Saturday, March 5, 2011

iRobot

"Human beings have dreams. Even dogs have dreams, but not you, you are just a machine. An imitation of life. Can a robot write a symphony? Can a robot turn a... canvas into a beautiful masterpiece?" -Detective Del Spooner


In the year 2035 at Chicago, Detective Del Spooner wakes from a bad dream. He was heading in to work and he sees robots around him performing tedious tasks. Upon walking, he sees a robot thief. This turns out not to be the case, much to his embarrassment. Spooner gets a good talking to at the station from his boss, Lt. Bergin, showing that this isn't the first time something like this has happened.


The fact is Spooner just doesn't like robots. He doesn't trust them and doesn't want anything to do with them for reasons we find out later. Hence the irony when he is called to the towering U.S. Robotics skyscraper to investigate the death of Dr. Alfred Lanning, robotics scientist and inventor of the Three Laws of Robotics.


Everyone is assuming Lanning's death is a suicide but Spooner quickly uncovers a series of inconsistencies. He points this out to Lawrence Robertson owner and CEO of U.S. Robotics and the world's richest man. Robertson is cooperative but mostly interested in keeping this whole thing quiet. His company is about to launch a new product: the NS-5 robot.


Robertson directs robotics scientist Susan Calvin to help Spooner with the investigation and the first thing they discover is a robot hiding in Lanning's lab. Much to Susan's amazement this robot refuses to obey her orders, something everyone in this era takes for granted. Sonny the robot makes a run for it. He sure makes a good prime suspect.


Reflection:


Robots have three basic law:

  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 except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
  3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Robots are human-made. They are not created to change the law, the way people lived. The movie was helpful indeed especially to those people who relies more in technology. Sooner or later, robots have the potential to ruin and to take over world if this scenario happens.



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