"I, Robot" movie

External Since: Apr 14, 2004 Posts: 1

I assume you all have seen the trailer. If you're anything like me
(lifelong fan of IA's short stories), I suppose I can assume you're
equally angry about the way the movie perverts Asimov's masterpiece.
And so I've created a small petition to allow us to vent a bit of our
anger.

The petition is as follows:

"I, Robot" was a collection of previously published short stories by
Isaac Asimov in which a connective thread of a old roboticist conveyed
the history of robots within her life to a reporter. The most central
feature of nearly all the stories are the three laws of robotics,
which are:

"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 orders given to 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 the Second Law."

Another overriding theme throughout the stories is the general
mistrust of robots by most of society, while the narrator and the
stories she tells portray how the robots are, in fact, fundmentally
good. Indeed, she remarks she has found their company to be preferable
to humans. In the final story, humans have become dependent on massive
robot machines which, through the laws, lead Earth into an era of
greater peace and prosperity. In short, the robots are the good guys.

The line "laws were made to be broken" has been used in connection
with the film. However, rather than societal laws humans are more or
less free to break and accept punishment for, they are laws in the
sense of the Law of Gravity; it is impossible for a robot to act in
conflict with the three laws. The three laws are the robot—their
positronic brains cannot function outside of them.

The upcoming movie "I, Robot" claims to be based on this novel.
However, the film takes more than the usual creative liberties... it
in fact portrays the exact opposite of the message of the novel! The
novel paints a picture of a world that cruelly distrusts undeserving
robots. The filmmakers, apparently, wished to have a movie about a
robot revolution. This ordinarily would be acceptable—it is a common
concept and I have nothing against it. What makes the novel "I, Robot"
different is that is shows something completely different: a world
afraid of a robot revolution that never happens and never will.
Therefore, the upcoming film is in no way based on the story or the
message of the novel (apart from "having some robots in it") and
should not share the same name.

End petition.

If you're remotely interested in preserving Asimov's message and
Asimov's works, please sign it.

http://www.petitiononline.com/Asimov31

External Since: Jul 29, 2003 Posts: 54

A few comments, interspersed with some selected text.

pk wrote:
> I assume you all have seen the trailer.

Actually, I haven't, but a friend of mine has.

> Another overriding theme throughout the stories is the general
> mistrust of robots by most of society, while the narrator and the
> stories she tells portray how the robots are, in fact, fundmentally
> good. Indeed, she remarks she has found their company to be preferable
> to humans. In the final story, humans have become dependent on massive
> robot machines which, through the laws, lead Earth into an era of
> greater peace and prosperity. In short, the robots are the good guys.

That phrase "have become dependent" carries negative connotations. If
I agreed with it, I would not conclude that the robots were "the good
guys." I would conclude that they have adapted us, possibly to our
detriment. You might say "rely on" as a more neutral way to express
much the same thing.

> The line "laws were made to be broken" has been used in connection
> with the film. However, rather than societal laws humans are more or
> less free to break and accept punishment for, they are laws in the
> sense of the Law of Gravity; it is impossible for a robot to act in
> conflict with the three laws. The three laws are the robot--their
> positronic brains cannot function outside of them.

I do not agree with your characterization of the three laws as being
similar to Newton's law of gravity or his three laws of motion. Those
laws are simply a description of the way that Nature behaves. They
are not design requirements. If Nature detectably behaved some other
way, Newton would have written a different set of laws. In fact, she
does behave differently, but in so subtle a way that it took a couple
of centuries before we found out.

On the other hand, Asimov's laws *are* design requirements. The laws
are not simply an observer's description of the way robots behave, but
are taken into account when designing them. In a way, that means we
know more about the robots, but as any computer programmer knows, it
opens the possibility for completely unforeseen consequences. Asimov
wrote many stories in which a conflict arises within three laws which,
on the face of it, do not appear to admit of conflicts.

I do disagree with the assertion that laws were made to be broken. It
has always seemed like an excuse to break a law that others follow.
But because of the way Asimov's laws are used in the stories, I also
disagree that robots are incapable of acting in conflict with them. I
would say that they are only incapable of doing so when the three laws
themselves do not conflict (and conceivably not even then).

> The upcoming movie "I, Robot" claims to be based on this novel.

I have heard a rumor (possibly here on this newsgroup--I don't recall)
that work on the movie was already well under way before someone noticed
that there was an Asimov book by the same name. Is that so?

Brian Tung <brian RemoveThis @isi.edu>
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