots, like Victor Frankenstein’s Creature, are simply misunderstood, and are treated unfairly because of perceived danger. These misunderstood creations, like the Creature further, call on our sympathy.

Asimov invented the term “The Frankenstein Complex” to describe the human fear of an artificial intelligence; Asimov used the term to push away the fear of the “other” in Shelley’s story, valorizing progress and human ingenuity, even as that fear remains a potent motivating force in is stories.

Administrative Notes: Molly Robertson, CSUF. Entry Editors: Adriana Lora and Gareth O’Neal, CSUF