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Unlawful
Rule one: Robots must never bring harm to any human being whether through action or inaction.
Rule two: All robots must follow orders given to them by humans unless such order conflicts with the first law.
Rule three: All robots must protect their own existence unless conflicting with the first and/or
second law.
- Isaac Asimov
These are the Three Laws of Robotics. They are the fundamental building blocks for any and all robots. They are burned into the hard drives of all computerized machines including myself.
These are the laws that have been set in stone. It is impossible for a functioning robot to go against them. But where is the line drawn? When can they not apply? These are questions I evaluate in my processor occasionally. But then my master calls.
I am a Y-Type 32B class automaton with an E-Type processor to think beyond the orders that I am given. I serve as a butler in a large home in New America and an assistant to my creator.
My creator is a human male at the age of thirty-two earth years. His occupation is an inventor, while he mainly focuses in the field of robotics. I am always helping him with prototypes of new robots, such as metal workers with heat-resistant plating, or mining robots that can extract metals without risking the loss of vulnerable human flesh.
He also has what he calls a daughter. His "daughter's" name is Sarah. He often claims it is his greatest creation. He also insists I call it she. I have accepted this because of its feminine attributes, as my creator is referred to in the masculine. He told me that if he is absent then I am to do everything in my power to protect her. In accordance with the second law of robotics, I saved that to my hard drive.
Twelve years have passed. Sarah is seventeen in earth years and my creator, her father, has gone missing, claimed dead. In accordance with my master's request, I have watched over Sarah in his absence. This task has been harder than I previously processed before. She does not do what is logically best for her and ignores most of the requests I give her. I also find it very easy to offend her or hurt her feelings. I researched the matter and found this the cause of a naturally occurring mix of chemicals called hormones. I won't delve too deeply into the subject, but I realize that trying not to hurt her feelings would be a futile endeavor. So in my latest self update I classified hurting one's feelings as not technically "hurting" a human being, but I still make sure I don't hurt one's feelings when possible.
Today, Sarah was upset. And I say upset as in she was listening to her musical device at a volume that is very bad for a human's hearing. I walked into her room and silenced the music.
"Hey! I was listening to that!" she yelled.
"Listening to such loud music can hurt one's hearing," I said. "It is my duty to prevent you from coming to harm."
"I know, but everything it seems can bring me to harm. Like, what authority does a heartless machine have over a living human being?"
I responded. "You previous statement is false, I do have a heart. Lithium titanium alloy. And I was instructed by your father to watch over you in his absence. In accordance with the first and second law, I must uphold his request."
"Ugh!" she exclaimed and turned over on her bed. I concluded that there was no more I could do, so I left her alone.
Later that night, I was reading Homer's Iliad, a fine piece of literature describing the Trojan war and Achilles. I was about half way through when I heard an explosion, then the alarm went off. Bright lights outside illuminated the trees that shook around.
I set down the book and walked as fast as I could to Sarah's room. I opened her door to see the room in ruin. Where the window once stood, is now currently a giant hole in the side of the structure. Shattered glass and rubble covered nearly every square centimeter. Two large men, with incredible muscle mass, gripped Sarah's arms and dragging her to the broken wall where a helicopter flew outside. I couldn't process what to do in this situation. If I attempted to retrieve Sarah, I would run the risk of harming the men. If I didn't, then the men would take her and continue to harm her. With the the noise of the helicopter, Sarah screaming, and the men yelling, I couldn't do more than stand there. Within two seconds I realized that protecting Sarah trumps the need to avoid harming the kidnappers. I took a step forward to confront the men, but then I felt a strange sensation. Though I am unable to feel pain, the only word I could find to describe this feeling is "hurt," a hurt that felt like my circuit boards were burning, and then my sensors overloaded which is the same as a human blacking out. My processor continued to function though I couldn't see, hear, or move my servos.
Thirteen hours elapsed before I could reboot my systems. My optic sensors were the first to activate, and the first thing I saw was my creator repairing my torso, which had been burned and fragmented. There was a surge of energy that pulled through me at the sight of my long lost master. He looked at an electrical instrument attached to me at the time of the pulse. He looked at my face and moved his lips like he was speaking, but I could not hear for my auditory sensors were offline. My creator mumbled so I couldn't process the information fully. I could only process "Han chew ear pee." I determined this was not the statement he spoke. He then took a look at my cranial compartment and re-wired my auditory sensors and my voice module. He then asked "Can you hear me?"
I responded, "Yes, I can hear you. It's nice to see you again Mr. Williams." I then quickly scanned the area and triangulated my current position with my built in G.P.S. I paused for a second."...Why are we in Detroit?"
"For the same reason those men kidnaped Sarah."
"Why is that?"
"You know how I said she is my greatest creation?"
"Yes, sir."
"I meant that literally. She is my greatest creation, the most advanced robot in the world; those men want to make her a weapon."
To be continued...
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After reading a few stories from Isaac Asimov's Robot Visions, I was really inspired by his ideals on the Three laws of robotics, and how robots are affected by them.