I, Robot — a Movie Whose Time Has Come by Dr
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I, Robot — A Movie Whose Time Has Come by Dr. Joanne Pransky felt the hairs on my arm raise as I bics and I’d field questions on the lat- home, one robot for every five people. Iwatched I, Robot. (I wonder ... if my est Jane Fonda and Richard Simmons Of course, this is nothing new for arm was electro-mechanically modified videotapes. It’s 18 years later and some SERVO Magazine readers. Even in my like Spooner’s, would I still get goose folks (i.e., mainstream America) still home today, there’s a ratio of five bumps?) I have had two other arm think I mean “aerobics.” They obviously robots/human — if you include the “hair-raising” experiences in my life: have not seen I, Robot. defunct ones. when I met Isaac Asimov himself and I have to admit – I wasn’t expect- Asimov’s Nestor series was two- when I met Honda’s Asimo. (Seems ing much from the movie. I figured it legged. I’ve always thought that this there’s an “Asimovian” fixation going would be another stereotypical form factor — despite the technical on here.) I don’t usually encounter Hollywood action flick like Terminator challenges of bipedal robots — would these experiences in my everyday 3. Using the draw of a big star like Will be best suited to accompany and work robotic psychiatrist’s life, but they’re Smith and some good special effects, it directly with us. I also felt the rest of worth the wait. In fact, the wait was would be nothing like Asimov’s stories the robotic embodiment was cleverly nearly 20 years before the issues that and nothing that enlightened me. designed. The robots were easily dis- I’d been thinking about became water Susan Calvin is being portrayed by cernible from humans, yet anthropo- cooler talk overnight — after the Bridget Moynahan? Susan Calvin morphic enough to have features that release of the film, I, Robot. would be 53 years old in the year 2035 humans are comfortable with: eyes, Back in the mid 1980s, I envi- — a role more suitable for Kathy Bates mouth, and facial expressions. The sioned stores where people could buy or an older, anorexic Calista Flockhart. Nestor series physically represents clothes and accessories for their robot- However I, Robot was more than what research has shown we want — a ic assistants like they do now for their surprising. I thought it was awe-inspir- robot that looks like us, but not too pets. I also thought — as funny as it ing — a movie whose time has come. I much like us (the Uncanny Valley sounds — that one day we’d pay for also thought its robotic technology was Theory). that extra seat on the airplane to have outstanding. Then there were several other our robots sit next to us. We’d legally From the time the first NS robot is robotic concepts — though based on fight about their custody in a divorce shown as a FedEx deliverer (personally, existing service robot applications — suit. We’d write our wills to provide for I would have thought the USPS could that took us one more robo- our bots’ necessary future mainte- benefit more from efficient, automated evolutionary step into the future that nance and upgrades long after our carriers, but would we, as taxpayers, we can look forward to: more robot own deaths. When our robots were pay the film licensing fees?), I artists (one of the first was Harold depressed (and “we consider” is the recognized that these are the types of Cohen’s “Aaron”), robots building and operative here), we’d take them to robotic assistants I have been touting assembling 100% of the components a robotic psychiatrist for their weekly for two decades. of other robots, a robo-parking garage sessions. These are personal robots that do that rotates a car 180° before parking In 1986, I dubbed myself the the mundane, difficult, repetitive tasks it, Survival Research Labs (SRL) making “World’s First Robotic Psychiatrist” and and are useful to us in our everyday money by manufacturing demolition the real “Susan Calvin.” This wasn’t lives: robotic dog walkers, prep cooks, robots, robot fighting events that pit exactly one of the top 10 growth bartenders, sanitation workers, “shlep- autonomous robots against other careers or even a formal course of pers” to carry our groceries and other autonomous robots (and/or humans), study back then. When asked what I personal items, nannies, and aides and some team winning the DARPA did for a living, I responded with that retrieve our medicine when we Grand Challenge and having Audi “robotics.” forget it and administer it for us when purchase the