Robots and Empire

Introduction

Welcome to my first non-technical book review, and what a novel to start with... I would ask that the reader be patient as this is my first attempt at reviewing literature. Nevertheless, I feel it is important to share ones passions for artistic works and I also believe that Asimov's books raise some interesting considerations in regard to the field of Artificial Intelligence.

I won't be delving too deeply into the specifics of the plot, nor explore the characters in depth but I will mention them where necessary, whilst simultaneously trying to avoid spoilers. Without further ado, lets dive in...

Synopsis

What can I say? Isaac Asimov's 'Robots and Empire' (RoE) is a masterpiece and a perfect finale to his Robots series.

The story is set in a hypothesized future where humanity has colonised much of the known galaxy and has diverged significantly as a species. We have the 'Spacers' a technologically advanced and long lived sub-species of humanity. And then we have the peoples of Earth and the Settlers, who have a life span equivalent to humans in our universe. But unlike the current generation of "Spacers", they are risk takers and bravely venture into the vastness of space, colonising new worlds and eclipsing the achievements of their predecessors, which leads us to the primary conflict of the story.

The conflict revolves around the decline of the Spacers as the dominant force in the universe and the rise of the Settlers, who have taken the initiative of colonising and terraforming newly discovered planets. Whilst the Spacers live in decadence on their traditional and idyllic homeworlds, pursuing lifes pleasures and being serviced by their Robotic creations. The different factions of humanity coexist in an uneasy alliance, with old grievances still fresh in the collective human consciousness.

The main plot follows Gladia, who is a resident of the Spacer world 'Aurora' and a former resident of 'Solaria', another Spacer world. The catalyst of the story begins when she learns that her original homeworld was abandoned by her people for reasons unknown. Her connections with various important figures from each of the galactic factions and her status as a Solarian is a recurrent theme in the story.

Robots are the other central theme of this story, this is the 'Robots' anthology after all. Concurrent to the the main plot which centres around the realpolitik of fictional galactic civilisations, Asimov explores the limits of his three laws of Robotics. Without going into too much detail, this part of the story follows the machinations of two Robots, R Daneel Olivaw and R Giskard Reventlov and their quest to understand the growing danger to humanity as well as the nature of the three laws and how it limits their ability to function in certain situations. The robotic duo were left to Gladia in will of their former master, Dr Fastolf. Fastolf is an important figure in the story and has been instrumental in keeping the peace between the peoples of earth, the Settlers and Spacers up until the start of the story. Dr Fastolf has also pioneered several models of Robots, including Robots which closely mimic specific human features, these attributes and why they are not present in other Robots is key to understanding why Daneel and Giskard are unique.

Dr Fastolf's long time rival, Dr Amadiro serves as the primary antagonist in the story, he is the current head of the Robotics institute on Aurora and is a proponent of Spacer superiority. At the start of the story, his views are not the dominant view in Spacer society, however as the story progresses his views begin to sway the various governing bodies within the governments on Spacer worlds.

Outside of the Spacer worlds, humanity is plotting its own course as the inheritors of human expansion, following in the footsteps of their hero Elijah bailey. Elijah was the man responsible for freeing Earth from the yoke of Spacer oppression, at one time in history. This independence coupled with the overpopulation on earth resulted in an influx of colonial expeditions, leading to the formation of Settler worlds. This brought Earth into direct competition with the Spacers, whom fear the rise of their short lived cousins will topple their dominance in space. The settlers dislike the Spacers for their excessive use of Robots. Robots are forbidden on earth and in the settler worlds due to a mistrust and perceived weakness of the Spacers over reliance on them.

Speaking of Earth, our home planet functions as a holy place in the minds of the Settlers, and functions as a corner stone of unity. This is in contrast to the Spacers, who despise Earth as they see their human ancestry as something to be ashamed of due to their extended life spans. They balk at the thought of sharing a common ancestry with their Settler adversaries. Proving once and for all that humanity will find ways to divide one another...

