I, Robot




A few weeks ago we got started with one of Will Smith's sci-fi genre films Men In Black, but this week we watched, discussed, and reviewed another one of his sci-fi films I, Robot! It was interesting to look into the I, Robot series of short stories which the movie is very loosely based off of as well as diving into the I, Robot movie cast, our final opinion on our I, Robot movie review, and a few more topics! Make sure to listen to Chris and Sean on the full podcast episode (especially around the last 10 minutes, I was cracking up listening to them!)! Let's get going and travel into a futuristic film that shows us what might happen if society relied on robots!
I, Robot Series of Short Stories
Isaac Asimov

I think its appropriate this week to start with the loose origin of the I, Robot film and where some of its components came from.

We don't think that the I, Robot series of short stories (later compacted into a book) by Isaac Asimov gets enough credit for actually really influencing robotic story-telling themes for years to come within the sci-fi genre.

Ideas like the positronic brain that are part of Asimov's robots made its way to popular culture. Most prominently known would be Data in the series Star Trek The Next Generation.

In general, Asimov brought a lot of attention to the theme of robotic psychology and behavior (or robopsychology) with his short stories and character of Dr. Susan Calvin, who is termed as a robopsychologist. This theme has continued on and is prevalent in many story-telling media involving robots.

However, the most used idea in popular culture that came from Asimov's stories whether you realize it or not, are his three laws of robotics.

I, Robot and the Three Laws

I, Robot and the three laws of robotics that are showcased in the film are indeed originally from Asimov's I, Robot series of short stories. These include:

*  "A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction (doing nothing), allow a human being come to harm"
* "A robot must obey the orders given [to] it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law"
* "A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Laws"

We may not see a robot in popular culture specifically address these laws directly, but the underlying themes are there. How many times have we seen at minimum be told that no harm should come to humans as it is wrong to inflict pain injury to someone (although, sometimes the robots evolve like in this film and move beyond this rule deeming it necessary at some point).

Hopefully, by reading this and by now you realize what kind of influence Asimov and his writing had on the robotic sci-fi genre and appreciate the work he provided the world.




The I, Robot Movie Cast
Will Smith as detective Del Spooner
Will Smith starting his film career out with sci-fi / action adventure movies was a great move and choice on his part. He continued this trend with this sci-fi film.