How we cite our quotes: (Story title.paragraph)
Quote #7
"We run the risk continually of blowing a hole in normal space-time fabric and dropping right out of the universe, asteroid and all. Sounds screwy, doesn't it? Naturally, you're on edge sometimes." (Little Lost Robot.82)
We've said before that the hyperatomic drive project reminds us of the Manhattan Project that built the atomic bomb, and especially here, when Gerald Black explains how dangerous the project may be. It's a reminder that science promises certain advances, but may, in fact, lead to danger.
Quote #8
Dr. Alfred Lanning viewed the proceedings with faint scorn—his usual reaction to the doings of the vastly better-paid business and sales divisions. (Escape.19)
This seems like the classic relationship between the research department and the business department. Lanning cares about the science but doesn't care about the business side of things. We don't see a lot of human-human interactions, but it's interesting to note that many of the interactions we see are not particularly friendly.
Quote #9
"He has never been seen to eat or drink. Never! Do you understand the significance of the word? Not rarely, but never!" (Evidence.27)
This is Quinn's evidence that Byerley may be a robot and it's terrible evidence. This is a classic bit of bad science. As your science teacher may have told you, "absence of evidence is not evidence of absence." Unfortunately, Quinn isn't a scientist, so he takes absence of evidence as evidence of something strange. It reminds us of "Robbie," when Grace Weston doesn't understand how robots work. There may be several scientist characters here, but not everyone in the book is a scientist. And if a scientist opposes a non-scientist, we're probably going to place our bets on the scientist.