Polen said, 'Let me hear from you sometimes.'
The words were dull thumps. They meant nothing. Casey knew that. Polen knew that. Everyone knew that. B… - Isaac Asimov
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Polen said, 'Let me hear from you sometimes.' The words were dull thumps. They meant nothing. Casey knew that. Polen knew that. Everyone knew that. But words were meant to hide emotion and when they failed, humanity loyally maintained the pretense.
Isaac Asimov (c. 2 January 1920 – 6 April 1992) was a Russian-born American biochemist who was a prolific writer of both fiction and non-fiction, his works include the Foundation series and I, Robot.
Biography information from
Wikiquote·
Portrait adapted from
Wikimedia Commons, Phillip Leonian [1] from New York World-Telegram & Sun.[2] (Public domain / CC0)
Also Known As
Alternative Names:
Isaak Osimov
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Paul French
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Asimov
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Isaak Ozimov
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Itzhak Ozimov
Portrait from Wikimedia Commons. Credit: Phillip Leonian [1] from New York World-Telegram & Sun.[2]. Used under Public domain / CC0. Processed and styled by Quotewise.
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Él podía ser un extranjero, pero un hombre siempre es un hombre.
When I read about the way in which library funds are being cut and cut, I can only think that the door is closing and that American society has found one more way to destroy itself.
If, by virtue of the Second Law, we can demand of any robot unlimited obedience in all respects not involving harm to a human being, then any human being, any human being, has a fearsome power over any robot, any robot. In particular, since Second Law supersedes Third Law; any human being can use the law of obedience to overcome the law of self-protection. He can order any robot to damage itself or even to destroy itself for any reason, or for no reason.
Is this just? Would we treat an animal so? Even an inanimate object which had given us good service has a claim on our consideration. And a robot is not insensitive; it is not an animal. It can think well enough so that it can talk to us, reason with us, joke with us. Can we treat them as friends, can we work together with them, and not give them some of the fruits of that friendship, some of the benefits of co-working?
If a man has the right to give a robot any order that does not involve harm to a human being, he should have the decency never to give a robot any order that involves harm to a robot, unless human safety absolutely requires it. With great power goes great responsibility, and if the robots have Three Laws to protect men, is it too much to ask that men have a law or two to protect robots?
