The Complete Robot by Isaac Asimov (1982)

Posted on 2024-09-21 by thelittleman

Rating: 5 out of 5.
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Reading is my hobby. Writing reviews is what makes the hobby worthwhile—but sometimes I get carried away and spend more time on this blog than I should. This past Spring, “escape” for me meant building short-story bibliographies for all of my favorite authors. When I came to Isaac Asimov’s page, I was floored by how many short stories he’d written AND by how many other works he’d written beside!

The Complete Robot stood out to me especially, because it gathered stories from throughout his prolific writing career, containing them in a single volume that serves another very special purpose beyond being just a great collection. This book also serves as Book 1 in Asimov’s extensive, fifteen-part Foundation series! Earlier this Fall, I felt like now was as good a time as any to start journeying down the Foundation road, and I’m glad I have—even though it will likely take me years to complete.

As I worked my way through all 558 pages of this first beastly collection, I realized that I don’t really yet have a clue as to what Foundation is all about—at least those later books that go by that title, Books 8-15. By now, I assume it’s the future interstellar world of humanity-plus-robots, but that doesn’t really tell me much. It will be interesting to see it develop the way Asimov intended later in life, that is chronologically, not in the order of publication that his contemporary fans had to endure. I’m starting fresh and, at least in my opinion, correctly. I think this will be fun!

As always for short-story collections, I’m reviewing the book story-by story, even though there’s a full 31 stories in this volume! I’ll break them up into Asimov’s own 6 sections with their original publication dates in parenthesis.

I. Some Non-human Robots

  • “A Boy’s Best Friend” (1975) – This opening story was a heartwarming tale to spark the collection. I’ve read enough Asimov already to anticipate a few key things: A) He likes to talk about himself; B) he likes to make attempts at humor (but doesn’t always succeed); and C) he likes to write about the human condition. This one falls into that third category, with the “climax” of this tale being one of pure love. It will be interesting to see if this feeling persists through the rest of the collection, 21 stories of which are entirely new to me.
  • “Sally” (1953) – Here we meet Automatic Cars, so automatic that they come equipped with positronic minds (generally reserved for robots). The main character in this story, Jake, owns a farm where he cares for these positronic cars, lovingly husbanding them like he would domesticated farm animals following their retirement from long lives of good, hard work. Sally is his favorite, a special convertible who’d never once had a human drive her. She was her own vehicle, wild and beautiful. A man named Gilhorn visits the farm and tries to talk Jake into selling the cars to him for a handsome profit, or at least their engines for parts. Jake refuses and trouble ensues. One thing I really liked from this story was Asimov’s 1950s description of the world’s transition away from gas-powered cars to automatic, and how it was akin to a Communist or even Fascist takeover, because people were forced to change and had no choice in the matter. Remind you of anyone (hint: think “California”; rhymes with Gavin Newson).
  • “Someday” (1956) – This third story occurs in the distant future. Two boys tear into an old story-telling robot called “the Bard” hoping to update his stories to the modern era, and maybe even to get some visual stories out of him too. In the process, they discover an ancient form of communication that uses squiggly marks to convey ideas. The bard, now with circuits changed, gets a bit stuck in his own life story, hoping always to someday, someday, someday… I read this one to my kids (13, 11) and they seemed to enjoy it, though I don’t think they’d stick with me for all 31 of the stories in this book!

