In 1942, a 22-year-old chemistry student and part-time writer set down three short rules for how a fictional robot ought to behave. His aim was to kill off the lazy "robot-as-Frankenstein-monster" cliché. More than eighty years later, real engineers, real ethicists and real lawmakers are still arguing about them.

This is the first of two episodes on Isaac Asimov — one of the "big dogs" of science fiction whose output ran to some five hundred books. John Helmer and Ezri Carlebach take on the most enduring part of that legacy: the Three Laws of Robotics. The Laws went on to power nine linked short stories in I, Robot, several films, hundreds of academic papers, and an argument about AI safety that shows no sign of ending any time soon.

In this episode:

• The man and the output
• Robots before Asimov
• I, Robot as nine thought experiments
• Susan Calvin — one of SF's first great female scientists
• The Three Laws and the trolley problem
• Coming next: Foundation

Links and resources:

• Website: techimaginarium.co.uk
• Instagram: @tech.imaginarium
• Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@JohnHelmerConsulting

Music by Nick Dwyer recording as Flintet. The Tech Imaginarium is a Learning Hack podcast, produced and hosted by John Helmer and written by John Helmer and Ezri Carlebach.