On Robotics

Despite the use of robots in laboratories and factories, there is still something about robots that places them in the realm of science fiction, at least in my mind. The use of robots in everyday life seems both bizarre and unrealistic to me. I feel that I could never imagine a world where robots were a critical part of my life

Asimov however makes me uneasy in how realistically he discusses robots. His Three Laws of Robotics in particular seem like the most probable set of laws to be applied to robots in the future. These laws indicate that robots will be built with these laws in their nature, something that I am doubtful of. I think that robots with these laws built in them would never be possible because there is always going to be one person with the drive and ability to override the robot's installed nature.

In the story, "Archie" did not receive the same maternal attention as Koko or the creator-creation as the M-5. Rather, Archie was treated as a machine with a specific purpose. He was treated as technology that was disposable while the M-5 and Koko were considered valuable to the doctor and Patterson with each willing to give up a part of their lives to "save" them.

Overall I really enjoyed the story and the only reason being was how it ended. Throughout the story I was suspicious of the narrator and even predicted that he may be a robot. Now I'm just bragging. However I really did enjoy the story because the ending seemed to give robots this god-like mentality (the humaniforms) and even hubris. Are robots even capable of hubris? The way the story portrayed the future made me assume the they were at least heading there. If they were made in human likeness, maybe they are even capable of human mistakes.