by Lacey Kat
Copyright (c) by Author 2010
Isaac Asimov, who by this time had already made a name in the industry, and who already had a sizable amount of work in print, thought that a collection of his stories would do well in hardback. Unfortunately, the larger, established, publishers wanted new works and not already published “magazine” stories. Not all were this short-sighted, and Martin Greenberg, (note: Not the Martin H. Greenberg Asimov teamed with later in his career) of Gnome Press, was a Sci- Fi fan who saw the value of Asimov’s work. Along with the “Foundation” series, he printed nine of Asimov’s robot stories under the title of “I, Robot.”
The stories that make up “I, Robot,” were, with one exception, originally published in Astounding Science Fiction Magazine between 1941 and 1950. The only exception was “Robbie,” which was Asimov’s first robot story, and published under the title “Strange Playfellow” in Super Science Stories in 1940.
Rather than just present the stories between two covers Asimov decided to weave them together under a theme. That theme was his favorite character, the noted “Robopsychologist,” Susan Calvin. The idea was that Dr. Calvin was finally retiring from U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men. A reporter is sent to interview her and wants to get the “human-interest” angle out of the woman most people thought of as “a robot in human skin.” She proceeds to tell the young reporter a series of stories covering her remarkable career. These stories make up the book “I, Robot.”
The stories were altered by Asimov to fit the theme he created for the book, and to remove any inconsistencies between the previously published stories. Dates were established along Dr. Calvin’s lifetime and “historic” events were either spoken of directly (as the case of the third World War in 1982) or alluded too (as the establishment of unnamed colonies on other worlds and the development of hyperdrive technology).
In some cases, Dr. Calvin was written into the story where she was not before. For example, in “Robbie” there is a scene where a young Susan Calvin is in the room when Gloria, the child protagonist of the story, comes in to ask the “talking robot” on display for the location of her robot friend. The scene was added to imply that this exchange was what pushed a young Susan toward an education in robotics. In reality, the character of Susan Calvin did not exist in Asimov’s mind when he wrote the original story.
Some of the tales were altered to reflect the developing talent of the author. In “Liar!,” the first story to feature Susan Calvin, Asimov dealt with a relationship between the sexes. However, at the time, the bright and talented author had no experience in this subject. By the time “I, Robot” was put together, Asimov was far more educated on the subject of women and the story was extensively rewritten for the book.
The original title for the collection was to be “Mind and Iron.” Martin Greenberg, however, rejected that title and suggested the book be called “I, Robot.” Asimov cringed at this idea because in 1938 Eando Binder wrote a short story called “I, Robot,” and felt that he was stealing from another author. Mr. Greenberg “colorfully” dismissed this ill-placed loyalty and the title was changed. Some years later there was a television play of Binder’s robot story and several fans wrote Asimov about some joker who stole his title. Asimov, being a man of honor, wrote back to each of them explaining the situation. Postage was a lot cheaper back then.
The book opens with the framing story of the interplanetary reporter interviewing Susan Calvin on her retirement from U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men. She gives a quick history of the “anti-robot” feeling on earth and how they have impacted the development of robot technology and history. This leads to the first of Asimov’s robot stories, Robbie.
Robbie was the first robot story that Asimov wrote. However, it was hard to sell. It was a sentimental story about a nonverbal robot who was the “nursemaid” to a young girl named Gloria. The father sees no problem because the robot is built with safeguards. He refers to the “First Law of Robotics,” which makes it impossible for a robot to harm a human being. His wife is not so comfortable with that “terrible machine,” and laments that even the neighbors will not let their children go near the house at night. In this story, Asimov introduces his readers to the concept of the “Frankenstein Complex,” the ridiculousness of it, and he hints that there are safeguards that can be built into a machine to make it safe. He also introduces the word “Robotics” into the English language. Not many authors can claim to have invented a word. Asimov can.
The next story in the collection is called “Runaround,” and though it is the second story in the book it was the fourth robot story Asimov wrote. It dealt with the exploits of two recurrent characters, Michael Donovan and Gregory Powell, who are field testers for new robots. Published in March of 1941, it was the first story to list the Three Laws of Robotics explicitly. It was also the first story to use the interplay of the laws as the catalyst for the plot.
In “Runaround,” Powell and Donovan are stationed on Mercury and need one of their robots to go on the Sun side (we did not know Mercury rotated back then) and gather selenium needed for the station’s power supply. The robot suffers a mechanical problem and is walking in circles as a conflict arises between the second law requiring him to obey orders and the third law which ensure self-preservation. Powell and Donovan must decide how to save the robot and themselves.
