How we cite our quotes: (Story title.paragraph)
Quote #7
But these incidents I have written up don't apply much to the modern world. I mean, there was only one mind-reading robot ever developed, and Space-Stations are already outmoded and in disuse, and robot mining is taken for granted. What about interstellar travel? It's only been about twenty years since the hyperatomic motor was invented and it's well known that it was a robotic invention. (Little Lost Robot.9)
The flip side of technology's advance is this: things are cool at first (space stations!) but then people start taking them for granted (eh, space stations) and we need new cool technology (hyperatomic drives!). In fact, this is kind of the interviewer in a nutshell—he's a young guy who was born into a world with robots, so he takes them for granted; whereas Calvin saw robots from their first humble beginnings and so doesn't take them for granted.
Quote #8
"You see, sir, Consolidated's machines, their Super-Thinker among them, are built without personality. They go in for functionalism, you know—they have to, without U. S. Robot's basic patents for the emotional brain paths. Their Thinker is merely a calculating machine on a grand scale, and a dilemma ruins it instantly." (Escape.30-1)
Near the end of the book, we finally get a little explanation of why the robots here are so emotional—it's part of their positronic brain (which is a patent owned by US Robots). But also, we see that this bit of technology isn't just for fun: US Robots makes emotional robots with personalities because it's helpful technology.
Quote #9
"By using human ova and hormone control, one can grow human flesh and skin over a skeleton of porous silicone plastics that would defy external examination. The eyes, the hair, the skin would be really human, not humanoid. And if you put a positronic brain, and such other gadgets as you might desire inside, you have a humanoid robot." (Evidence.157)
Lanning explains to Quinn how you could make a robot look like a human, which is not exactly acceptable technology. We pulled this quote for that reason: it's a reminder that technology can make things possible that we might want to avoid. But also, it's a little glimpse into other technological advances: we don't just have robots in this future, we have "hormone control" that can be used to grow a human-like body over "silicone plastics."