js2j@mhuxt.UUCP (sonntag) (11/08/84)
> I just started reading the Robots Of Dawn by Asimov. The book appears > to be ONE LONG story about a human detective investigating the > *death* of an intelligent robot. After ~100 pages, I keep expecting > the human detective to discover who killed the robot. My biggest compliant A couple other things bothered me too: 1.) The robot that was killed was a 'humaniform' robot, and much of the plot hinges on the fact that no one except one particular roboticist can make a humaniform robot. But later on, we find out that the only real difference between a regular robot and a humaniform robot is that the h. robots, as the name suggests, have a very human appearance. Way back in 2300, or so, long before this story takes place in Asomov's robot universe, there was a robot which became humaniform by upgrading himself. 2.) One possibility, which the detective didn't even investigate, was suicide. He carefully eliminated many more unlikely alternatives than this one, even though the robot had a great motive for suicide. (his continued existance could have been construed as causing 'harm' to his HUMAN lover. By the first law of robotics, I don't see why it would be unreasonable to suspect that he had offed himself.) All in all, not *too* bad, though it certainly would have been better if it had been about half as long. Jeff Sonntag ihnp4!mhuxl!mhuxt!js2j p.s. For extra credit, what was the name of the robot who became a man, the name of the book, and the year in which it occured?