II. Some Immobile Robots

  • “Point of View” (1975) – The first immobile robot story is about Multivac, a robot that’s just not doing well. It’s making mistakes, and those mistakes are costly. Roger‘s father takes a break from the computer, noting offhandedly that it seems to be dumb in all the wrong ways. If one can’t trust what a computer says every time, can they trust it at any time? With Roger as inspiration, he concludes that perhaps the thing isn’t an idiot in the traditional sense but is in fact childlike, frustrated by overwork and simply demanding a break—maybe even to play. I know my own kids would have enjoyed this, were they able to track it from the beginning, but they were out catching crabs from the viaduct, and I didn’t want to bother them. We were all finding our own ways to take a mental break.
  • “Think!” (1977) – Asimov foretells laserdisc technology in this one, and even the possibilities of Lasik surgery through the harnessed power of lasers. The endgame of the story is that these technicians develop a computer capable of scanning brains and vocalizing human thought. In its down time, though, it also ends up scanning and vocalizing something else, which shocks the scientists.
  • “True Love” (1977) – Milton Davidson, an unmarried man, tasks his computer Joe with helping him find true love. After uploading Milton’s personality and scanning the full population of womanhood, Joe pursues a perfect match. The computer becomes so saturated with Milton and his personality, though, that it becomes just like him—Joe, the computerized Milton. As I read this, I thought that “Joe” might end up being “Jo – Joanna” and that the two would fall in love, but instead, Asimov takes it in another direction. Milton gets arrested, and Joe falls in love with the woman he’s chosen. Computer-human romance was on the table for Asimov, but a transgender computer was not. I guess that’s a good thing.

III. Some Metallic Robots

  • “Robot AL-76 Goes Astray” (1942) – This wasn’t my first time reading this longer story, but I still found it a thrilling ride again. In fact, this was the first Asimov story I ever read, my introduction to his thinking and style. AL-76 creates what the scientist call a Disinto, a machine of unknown qualities that manipulates the electricity of a few small batteries into a massively powerful force. The story shows not only the ability of robots to invent and build, but also of man to shut him down and to make him forget. It’s our introduction to the potential danger to humanity that robots might eventually pose.
  • “Victory Unintentional” (1942) – This story had a humorous bent for sure, which was unexpected. Humanity recognizes the Jovians (Jupiter’s aliens) as perhaps the most aggressively violent creatures in the Solar System. To consider how they might be able to pacify (or defeat) these beings, the human astronauts send down from their moon three robots capable of surviving the gases and pressures of that miserable planet. These ZZ models were named simply One, Two, and Three. At one point, Asimov made me laugh with this rather involved description of robot sorrow:

    Three had no neck, for in the interest of strength the heads of the ZZ models were riveted firmly onto the torso, with the delicate positronic brains protected by three separate layers in inch-thick iridium alloy. But if he had had one, he would have shaken his head dolefully. (37)

    The point of this tale can be found in a series of comments from the robots to Jovians: “We don’t drown…We don’t eat…We don’t sleep…Heat doesn’t bother us…We don’t breathe…We don’t need a force field.” With comments such as these, the robots unintentionally destroy the Jovians’ superiority complex, for in their hectic meeting, the robots failed to mention that they themselves were not the human explorers sent from Earth, only the tools created by humans to test the Jovian landscape. One has to wonder if this would be the same response a Martian might give when meeting our Mars Rover for the first time. Nah. Humans will populate Mars long before we discover “life” outside of Earth. [Personal note: I do believe humans will enjoy extended space exploration someday (if the Lord tarries), and I also believe they’ll find some interesting things out there—but any discussions of “intelligent” life will also likely be discussions of demons, so I’m not looking forward to us meeting E.T. anytime soon.]
  • “Stranger in Paradise” (1974) – About 530 years after the world changed, the institution of “family” has been eradicated, and humans are essentially lab-grown, though still from human donors. Two biological brothers separated from birth unexpectedly meet while attempting to figure out travel to Mercury. They need robots with brains to do the heavy lifting in this project, so the first brother, a roboticist, fenagles a way to get the second brother, neurologist, onto the project. The neurologist’ expertise is working with aborted autistic brains (and one living autistic brain) to better understand neurology. This is a longer story broken down into mini-chapters, and it doesn’t have many robot stars, at least until towards the end. But boy, this was one unique plot!
  • “Light Verse” (1973) – Although I’d read this tight, memorable story before, it was fun to read it again. I didn’t recall the details of the ending, which was nice, because it kept me engaged. Elsewhere, Asimov describes this final story as one he wrote, edited, and mailed to the Saturday Evening Post in two-and-a-half hours. Pretty cool to see how this method of writing occasionally stand the test of time.
  • “Segregationist” (1967) – An aging Senator chooses immortality by having his body parts replaced with machines. The surgeon is reluctant and shares his doubts professionally with Senator and technicians. We readers aren’t really quite sure why they’re having the plastic-versus-metal discussion—at least until the ending. It was a good O. Henry-style story.
  • “Robbie” (1940) – If this wasn’t Asimov’s first-ever robot story, it came close—and it is so good! The year is 1998. Robots are a new thing, and the 3 Laws of Robotics haven’t yet been written. This story is a grand drama of a father letting his young daughter reunite with her voiceless robot, her friend. Susan Calvin (whom we’ll meet later) makes a brief appearance as a teenager in this one, a dedicated robot hobbyist who’s already engrossed in the robot world.

