Robbie
Are you afraid of the robot uprising? Surely Isaac Asimov, one of the forefathers of science fiction is the reason this trope exists. Oh? He wrote about the opposite actually? We shouldn't be afraid of robots? Huh.
The Facts Text: Robbie Author: Isaac Asimov
Genre: Science Fiction Year: 1940 (1950 revision in I, Robot)
Available: I, Robot collection of short stories
The Fiction
This week we're trying out a new genre. This one involves humanity, speculations about the future, and robots. That's right its science fiction time! So, we're going to talk about why we should fear the advancement of technology, right? Well, actually, we're not. While modern sci-fi seems to be defined by blockbuster films prophesizing the Uprising the foundations of science fiction, or at least of Isaac Asimov sci-fi features a distinct lack of technophobia.
Robbie is a short story about the relationship between an eight year girl, Gloria Weston, and her robot nursemaid, our titular Robbie. The story opens with an adorable scene of Gloria and Robbie playing games together and being really cute. Gloria's mother, Grace Weston, becomes increasingly concerned with Gloria's attachment to the robot nanny and eventually convinces her husband, George Weston, to get rid of the robot. The Weston's hope (with varying degrees of optimism) that Gloria will soon forget Robbie and move on. Only the girl doesn't. The story tells of how depressed Gloria gets without her robot companion, and culminates in a reunion between machine and girl orchestrated by George, who never really wanted to get rid of the robot anyway. When Robbie proves himself by saving Gloria's life (as per the First Law of Robotics) even Mrs. Weston has to concede that the two should not be separated.
While I won't be getting into too much in this post, I would like to briefly mention that this story was republished in the I, Robot anthology in 1950 by Asimov. I, Robot is a frame narrative where in robopsychologist Dr. Susan Calvin tells a series of short stories (Robbie being the first) about about robots and humanity. While I won't be writing about I, Robot as a whole, and am just looking at Robbie as a stand alone story in this post, I wanted to mention this because 1) I love frame narratives, and 2) the other stories in I, Robot are also very good.
The Feeling I think its fascinating if one watches the sci-fi movie I, Robot in which Will Smith tries to stop a robot uprising, and then reads the actual stories that supposedly inspired it. Because Asimov's I, Robot in general, but Robbie in particular is about the exact opposite of that fear. The "moral" lesson of Robbie is that Mrs. Weston was wrong to be so paranoid about the machine, and that the robot was truly a good companion for Gloria.
There's a lot that could be said here about the nature of adaptation, and about how grim-dark and edgy is a trend that doesn't always tell the more interesting or subservice story (which is perhaps connected to last week's Giaman story which was a dark adaptation), but I think I'll simplify these thoughts by saying that this is a sweet and smart story that works because it is so sweet, not in spite of that trait. Mrs. Weston fears that Robbie is dangerous, that he will suddenly turn on them (which because of the 1st law of robotics he can't) and if the story had gone with that thinking it wouldn't be nearly as interesting. A dark sci-fi story about a robot nursemaid murdering its owners because...robots are evil or whatever...doesn't subvert or challenge any of our culture's expectations of either genre or technology. But a story in which this fear of the "Evil" robot is actually presented as absurd, a story which celebrates the connection between humanity and machines is surprising and interesting. Which is fascinating, because, again, when Asimov wrote this in 1940 it was pretty groundbreaking, and today in 2021 this softer sci-fi is still somehow subversive even though Asimov is considered a pioneer of the genre, so shouldn't his work be cliché by now if everyone has been inspired by him? Thanks to grim-dark edgy remakes...no. The original message of this story is still not only relevant but still somehow still a twist on the genre it helped create.
Beyond its soft tone, and technophilic (as opposed to phobic) view on technology there are some other aspects to this story that are cool. One is the depiction of the Talking Robot that can answer any question (ex. what's the temperature, what's the answer to this math problem). The Talking Robot seems to be a sort of prediction of google; its an idea of using computers to hold a database of facts and answer our questions. Hilariously Asimov writes that there is little point to a talking robot that can answer questions like this, which considering google, Siri, Alexa, and all derivates is one way our culture has changed beyond Asimov's predictions. Another interesting aspect of this story is the implication that Mrs. Weston doesn't fear/dislike Robbie so much because she genuinely believes he is dangerous, but becomes insistent on getting rid of him because it has become unfashionable, and the general opinion on robots is negative. Like all good sci-fi there is some social commentary happening in this story.
Ultimately, I'm a big fan of Asimov and his science fiction. Its not all doom and gloom or fear of technology. Its actually very optimistic of humanity and our future with robots. Which as an opinion then and now, is actually kind of radical.
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