technology. Most people thought I said aero- we’re sick. Here is a robot in every I did question why there weren’t 80 SERVO 09.2004 security robots instead of human police timents towards robots represent soci- have not been as dedicated to her officers; even if a few were slightly ety’s longstanding view — that of mis- work. She may have ended up mar- ‘RoboCop’-like in that they were cyber- trust and dislike for robots. Asimov ried, with children of her own, or — at netically modified. Was it because it knew this would always be of great the very least — with some sort of just didn’t fit the whole storyline? Or is concern and, in “Little Lost Robot,” he social life (though it could also be it that human cops are able to make makes a reference to the “Frankenstein argued that none of those would better decisions than robots — such as Complex.” This was a term he coined to have transpired, since Calvin hated in the case of the NS-4 who should refer to the fear that machines will human beings). have — but didn’t — save the girl from takeover and make us obsolete. This It has also been written that drowning? was reinforced by other science fiction Asimov based Calvin on Rear Admiral Was it a mere mathematical calcu- writers — like Mary Shelley and Capek Grace Hopper — a brilliant scientist lation of deciding to save Spooner — as well. who received her doctorate in mathe- because his chances of survival were The greater the autonomy and matics from Yale in 1934 and was later 45% as compared to the 12-year-old independence given to machines, the credited with inventing the compiler girl’s 11%? Should its decision be more frightening they are to humans, and coining the term “computer bug.” based upon the priority to save women since a human’s control decreases. Not only was it rare for a woman to and children first, regardless of the Asimov knew the interrelationship of have been so well educated during that odds? Or was the robot faced with a man (Spooner) and robot was not era, but, also having excelled in an decision of which life would be best insignificant. Mankind may intellectu- all-male profession truly made Hopper saved for the benefit of other humans? ally know about the Three Laws, yet a pioneer. In other words, was the detective humans will always fear and distrust For Asimov in 1940 to have chosen a higher priority to society than a robots. a woman to be the robopsychologist young teen with mere aspirations and Moynahan’s portrayal of Dr. Susan was quite a compliment to the gender. dreams and, therefore, was Spooner Calvin was quite perceptive. She was Regardless of whether he did so with more useful in protecting other colorless, serious, and stiff, but her pas- Hopper in mind, he must have thought humans from harm? sion, commitment, and compassion for that a female would be the intuitive These questions are just some of robots was evident. Indeed, it was gender better suited to nurture, those raised by the interpretation of much deeper than her experiences empathize with, and understand the famous Asimov’s Three Laws — the with humans were. Regardless of her robots. raison d’être for this movie, as well as conservative clothing, her plain fea- I think Asimov would have the stories in I, Robot. Though the tures, and asexual behavior, Moynahan applauded the sensate and emotional movie did not emulate any specific was still physically appealing. She cer- Sonny. Was that name chosen because story from the nine in the novel I, tainly did not resemble Asimov’s gray- of the word “son” in it (referring to Robot, the credits at the end of the film haired, unattractive Calvin. Perhaps Lanning’s son) or because Asimov’s clearly state that the film’s storyline Asimov purposely made Calvin this robot names were similar to their “was suggested” by the book, not way, since he loved women so much model names? Thus, the “SN” in Sonny based upon it. and would find her to be a distraction becomes the reverse of the “NS” series The movie most closely resembled if she were beautiful. for Nestor. the 1947 story “Little Lost Robot,” in More precisely, if Calvin in the Sonny depicted the intelligent and which a Nestor (NS) robot is the villain. novel had been attractive, she may complex robots Asimov wrote about in He was purposely constructed with a modified First Law, was berated, and told to “get lost,” which it promptly did Author Bio: among the other 62 robots. In order to She’s the Real Susan Calvin! find the lost robot, Calvin and her team interview the robots and set up per- Dubbed the “Real Susan Calvin” by Asimov himself in 1989, Dr.