IV.A. Some Humanoid Robots

  • “Let’s Get Together” (1957) – I’d read this one before too but honestly didn’t recall the story at all. Although easy to predict early on, it was an entertaining read, and I especially liked the Russian angle he includes. The feel of this story was eerily similar to the fear that comes with true modern terrorism, especially regarding the terrorist cells that supposedly exist beneath our very noses. The possibility that they exist and could kill us at any moment has the power to cause great destruction to our collective psyche, for the mere possibility produces more fear than actual danger, which seems to be the main goal of terrorism anyways.
  • “Mirror Image” (1972) – I really enjoyed this little mystery tale. Two mathematicians, one old and one young, battle over a published idea, each claiming the other plagiarized his work. This one deals explicitly with the logic of the 3 Laws of Robotics and how they might be broken in different instances. I was excited to go back and realize that this story involved both Lije Baley and R. Daneel Olivaw, the stars of the Foundation Books 2-5—and possibly others, though I haven’t yet gotten that far in my reading.
  • “The Tercentenary Incident” (1976) – Similar to his “Bicentennial Man” (also 1976), Asimov uses the nation’s birthday as inspiration for another story. This time, the year is 2076. The President of the World Federation endures apparent assassination when he suddenly poofs into thin air. The mystery is long, but it moves the Foundation premise forward, introducing us to the idea that humanoid robots can replace human beings without the population ever being aware.

IV.B. Four Powell and Donovan Stories

  • “First Law” (1956) – I’d read this story several years ago, and so wasn’t sure how I’d reacted the first time. Going back now, I see that my notes are very similar: words like “ridiculous” and “pithy” reign. It’s a barroom scene. An astronaut recalls an experience on Titan when he swears he witnessed a robot breaking the First Law, and doing so to save its baby. This is sci-fi, sure, but this is supposed to Asimov sci-fi! The only reasonable explanation I can come up with is what I’d said in a previous post: this is a “Big Fish” story, hyperbole from a drunkard and nothing more. Still, ridiculous. Worst story in the book.
  • “Runaround” (1942) – On the planet Mercury (sounds like the technicians from “Stranger in Paradise” eventually make it!), the robot dubbed “Speedy” (SPD) gets caught in an equilibrium between Laws 2-3 and can’t get out of it. He’s nearly drunk out there, uncertain of which law demands obedience. It’s perhaps my favorite story of the lot (up to this point)—a well done bit of thrilling writing.
  • “Reason” (1941) – Another super old story, yet one that has aged surprisingly well. It actually made me laugh audibly (hard to do!), because Powell and Donovan come across a robot while training machines to run a planet so humans needn’t stay that has essentially become a cult leader. I absolutely loved the mantra the drones repeat: “There is no Master but the Master, and QT-1 is his prophet.” Genius.
  • “Catch That Rabbit” (1944) – The final Powell and Donovan story in the collection is a mystery we readers could never have figured out, simply because the clues and solution are as sci-fi as anything. At least Asimov’s other mysteries deal with the logic of the 3 Laws of Robotics and make sense. This one does not. The final words, “twiddling his fingers,” loses its umph when the reader has almost no idea what in the world Asimov is talking about. Maybe I’m just not that smart, but this one bombed for me.

