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Cardiff book club’s latest foray into classic science fiction was with I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov.1 Originally a set of short stories published in magazines in the 1940s, these were then combined into one book and connected by an interlinking story in which a writer interviews Dr Susan Calvin, a robopsychologist, about her career. It combines the futuristic nature of robotics with a definite feel of its time: everything is made of metal, humans are quite violent towards robots and having a woman scientist as the main character is mildly shocking.
I, Robot famously includes 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 …
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Competing interests None declared.
Provenance and peer review Commissioned; internally peer reviewed.
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