h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

If you really think carefully about it, pretty much all authors follow these rules without thinking about it - they apply equally well to humans (although they may take a little modification to get the context right). This makes it only natural for people to believe that these rules are.. well... natural.

It's an interesting thought, but i think humans work a little differently. Some people work in the opposite order, and would put themselves above anything and put others last, and some might assign no importance to any one of the laws. For robots you can rely on them to follow the laws, if such robots are ever built, but humans arent so dependable

True, but on the whole, we do follow the three laws - Protecting each other, doing what we are told, and protecting ourselves. It's the way we are brought up.

But in 'Mirror Image' Asimov himself made the observation that humans don't always follow the three laws as strictly as robots.

The theme comes up in many of his stories. In one of the stories in the 'Gold' collection (the name escapes me) a robot wants to become a writer, but initially has trouble writing about things in a realistic fashion with the 3 laws in the way

I remember that one... The name escapes me too.

Now, are you planning on writing an article on Multivac? That always impressed me more than Asimov's robot series, because of the blatant contradictions involved.
(Oh, and welcome to the guide)

Which contradictions would they be, BB?

Well, for example in one story Multivac came into existence to fight a war, but this isn't mentioned in any others. Also how Multivac stopped working - in some, it killed itself. In others, it said that humour was created by aliens. In some stories it was just a step towards microvac and more advanced computers, and no aliens exist.
I can't really remember - it's been too long since I read them all.

Are they actually contradictions though (apart from the ones concerning how/why it came into existence)? I always thought the whole point of Multivac was that it *could* do anything - in some stories it has more or less functions than in others, due to the fact that it redesigns itself continuously. It's just a matter of fitting each story into the timespan of Multivac.

As for the one where it kills itself, if it's the one I think it is (a bloke called Joseph Manners (I think!) gets arrested, which has various consequences), it doesn't actually manage to kill itself. I think it is possible that after that, it would have been able to design microvac (or whichever came next) - a completely seperate entity perhaps - to continue its work.

Actually, I think multivac is just a concept used by asimov as an easy way of describing a really really big computer. Some of the stories are connected, but others are only linked by the usage of the term 'Multivac'... But the robot stories tend to have more of a chronology to them

Yes, I think I'd agree with that, MrCoulcomb. Afterall, Asimov was interested in selling each story seperately, not in making an anthology that makes sense.
But I do feel that the stories are worth as much mention and notice as the Robot ones - they tend to be ignored and forgotten.

Yeah, but although Multivac may have been intended as a concept, rather than an actual thing, I think that there is some sort of 'ordering' possible - there is a vague timeline, if only you (we) can work it out. Even if it was intended.

But of course, I could be completely wrong. It's ages since I read any Asimov.

Well, as Justin and I haven't read the stories for ages, and my Asimov books are sadly at my parent's house and not at my home, it looks like our Mr C. friend may have the responsibilty - but fear not, we'll help.

Yep. I've almost finished all the Discworld novels, and I've got an unread (as yet) Asimov anthology waiting for me...

Fair enough... i'll refresh my memory, read some multivac stories and white a bit about them. Or maybe I'll make a whole section about Sci-Fi computers, and include Hal9000, Multivac, even throw in a remark or two about the h2g2 supercomputers, perhaps. I was wondering how you make one of those articles where more that one person is a researcher, because then we could make a huge article about it an submit it for approval, if you were both interested in doing something along those likes.

As far as I know, only the Sub-editors can put multiple-researchers on an entry. However, if someone produced an article from various forum postings (as could happen here), I'm pretty sure they'd be happy to link to all the researchers who contributed. I mean, that's how the guide works in the books - people come in off the streets and finish off articles on the desks of researchers who are 'out to lunch'.

Hi, I just thought I'd add my twopennorth (as this is a very excellent article! Scrape Grovel etc etc etc).

Anyways, form my reading of Asimov it appears that Multivac is a generic term for a large computer (Multi=many, vac=vacuum tube I presume). There are some stories where he uses Multivac as a supposed world authority, suchas Jokester, which is in Earth is Room Enough. This is the one to which one of you referred earlier, in which Multivac is the world's most complex computer, and one of its users gets it to analyse humour. The result it comes up with is that jokes are implanted into the human brain by aliens doing psychological experiments. As soon as they discover this, humans lose all ability at humour. I think it is important to say here that Earth is Room Enough is not one of the Robot collections, and it is probable that this Multivac computer isn't a Three Laws robot.
In I, Robot, the computer that controls the entire world's economy (in, I think, The Evitable Conflict) is simply referred to as "The Machine" or "The Machines", I think there may have been one for each region of the world.
The Multivac computer is then not a single entity but a generic supercomputer that Asimov uses whenever he wants his characters to consult a logical approach.

Luv, Casanova the Short (aka Graham).

P.S. I still have access to my Asimov books and have a small number of his short story anthologies, so I may be able to help with any other research you need!

A couple of days ago, I read one of Asimov's editorial essays (in the collection 'Gold'). I can't remember which one it was, or the exact details, but it would appear that he created Multivac as 'the next step' from an already existing Univac. I'll try and find that bit again...

Something that is of at least mild interest, perhaps even creeping slightly away from apathy, but has only been slightly hinted at in any of the articles on Asimov in the Guide (including my own, can't remember the article number so you'll have to look yourselves) is the way in which the Three Laws have, in various forms, permeated not only Science Fiction culture but also the way scientists themselves approach A.I. robotics.

I can't think of many direct examples at the moment, but Robbie the Robot from the Forbidden Planet is one that does spring to mind. Unfortunately, most of them are the "supposedly good but turn against their creator" style, which although can make good reading usually just fill me with deja vu.

I know it can seem decidedly asocial to reply to one's self, but I've found the following:

1> The reference for my article on I, Robot: http://www.h2g2.com/A376319

2> A page about Multivac:
http://www.h2g2.com/A359246

I must admit that the story referred to in Multivac's page isn't one I have read: does anyone know the title?

Thankyou much for the reference in the I robot page, I will update my page to return the favour, as I robot is clearly the first place to go for stories about the laws.