V. Susan Calvin

  • “Liar!” (1941) – This one’s a psychological thriller, and its early publication date raises an interesting issue for me. Isaac Asimov had an amazing ability to write stories across the decades that maintained an exact feel. He wrote these stories on a whim, completely out of chronological order, yet when you read them in the order that the stories are meant to run (for the most part), you could never guess at when during his career he’d published them. It’s really quite a feat! What’s also cool is that Baley (living 1000+ years later) discussed this very story in Robots of Dawn. The connections throughout are dazzling.
  • “Satisfaction Guaranteed” (1951) – This story became another favorite of mine, even though I’d read it before. It’s an unexpected plot. Tony is a pure gentleman, always doing the housework and making this woman feel pampered and loved. He’s so realistic, yet most definitely not a normal man. Asimov has mentioned before (like in his essays in Gold) that the sci-fi fan club wasn’t too populated with females. Perhaps after reading this, he changed a few minds.
  • “Lenny” (1958) – Susan becomes a sort of mother in this heartwarming robot story set in roughly 2033, though she passes the relationship off as a means of learning how to teach robots by educating a dunce whose code was messed up by a well-meaning tourist. The emphasis here again is the First Law of Robotics, in that Lenny’s sense of protection might be broken, in which case he could threaten the world’s acceptance of all robots, making the majority of Earth’s population despise robots forever. Asimov calls it “The Frankenstein complex,” and it makes an appearance throughout his stories. I don’t know where the Eugenics discussions were in 1958, but in this story Asimov seems to be a pretty strong advocate for “every life maters.” In a previous post I mentioned that this story reminded me of the old Larry Penn song, “I’m a Little Cookie.” It still does.
  • ‘Galley Slave” (1957) – This courtroom drama follows an anti-robot professor who blames the grammar-checking, word-adjusting robot for changing the meaning of his paper before sending it off to the printers. It destroys the professor’s reputation, and he wants all robots hanged. What I loved most about this story was its close ties to AI today. I just taught a graduate course on writing, and I had to include a whole section on plagiarism (thank you, Ivy League Presidents of recent years!) and the misuse of AI. Just listen to Professor Ninheimer’s final words:

    Typewriters and printing presses take away some [of the author’s creative power], but your robot would deprive us of all. Your robot takes over the galleys. Soon it, or other robots, would take over the original writing, the searching of the sources, the checking and cross-checking of passages, perhaps even the deduction of conclusions. What would that leave the scholar? One thing only—the barren decisions concerning what orders to give the robot next! I want to save the future generations of the world of scholarship from such a final hell.
  • “Little Lost Robot” (1947) – This was a much longer story about trying to find a robot who lacks the First Law and who is hiding out among a large group of identical models. Susan Calvin must communicate with each to help determine which one’s the rat. I especially liked the part about how the robot escaped in the first place, leaving because some angry technician told him to “get lost” along with some other expletives which we’re not allowed to hear. It’s a good strong mystery story that again would mean nothing outside the world that Asimov has created.
  • “Risk” (1955) – A special ship (Parsec) in a secret space station inside an asteroid (“It”) is the setting or this Susan Calvin story. The goal is to send this special ship through hyperspace, this time manned by a robot given very precise instructions—almost too precise. It’s a great sci-fi story, and it’s almost difficult to decipher why. It’s just the universe that existed in Asimov’s brain laid out so cleanly on paper through the lives of characters who’ve never existed at a point in time that never happened doing things that make no sense…without Asimov. It’s just a clear-cut good story.
  • “Escape!” (1945) – The Brain is a childlike computer used for extracting information, though it simply cannot work through the dilemma of hurting humans, even if hurting some helps the rest of humanity. The Brain creates a ship that can exit the galaxy and does so with 2 men aboard, yet he controls every bit inside, so the men are lost completely to The Brain’s childish whims! Susan Calvin spends the entire time trying to figure out The Brain’s intentions, and she finally settles on the silly truth. It’s long and laborious, yet another necessary piece to the puzzle that is Foundation.
  • “Evidence” (1946) – A prosecutor is suspected of himself being a robot, though he might also be just a really nice guy. The question is whether or not he will break Rule 1 when provoked. It’s a story that leaves us with questions, certainly, but I think Asimov did a good job of stringing us along. Susan is the only one willing to consider the psychological side of the human-robot conflict. And she maintains her opinions that (by now) are set in stone. She is after all the first, only, and most important Robot Psychologist—so what would the universe do without her?
  • “The Evitable Conflict” (1950) – By my recollection, this is the first mention of “China” in any of Asimov’s stories I’ve read. China wasn’t much of a world player in 1950! The characters find themselves in a fight over control of the whole world, perhaps moving away from the power-center of the North to that of the food-producing Tropics. The Machine that helps control the data of the whole world is predicting troubles, though it may be that it’s basing its decisions on bad data input by humans. The Machine realizes that in order to save humanity, it must first save itself: humanity left to its own devices, after all, is pure trouble! The Machine knows the ultimate goal of humanity based on the collective human conscience—which is something Elon Musk just described a few weeks ago regarding AI. Who’s there to stop such a knowledgeable and dangerous presence as The Machine? Thankfully, Susan Calvin (and Elon Musk) exists.
  • “Feminine Intuition” (1969) – Susan Calvin is ready to retire, and people are left to wonder: What’s the future of robotics? One man suggests scrapping everything but the 3 laws in the positronic brain, leaving the pathways open so that the new robots can be made creative, random, intuitive…essentially female. They want one specific “she” robot to discover which of the planetary systems within 300 light years might have a habitable planet. Jane the robot finds 3, but she’s destroyed by a meteorite before she can divulge the info. The scientists call Susan in from her retirement to see if she can track the truth. And she ultimately succeeds with her strong, feminine brain—something the scientists themselves occasionally lack.