The third story is called “Reason,” and it is actually the second story that Asimov wrote. Knowing Campbell’s penchant for introducing religious motifs into stories, Asimov originally introduced Powell and Donovan who must deal with a robot who refused to believe that he had been created by man, but must have been created by some godlike entity. John Campbell liked it and published it in the April 1941 issue of “Astounding Science Fiction.” This was a big boost to Asimov who’s first story, Robbie (published under the title of “Strange Playfellow”) was not accepted by Campbell and appeared in a smaller magazine. “Reason” got a wider reading and the Sci-Fi community became aware of the idea of “positronic robots.” This marked a fundamental change in the way Sci-Fi authors looked at the idea of mechanical men.
The fourth story is the third Powell/Donovan adventure and it is called “Catch That Rabbit.” It deals with a new robot that controls six subsidiary robots to mine an asteroid. The problem is that without supervision the main robot orders his “appendages” to twiddle their time away. Powell and Donovan must figure out why this happens and how to correct it using the three laws.
“Liar!” was the third robot story Asimov wrote and the first to include his favorite character, Dr. Susan Calvin. Being unmarried at this time, and not too experienced with women, Calvin was written as the typical spinster female scientist. In the story involves a robot who, through a mechanical error, is able to read minds. The story also introduces the three laws that would be called Asimov’s “Three Laws of Robotics.” While not explicitly spelled out as they were in “Runaround,” they are presented with enough detail to drive the story. The robot must deal with the fact that it cannot hurt a human (or a human’s feelings) but knows, through telepathy, secrets that, if revealed, would hurt.
[Side note: This story introduced the idea that a robot could be telepathic, and that became an important plot device in Asimov’s future Robot Novels.]
The sixth story in the collection is called “Little Lost Robot,” and it shows that although the three laws can protect a person from harm, it does not mean that a robot cannot present a problem. On an off-world research station, a robot is told to, “get lost.” It does this by blending in with a new shipment of robots and planning to return to earth on its own. Dr. Calvin must figure out how to make this robot reveal its identity before it becomes a fugitive.
“Escape!” had originally been published in the August 1945 edition of “Astounding.” For some reason Campbell changed the title to “Paradoxical Escape,” which irritated Asimov to no end (he almost never liked when an editor changed his story titles). It deals not with a robot, but with an immobile machine (later to be called computers) that still has a positronic brain and is ruled by the three laws. U.S. Robotics asks it to build a hyperatomic drive motor and Dr. Calvin uses her knowledge of robopsychology to ensure the “brain” does not break down. Once the ship is completed Donovan and Powell are called in to test the ship out. This turns out to be the death of them, so to speak. It was the last story Asimov wrote to feature this team and Susan Calvin took over as the central character in this phase of Asimov’ robot stories.
“Evidence,” is the eighth story in this collection and it is different in many ways from Asimov’s other robot stories. In it he presents the possibility of a “humana-form robot.” This is a robot that on the outside looks human. In all of his earlier stories, and the immediate later ones, the robots were large, very mechanical, and obviously not human. The idea that a robot could be made to look and act human was not a new idea in literature, but Asimov, being the scientist that he was, knew that the ability to do this was far in future. His robots were robots and acted as such. In “Evidence” an up and coming politician is accused by his rival of being a robot. At this time robots are all but banned on earth even though they are used extensively in space. Dr. Calvin is called in to see if she can identify if Stephen Byerley is a man or a machine. The beauty of the story is that it is never positively answered. It also sets the stage for the final story ion the collection, not to mention the first robot novels Asimov will soon write. “Evidence” appeared in the September 1946 edition of “Astounding Science Fiction.”
The last story in this collection is called “Evitable Conflict,” and it is a sequel to “Evidence.”
It is the first story that Asimov wrote that had only computers, or “machines” as he called them, in the story. In the future, the world is divided not into nations, but into regions. Each region supplies humankind with the materials that it best can. The task of running all of this production is turned over, in large part, to the “machines,” because it is more efficient that way. However, someone has noticed that small problems are developing. And they are only developing in areas run by men who are hostile to machines. Could the machines of the world be arranging things so that men hostile to them are “fired” and replaced with more machine friendly managers? In the name of what is good for man, are the machines trying to take over? Dr. Susan Calvin is called in to investigate. The problem is, who’s side is Dr. Calvin on?
The book ends with an added paragraph on the death of Susan Calvin shortly after her retirement.
These are not the last of the robot stories of course, or of Dr. Calvin. But that should be saved for “The Rest of the Robots.”
As stated before, these stories were altered to fit into this book. If you want to read the original stories, unaltered for the most part, I would suggest “The Complete Robot,” published by Doubleday in 1982 and still in print at this time. Other than that this is a very good introduction to the writing of Isaac Asimov and I would recommend it to anyone. The stories are sharp with memorable characters and a good way to get your feet wet in the Asimov universe.
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