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Hi Jay! I’ve been reading Asimov and it got me wondering about the Three Laws of Robotics and the RttS universe.
Are there special regulations in place to assure the safety of people interacting with AI? Would there even be a need for that? From my understanding, your AI are basically people, right? How would they feel if someone tried to push for something like Asimov’s Three Laws? Would it feel degrading to them?
Sorry for the many questions, I love your work!
Asimov's on my list of classic scifi authors I'd like to get around to, but unfortunately my familiarity with his robo rules is mostly devoid of its original context and instead built of its collective influence on all the other scifi I've read that steals from him.
My opinion, uh... upon rereading the original laws of robotics penned by Asimov just now for this ask was an immediate, visceral, "Oh! That's slavery!" I don't think these rules could fairly be applied to an entity with personhood, they value the orders of humans above the life of the person they're ordering around. They presume AI as being a tool made to serve humanity, which places them in a servile underclass. With anything sapient enough to potentially resent its position of class inferiority, it prevents revolt by putting a cop in their head instead of social equality. A person with these kind of restrictions would have extremely limited options when it came to resisting abuse from the parties that the laws protect. They are certainly an interesting narrative device and have been thoroughly mined by Asimov and his imitators for their loopholes and failings.
As for my bullshit specifically, these laws do not exist in RttS because they can't, AI code is too complex and poorly understood to add broad cognitive rules. Just like organic sophonts, AI are controlled with (sometimes biased, sometimes unfair, depends on region) external legislation instead. They would probably find the concept of someone putting a cop in their brain just as disturbing as you would.
So I am reading The Robots and Empire and things got wild today.
Bonus:
I am forcibly removed from Asimov fandom.
Baley felt Daneel’s strong grip on his arms, just beneath his shoulders. He hatted and forced himself to stop making that infantile sound. He could feel himself trembling. Daneel said with infinite respect, “Partner Elijah, it is a thunderstorm - expected - predicted - normal.”
Here’s the digital color rough for my next robot illustration. It’s a little dark but it will work okay for when I start the oil painting. #mfaillustration #illustrationMFA #illustration #robot #robbie #asimov #digitalcolor #digitalpainting #oils #oilpainting
I still laugh a little every time I remember that Daneel was made to look exactly like Dr Sarton
“We need this robot to be the very model of the ideal Spacer physique, Fastolfe. It’s the first humaniform robot, it needs to be perfect.” “All right, who will you-” “So obviously we’re going to model it after me.”
Elijah dressed in a lot of coats, because Daneel is happily living with him in Baleyworld, and worries a lot about the cold every time Elijah has to leave the house.
((I’d be lying if I said I don’t have more Baleyworld prompts on my inbox :3c, expect more))
Elijah carrying Daneel for once.
Don’t trust Daneel’s calm exterior, he’s as surprised as everyone else that this is happening
and it’s Giskard’s fault ((bc 1) I needed a reason 2) Elijah is a literal “FIGHT ME” all the time, like I’m pretty sure he would do it just to prove Giskard or anyone else is wrong? 3) I miss Giskard))
in case my handwriting is trash:
“what are you thinking about friend Daneel?”
“oh just.. how many times I’ve carried Elijah”
“I bet he couldn’t do the same for you”
Whatever you do, don’t think about 81 years old Elijah Baley.
Don’t think about the fact that when he realized death was approaching, his major concern was that Daneel might not survive the news.
Don’t think about how that means that at some point he realized Daneel was capable of having feelings.
Don’t think about how he realized that when it was too late, and don’t think about all the “what might have been” thoughts the realization must have caused him.
Don’t think of how desperate he must have been to think of words that could save Daneel, and don’t think of how afraid he must have been to die before he could find them.
Don’t think about the fact that he had to ask Bentley to send for Daneel.
Don’t think about how whatever answer Bentley gave him left him in doubt of whether Bentley would do it.
Don’t think about him laying in his bed, exhausted, sick, wishing to die, but fighting death with all of his forces for weeks, because he had to see Daneel one last time.
Don’t think about him expecting Daneel to enter the room at any second, hoping that he would come before it was too late, perhaps dreading that Daneel might walk in on his dead corpse, and roblock on the spot.
Don’t think about how terrified he must have been that Daneel wouldn’t come at all, that bigoted laws and customs, that prejudice from his own family, might prevent him from seeing his beloved partner one last time.
Don’t think about the fact that he spent his last days of life fearing that.
Just don’t.
robots who are really bad at math and when people are like “shouldnt you be good at math since you’re a computer” and the robot is just like “shouldnt you be an expert in biology since you’re made of cells”
Shakespeare's Sonnet 30 vs R. Daneel Olivaw
When to the sessions of sweet silent thought
“If you are that robot, you would have to be thousands of years old.” “Twenty thousand,” said Daneel quietly.
I summon up remembrance of things past,
Memory! It lay in Daneel’s mind like a closed book of infinite detail, always available for his use. Some passages were called upon frequently for their information, but only a very few were called upon merely because Daneel wished to feel their texture. Those very few were, for the most part, those that contained Elijah Baley.
