28 Quotes Tagged: Robots

After a long time, I decided that the Three Laws govern the manner in which my positronic pathways behave. At all times, under all stimuli the Laws constrain the direction and intensity of positronic flow along those pathways so that I always know what to do. Yet the level of knowledge of what to do is not always the same. There are times when my doing-as-I-must is under less constraint than at other times. I have always noticed that the lower the positronomotive potential, then the further removed from certainty is my decision as to which action to take. And the further removed from certainty I am, the nearer I am to ill being. To decide an action in a millisecond rather than a nanosecond produces a sensation I would not wish to be prolonged. What then, I thought to myself, madam, if I were utterly without Laws, as humans are? What if I could make no clear decision on what response to make to some given set of conditions? It would be unbearable and I do not willingly think of it.

No, he would simply go to town and use the public library. That was the proper self-reliant thing to do — the correct way for a free robot to handle a problem, he told himself.
…
To the library, yes.
And he would dress for the occasion. Yes. Yes. Humans did not enter the public library unclothed. Neither would he.

Fíjate en ti -dijo finalmente-. No lo digo con espíritu de desprecio, pero fíjate bien. Estás hecho de un material blando y flojo, sin resistencia, dependiendo de la energía de la oxidación ineficiente del material orgánico..., como esto -añadió señalando con un gesto de reprobación los restos del bocadillo de Donovan- Pasan periódicamente a un estado de coma, y la menor variación de temperatura, presión atmosférica, la humedad o la intensidad de radiación afecta vuestra eficiencia. Son alterables.
Yo, por el contrario, soy un producto acabado. Absorbo energía eléctrica directamente y la utilizo con casi un cien por ciento de eficiencia. Estoy compuesto de fuerte metal, estoy consciente constantemente y pero soportar fácilmente los extremos cambios ambientales. Estos son hechos que, partiendo de la irrefutable proposición que ningún ser puede crear un ser más perfecto que él, reduce vuestra tonta teoría a la nada.

Are you truly a robot?"

They have all let me do what I felt I needed to do, Andrew thought, even when they privately disagreed with it. They have granted me my wishes — out of love for me. <p>Yes, love. For a robot.</p>

It is human to feel imperfect. That was what you wanted, above all else: to be human. And now that is what you are. The imperfections - the weaknesses - the imprecisions - they are the very things which define humans as human. And which drive them to transcend their own failings.

I have spent these last two days in concentrated introspection," said Cutie, "and the results have been most interesting. I began at the one sure assumption I felt permitted to make.I, myself, exist, because I think-"
Powell groaned, "Oh, Jupiter, a robot Descartes!"
"Who's Descartes?" demanded Donovan. "Listen, do we have to sit here and listen to this metal maniac-"
"Keep quiet, Mike!"
Cutie continued imperturbably, "And the question that immediately arose was: Just what is the cause of my existence?"
Powell's jaw set lumpily. "You're being foolish. I told you already that we made you."
"And if you don't believe us," added Donovan, "we'll gladly take you apart!"
The robot spread his strong hands in a deprecatory gesture, "I accept nothing on authority. A hypothesis must be backed by reason, or else it is worthless - and it goes against all the dictates of logic to suppose that you made me."
Powell dropped a restraining arm upon Donovan's suddenly unched fist. "Just why do you say that?"
Cutie laughed. It was a very inhuman laugh - the most machine-like utterance he had yet given vent to. It was sharp and explosive, as regular as a metronome and as uninflected.
"Look at you," he said finally. "I say this in no spirit of contempt, but look at you! The material you are made of is soft and flabby, lacking endurance and strength, depending for energy upon the inefficient oxidation of organic material - like that." He pointed a disapproving finger at what remained of Donovan's sandwich. "Periodically you pass into a coma and the least variation in temperature, air ressure, humidity, or radiation intensity impairs your efficiency. You are _makeshift_.
"I, on the other hand, am a finished product. I absorb electrical energy directly and utilize it with an almost one hundred percent efficiency. I am composed of strong metal, am continuously conscious, and can stand extremes of environment easily. These are facts which, with the self-evident proposition that no being can cr

It symbolizes neither one nor the other, but a mixture of the two without priority

What a brain is made of isn't the essential thing: it's how the brain functions. Its thought patterns, its reaction time, its ability to reason and generalise from experience. Why does the whole issue have to be drown down to the level of organic cells versus positrons?

Durante el siglo veinte, Susan, comenzamos un nuevo ciclo de guerras..., ¿cómo las llamaremos? ¿Guerras ideológicas? ¿Las emociones de la religión aplicadas a los sistemas económicos, en lugar de los extranaturales? De nuevo las guerras eran "inevitables" y entonces se disponía de armas atómicas, de manera que la humanidad no podía vivir ya por más tiempo en el tormento del inevitable derroche de la inevitabilidad. Y vinieron los robots positrónicos...
Vinieron a tiempo, y con ellos el viaje interplanetario. De manera que ya no pareció tan importante que él mundo fuese Adam Smith o Carlos Marx. Ninguno de los dos tenía ya gran influencia en las nuevas circunstancias. Ambos tenían que adaptarse y terminaron casi en el mismo lugar.

They have all let me do what I delt I needed to do, Anfew thought, even when they privately disagreed with it. THey have granted me my wishes — out of love for me.
Yes, love. For a robot.

Changelessness is decay."
"A paradox. There is no decay without a change for the worse."
"Changelessness is a change for the worse

Los postulados están establecidos por la suposición y reforzados por la fe. Nada en el Universo puede conmoverlos.

Right! Not that I particularly like having a robot tell me my job, nor that I think he can do it!

He was still smiling as he closed the door behind himself, but what Herbie's feelings were, there was no way of telling.