I, Robot Technology and Modernization Quotes

How we cite our quotes: (Story title.paragraph)

Quote #4

When these stations were first established to feed solar energy to the planets, they were run by humans. However, the heat, the hard solar radiations, and the electron storms made the post a difficult one. Robots were developed to replace human labor and now only two human executives are required for each station. We are trying to replace even those, and that's where you come in. You're the highest type of robot ever developed and if you show the ability to run this station independently, no human need ever come here again except to bring parts for repairs. (Reason.24)

Besides giving us an understandable history of human space technology, this passage may hint at one other issue with technology: it often replaces or changes human occupations. Here's a whole space station that might be totally run by robots. What will the people do who used to have these jobs? Will their lives be better now that they aren't exposed to so much radiation?

Quote #5

There's still the possibility of a mechanical breakdown in the body. That leaves about fifteen hundred condensers, twenty thousand individual electric circuits, five hundred vacuum cells, a thousand relays, and upty-ump thousand other individual pieces of complexity that can be wrong. (Catch that Rabbit.47)

We're glad we don't have Powell and Donovan's job because robot technology is complicated. This comes up again in "Liar!" in regards to how complex the robot construction process is. And this is the only reason why we bring this quote up: robot minds may seem simple with only three laws, but robot bodies are very complicated. There's a whole lot of complexity that goes into making something like a robot.

Quote #6

Bogert relaxed into an undignified grin, "She's using lipstick, if that's what you mean." 

"Hell, I know that. Rouge, powder and eye shadow, too." (Liar.99-100)

Yes, it's the future, with all sorts of amazing new technologies—robots and taxi-gyros and space stations that beam power to Earth. But women still have lipstick and rouge and eye shadow—there's been no progress in that area. Maybe this comes from the fact that Asimov didn't really know about make-up. But we might argue that it shows how not everything progresses at the same rate. Or maybe a bit of both.