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586 points mizzao | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.285s | source
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akie ◴[] No.40665987[source]
Pretty sure Asimov didn’t consider that when he wrote his three laws of robotics.
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jazzyjackson ◴[] No.40666069[source]
Asimov wrote the three laws as a parody of rationalists who are so uncreative they expect a ruleset can actually impose control

Or, as Dr Malcom would say: life, uh, finds a way.

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jraph ◴[] No.40666159[source]
Do you have an evidence for this? It surprises me and I can't find anything about it.

This should be a crucial piece of information about the tree laws, yet it's not mentioned in the Wikipedia article about the three laws [1], which is otherwise quite detailed. Reading this, everything makes me think that it was not a parody. I didn't feel like it was parody when reading the Robot series neither. He wanted an alternative to the Frankenstein plot where robots kill their creators and the three laws were part of the answer.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics

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127 ◴[] No.40668937[source]
Most of Asimov's robot books were about how the laws were broken, not how they were upheld. Reading between the lines, you get the idea that such laws would be ineffectual in practice, and thus the writing satirical to an extent.
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jraph ◴[] No.40671320[source]
> Most of Asimov's robot books were about how the laws were broken, not how they were upheld

Yes indeed.

> and thus the writing satirical to an extent

I don't follow here. Asimov's books don't feel satirical. Or I missed something important, but I doubt it.

I don't agree with this "thus", the implication doesn't seem automatic to me.

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127 ◴[] No.40676506[source]
Fair enough. I did perceive it as satirical, but that's not a logical conclusion.
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1. jraph ◴[] No.40677661[source]
Interesting! It never occurred to me that it was a possible interpretation.