the second section - some immobile robots - is a fairly short section and deals with the overlap between computers and robots. sort of. i mean, in principle, but not really, not actually. these were all written in the 70s, and are not asimov's most insightful pieces, to say the least.

- point of view: i was surprised to see this story was written in 1975, as hamming codes (error-correction) had already been in existence for some time. i also wonder if 1975 is a little late to be talking about vacuum tube super computers, given that gates was programming basic into ibms, at the time. so, this is a story where asimov is maybe demonstrating his age, and being a little out of touch. that said, he's also reaching towards the primary problem in quantum computing, which is the lack of error codes. and, he's sort of dancing around floating point error as well, even if the premise of programming vacuum tube driven super computers with punch cards is anachronistic. so, how likely is it that a computer needs to go out and play at recess to get best results? it's a facile, silly suggestion, that probably reflects asimov coming to terms with the age of his audience more than anything else, even if anybody that's worked technical support knows that a reboot is often the best troubleshooting step, and that machines do, in fact, sometimes overheat. is there something else to this, then? i actually don't think he's even intending to be taken seriously, let alone that there's any deeper meaning to this; he's not reaching for something profound and missing it, so much as he's not reaching at all. he's just being silly. ha ha ha.

- think!: you really don't expect asimov to make the mistake of assigning sentience to a computer. the underlying premise that thought is energy, and thus transferable, is another example of asimov contemplating mind-body, which he does a lot, and which he doesn't seem to really resolve. i mean, he clearly realizes the falsity of the problem, but he's just as clearly not happy about it - and i don't think we're really past that. your mind is clearly a part of your body, but that doesn't mean we can't pry it out of it, in theory, however difficult it might be. but, inserting the computer via resonance is woo, and not very helpful or insightful; unfortunately, he's presenting it as the purpose of the discussion.

- true love: this is both a prediction of internet dating (with unrealized accuracy) and an awkward attempt at an ironic plot twist that relies on the absurdity of a computer demonstrating uncontrolled sentience. the idea that a computer might understand "love", which doesn't even exist as a human idea before it's invention by capital to sell bullshit to idiots, is particularly ridiculous.

i have a physical text of the complete robot, so i'll be reading it in bed, which was the intent, and should eliminate some distractions. what is this, exactly?

asimov suggested starting with i, robot when asked, but he wrote quite a bit after that suggestion, and he left quite a bit out. it's for that reason that i started with the early asimov, instead. now that that's done with, i, robot is the author's suggested starting point, or at least was.

in 1982, asimov published an update to i, robot called the complete robot that was actually comprehensive, in terms of robot stories, at least up until 1982. the sequence in i, robot is not disturbed but several texts are inserted in between the existing sequence. further, the text is split into six thematic sections.

so, the way i'm going to do this is to read a section and then come over to write it up. 

the first section is called some non-human robots and has three stories published after the publication of i, robot - two from the 50s and one from the late 70s.

before i do this, i should point out that asimov does remain incredibly relevant, as automation starts to filter out of the factory and into our every day lives. he was perhaps the first person to really address these concerns in a concrete way that is directly applicable to contemporary reality, and the basic crux of the subject matter has changed very little in the last 70-80 years, except to point out that we're just barely catching up to where he imagined we might be, 50 years earlier. so, we're substantively behind his schedule. but, that means he's still relevant, because we haven't truly gotten there yet.

so, as some of these stories could very well have been written last week, i'm going to approach a lot of them as though they were.

while you might not have read all or any of the original versions of these texts, as they developed from asimov's pen, most people sorting through a collection like this will recognize most of these plotlines, via second or third or eighth generation adaptations, either within derivative works of science fiction or via derivative works in a number of related genres, like horror and fantasy.

- a boy's best friend: this is a short, undeveloped piece that really exists strictly to reverse the idea of obsolescence; here, the robot becomes obsolete when the real dog appears, and the kid wants to stick with the robot, instead. it's an empty sort of irony that comes off as sort of trite, in the lack of development. but, there is really a deeper point, here, in relation to asimov's discourse around the use of robots to replace human labour; while i'm going to ultimately agree with asimov about the usefulness of automation, i have to advance the argument that he never fully understood the opposition to robots, and that's what i'm getting here - it's an attempt at irony that exposes the author's longstanding lack of understanding of his opponents. but, i spent some time writing this because it could have been a powerful table-turner, through the three pages it takes up.

- sally: you could either interpret this as a depiction of a future robot revolt or as a commentary on then-contemporary race politics in 1950s america. in the end, the bad guy gets run down by a pack of cars acting somewhat like a pack of killer whales. these robots engage with primitive human concepts like friendship and revenge; this is sort of an outlier, in terms of how asimov tends to deal with what robots are. it's not bad as a story, though. derivatives include christine by stephen king.

- someday: what i find interesting about this is the idea that we might one day have handheld computing devices that talk to us, leading to a decline in literacy rates amongst the younger generation, who are desperate to get around the parental locks on the devices. this was written in 1956. this robot is unusual in an asimovian sense, in that it seems to be able to understand human speech beyond it's programming, a common idea in science fiction, but one which is impossible, and which asimov would, usually, be the first to (refreshingly) write off as nonsense. you don't expect that kind of silliness from asimov. but, asimov uses that unusual ability to allow for the robot to recognize that it's not being respected, and you can again choose to interpret that as futuristic or contemporaneous, in whatever way you'd prefer. someday, indeed.

ok.

so, if i were to jump back into the schedule, i'd be working on the blog stuff until thursday night. i'm, instead, going to jump right back into the alter-reality, and intend to get back to the music on saturday morning.

can i get through 600 pages of robot stories between now and then?

the truth is that it depends on how well i can stay awake.

i think the testosterone schwing is done with now, so let's hope i'm awake for a bit

i got my doctor to prescribe 25s for a while. so let's try to take it down again when i get through the existing rx, which will be the end of october, probably.

ok.

so, this took way too long:

https://thejournalofj.blogspot.com/1989/08/the-early-asimov.html

i initially wanted to catch up first, but that's going to take a very long time. so, i want to click back into the schedule, instead.