VI. Two Climaxes

  • “…That Thou Art Mindful of Him” (1974) – These stories occur post-Susan Calvin. Two men figure that as each moon and world is inhabited, the robots will be kicked out little by little as mankind moves outward, so they conspire to develop robots capable of adapting in such a way as to be allowed. A new model can judge the value of humans for the purpose of Law 2, obedience, though the danger is that this adjustment may also affect Law 1. It’s a long story based entirely on dialogue, and it’s easy to lose focus throughout. Interestingly, what I see in the small robot they create that has no need for the Three Laws is a little something we call “Alexa.” I know that’s not what Asimov had in mind! This device is too small to threaten humans and common enough not to require self-preservation. Perhaps a more accurate description though is the running-dog robot we’ve all seen on social media. There is a fairly important twist at the end of this story that might affect the full Foundation series. I’ll have to wait and see if I’m right.
  • “The Bicentennial Man” (1976) – I was really excited to read this story finally. The only thing I had known about it beforehand was that Robin Williams starred in a movie by the same name. It’s all about a robot named Andrew who fights for his own freedom and eventually to have his parts replaced little by little with humanoid parts. Yet he wonders what still separates him from humanity. He has for 6 generations wanted to be a man, but he won’t be one until someone in authority verifies that he is in fact a man. Oh how akin to the transgender issues of today I find this story to be! Surgical change—no matter the extent—does not change the truth: Andrew is not a man, and the people you watch on Tik-Tok aren’t what they claim to be either. Social delusion has an expiration date (thank God!), so we won’t have to suffer through this crap much longer, but it sure is a morally exhausting time period to live through! This story is so focused on courts and advances in the industry that I think it would make this a pretty boring movie, despite its message. Of course it’s a nice unique ending, and it took 200 years and great personal sacrifice to reach it, so the godless, soul-denying Asimov got his wish for Andrew in the end. Still, I wonder what Asimov would think of the trans issues of today and the impact his own writing might have had on it.

Conclusion

Well, that’s a wrap. Thirty-one stories done, and 14 more books to go. That was a lot of reading and writing, and you don’t want to hear any more from me. Next up is the Foundation Book 2: The Caves of Steel. Can’t wait!

©2024 E.T.

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