I have recently been listening to a book which I first read years ago...."I Robot" by Isaac Asimov. It is still a fascinating read...stories of various sorts of robot which were clearly fiction when they were written.
The first rule a robot had to obey was that no harm should ever come to a human even by a lack of action by the robot...it was built in to the program by which they were run. Many robots had been designed to do heavy work on the planets....collecting minerals etc.
The first story though was of a nurse maid robot whose charge loved him dearly and who was devasted when her Robbie was taken away from her.
The most chilling story in the collection was where a robot , realising his mental superiority to the humans had worked out a worship pattern for the great engine they served. The generator was God and QT was his prophet...
The ability to read the human mind meant that another robot told humans what ever made them happy...with unhappy results....
The collection of stories has lasted well since I first found them in the fifties. I have enjoyed revisiting them. So this morning in the papers is a photograph of the latest robot. It has been made into a smiling, attractive young woman....
I just hope the makers of this model have read the wisdom of Isaac Asimov. Or watch out world....fact really is often stranger than fiction!
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