I, Robot (Widescreen Edition)

Buy This Item I, Robot (Widescreen Edition) by 20th Century Fox  Available from Amazon  $9.99  on 11-25-2008     In the year 2035, technology and robots are a trusted part of everyday life. But that trust is broken when a scientist is found dead and a skeptical detective (Smith) believes that a robot is responsible. Bridget Moynahan co-stars in this high-tech action thriller that questions whether technology will ultimately lead to mankind's salvation . . . or annihilation. Reader Reviews I ROBOT, starring Will Smith, was a fine four star movie having an interesting plot, good acting, fine direction and lots of action. I think the film was almost too ambitious from the point of view of special effects. Will Smith stated that I ROBOT had more special effects than any film he has made to date, including INDEPENDANCE DAY. Although I really appreciate good effects, I would have preferred some more of Will Smith's entertaining acting. He was too much of a stunt man in this film. I also found the full scale mechanical effects to be much more credibly done than the abundant computer graphics which though beautiful, did look a bit too stylish giving certain portions of the film the appearance of anime. In the literary sense, the original laws of robotics were invented by Isaac Asimov, one of the most prolific science fiction writers of the 20th century and certainly the most influential on the many recent films concerning robots. Many Hollywood science fiction films have been based on Asimov's three laws and almost all find it necessary to at least quote them or refer to another of Asimov's inventions, the positronic brain. The most recent include Bicentennial Man, AI, and several others. The "positronic brain" is referred to in Star Trek's android robot, DATA. The Three Laws of Robotics hold up very well with time and appear to be an inescapably logical way to define the important features of behavior in civilian robots. The laws, which are quoted numerous times in the film, are: 1) A robot may not injure a human being, or through inaction allow a human being to come to harm. 2) A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings, so long as this does not conflict with the First Law. 3) A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not interfere with the First or Second Law. This is not the first film to predict that the outcome of the three laws will be a computer or robot revolution to control man. This is based on the idea that man needs to be protected from his own warlike nature. COLLOSUS, The Forbin Project made a very similar prediction. The concept of a robot police state was also visited in THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL, though not attributed to the three laws. 2001 and 2010 made a similar projection but for entirely different reasons. However, I believe that Asimov would defend his laws of robotics while granting this film artistic license to use this speculation in the interest of an interesting plot. It is sad that we have not witnessed more humanoid robotic developments in the United States, the country of Asimov's fictional US ROBOTS AND MECHANICAL MEN. It is HONDA's ASIMO which appears to be the most highly developed commercial robot. Because of the fear and suspicion that people might harbor against robots, HONDA chose to build their latest version of humanoid robot child sized. The big lumbering HONDA robots preceding it were a bit too intimidating and "Gort" like. HONDA is to be congratulated for their pioneering work and will probably see some return on their investment when variations of ASIMO are actually used in science fiction films, as museum guides, and as a general purpose domestic robot initially used to assist disabled or elderly people and ultimately perform all forms of household work. Note that ASIMO can currently walk and run on two legs, climb up and down stairs, play a decent game of soccer, recognize people and objects, speak, hear, recognize voices and react to speech appropriately. For more info about ASIMO search the web using GOOGLE. Needless to say, the three laws of robotics could not be employed without modification in any military robot which might be under development in some secret government lab which would need to destroy human life in the course of assigned duties. Of course, I wouldn't care to imagine what we may have developed for the military, and just how fantastic such robot technology might be once permitted to trickle down to the circles of commerce. At that time it would be necessary to represent something with the effect of Asimov's three laws in these advanced machines.

I, Robot (Widescreen Edition) Available from Amazon Price: $9.99 Updated on 11-25-2008.

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