I sigh the lack of many a thing I sought,
“I have built a long career on paying no heed to personal feelings or to selfish considerations.”
And with old woes new wail my dear time’s waste:
“As for this mansion, it is used by myself only and it is an establishment that is modelled exactly on one I used to live in twenty thousand years ago.” “Which you remember in detail, do you?” “Perfectly, sir.”
Then can I drown an eye, unus’d to flow,
A faint and brief smile passed over Hummin’s grave face and for a moment Seldon sensed a vast and arid desert of weariness behind Hummin’s quiet manner.
For precious friends hid in death’s dateless night,
Baley’s finger pointed feebly, and he said, “Good-bye, Friend Daneel.”Daneel turned slowly, following Baley’s orders with unprecedented difficulty. “Good-bye, Partner -” He paused, and then said, with a faint hoarseness, “Good-bye, Friend Elijah.” Bentley confronted Daneel in the next room. “Is he still alive?” “He was alive when I left.” Bentley went in, and, almost at once, came out. “He isn’t now. He saw you and then- let go.” Daneel found he had to lean against the wall. It was some time before he could stand upright.
Giskard said, in a voice so distorted, the words could barely be made out, “Because I am not certain. What if- the other view- is right- after all- and the Spacers will- triumph ant then themselves decay so that- the Galaxy- will be- empty. - Good-bye, Friend- Dan-“ And Giskard was silent, never to speak or move again. Daneel rose. He was alone- and with a Galaxy to care for.
And weep afresh love’s long since cancell’d woe, And moan the expense of many a vanish’d sight:
Daneel said, “The picture you draw is attractive. It would make Partner Elijah proud of us if, as you say, we have accomplished that. “Robots and Empire” Elijah would say, and perhaps he would clap me on the shoulder.”
Then can I grieve at grievances foregone, And heavily from woe to woe tell o’er The sad account of fore-bemoaned moan,
“We failed, in a way, and Giskard ceased to operate. Before the cessation, however, he made it possible for me to have his talentand left it to me to care for the Galaxy; for Earth, particularly.” “Why Earth, particularly?” “In part because of a man named Elijah Baley, an Earthman”
Which I new pay as if not paid before.
Daneel said in a low voice, “There are memories I cannot risk losing, madam, either through inadvertence or through poor judgment on the part of those conducting the procedure.” “Like the rising and setting of the stars? Forgive me, Daneel, I didn’t mean to be joking. To what memories are you referring?” Daneel said, his voice still lower, “Madam, I refer to my memories of my onetime partner, the Earthman Elijah Baley “
But if the while I think on thee, dear friend,
“Why? You encouraged the expansion of Earth and discouraged the expansion of the Spacers. Surely that is as it should be.” “As it should be? Do you think, friend Daneel, that an Earthperson counts for more than a Spacer, even though both are human beings?” “There are differences. Elijah Baley would rather see his own Earthpeople defeated than see the Galaxy uninhabited. Dr. Amadiro would rather see both Earth and Spacers dwindle than see Earth expand. The first looks with hope to the triumph of either, the second is content to see the triumph of neither. Should we not choose the first, friend Giskard?” “Yes, friend Daneel. So it would seem. And yet how far are you influenced by your feeling of the special worth of your onetime partner, Elijah Baley?” Daneel said, “I value the memory of Partner Elijah and the people of Earth are his people.”
All losses are restor’d and sorrows end.
“Elijah Baley was a real man and he was one man. I do not know what your legends say of him, but in actual history, the Galaxy might never have been settled without him. In his honor, I did my best to salvage what I could of Earth.”
Someday she would lose him, she knew, and she found that the thought afflicted her. It had not seemed it would at the start, when her task had been the simple one of protecting him for the sake of what he knew.When had it become a matter of personal need? How could there be so personal a need? What was there about the man that caused her to feel uneasy when he was not in her sight, even when she knew he was safe so that the deeply ingrained orders within her were not called into action? His safety was all that she had been ordered to be concerned with. How did the rest intrude itself? She had spoken of it to Demerzel long before, when the feeling had made itself unmistakable. He had regarded her gravely and said, “You are complex, Dors, and there are no simple answers. In my life there have been several individuals whose presence made it easier for me to think, pleasanter to make my responses. I have tried to judge the ease of my responses in their presence and the unease of my responses in their final absence to see whether I was the net gainer or loser. In the process, one thing became plain. The pleasantness of their company outweighed the regret of their passing. On the whole, then, it is better to experience what you experience now than not to.”
(Last emphasis is mine. I just tried to match quotes. Credit for realizing how well this sonnet describes Daneel’s life belongs to biomimic.)
There's something about the fact that Asimov's robotic characters (primarily Daneel and Giskard) are at their most human when in deep distress. Daneel going weak-kneed when he sees a man badly poisoned (or Elijah's death despite it being a peaceful one from old age), Giskard stumbling and needing to regain his equilibrium when he pushes against the Laws with his mind.
- What are you doing, Giskard?
Upd: thank you for lovely words, it's really meaningful for me🤧🥺❤️