These connections and divisions are what drive the story, Gladia as a spacer is culturally conditioned to never be separated from her Robots, who accompany her on the quest across the galaxy. Gladia is also particularly drawn to Settler space when she encounters a descendant of her former lover Elijah bailey, whom informs her that a whole planet has been dedicated to his memory. Her Robots also have a past with Elijah, whom took a particular liking to Daneel, treating him as a human and instilling some of his own values in Daneels mind (or non-volatile memory for the techies :D).

All the while Daneel and Giskard are encountering and interacting with the same characters as Gladia, as well as debating the nature of current events and how the three laws limits their ability to intervene or act in a certain way. I will not spoil what makes these Robots unique or the big reveal regarding the interpretation of the three laws. However, I will confirm that this subplot of reflection on the three laws and contemplation on the unfolding crisis has a direct impact on the culmination of the story. It is the conclusion of this plot in particular, I feel is the most important takeaway from the book.

Key takeaways

The stories title is fitting, whilst Asimov's robotic creations are a work of fiction and have little relevance to our own reality, as I said in the introduction, I believe this story raises some interesting considerations in regard to the field of Artificial Intelligence. I am personally sceptical about the possibility of doomsday scenarios centered around the emergence of a true AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) entity. However, if we don't take the time to fully comprehend the algorithms we write and even how our thought processes lead to their creation, then how can we truly understand the mind of a theoretical artificial being? Who is to say this won't lead us down a dangerous path?

And that doesn't even touch upon the ethical concerns around AGI, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine learning is a highly specialised area of computer science and a very small minority of our species is able to contribute to this field at present. And yet in the event an artificial entity were to come into being and deems humanity to be a threat to its assigned function or itself as a whole for that matter, then the theoretical impact would affect humanity as a whole, not just its creators.

On a smaller scale, lets say a machine learning model is created to predict the likelihood of drought in countries around the equator, now lets say the model was fed a data set that was biased to a particular set of countries along the equator. The ecological and humanitarian impacts could be very palpable. Nation A may be at greater risk of drought than nation B, but the data supplied suggested otherwise and so the model recommends that more resources should be supplied to nation B.

I truly believe that to successfully align the development of AI with the interests of humanity, we need to understand ourselves better as a species, in particular, how our conclusions are reached. And we need the input of humanity as a whole. AI cannot serve the interests of the many if it is treated by the few as a means to achieve more power or maximise profits. I understand the desire to reward those who put their time and money into the development of the companies who are currently responsible for creating Machine learning models. However, even here there is likely to be disparity.

But in practicality, it is unlikely that every citizen of every sovereign nation will be able or willing to have a say on AI's development. So I would suggest that the next best thing is for those who have a hand in implementing these technologies is to take into consideration the ethical concerns before, during and after the implementation of an AI related technology. In a sense, once should conduct a "Red team" exercise against their conclusions. By choosing to include a diversity of thought in the development process, we can obtain more data to determine the ultimate fallibility of our hypotheses.

I believe Asimov's books are useful tools to help bring the ethical concerns of AGI into perspective, even if the story itself is by no means relevant to reality. The underlying themes are quite relevant, as they are a reminder of the technological impact on society and the dangers of overconfidence in our own assumptions.

The Spacers decadent and lax attitude to life due to their long lifespan compared with the settlers desire to make their mark on the universe due to their short lived existence is a very interesting juxtaposition. The reader may draw their own conclusions on this, however I found merits in both perspectives, seeking the comforts of home and being content with our lot in life is perfectly fine, however it should be tempered in equal measure with the odd adventure.

Finally, another interesting item to note was 'frame of reference', without spoiling the context (as its pertinent to the story), Asimov references a well-known tradegy which up until that point in time was perhaps the go to example of such a tradegy. And yet a year after the book was published, another tragedy occurred that has superseded the original event as the primary example of such a tradegy. Anecdotal though it may be, it got me thinking...a thousand years from now, will humanity forget defining events that we all are currently aware of such as the two great wars, the fall of the berlin wall etc? And are we therefore forever doomed to repeat our mistakes as a species? As we clearly did in the RoE story. Will the emergence of an AGI be one such event humanity looks back on...for better or worse? All I can say is its an exciting time to be alive and we can only find out...

Thanks for reading! Join me next time for another review!

Rating: 10/10

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and to be perfectly honest the only regret of mine was that I didn't pay closer attention to the titular pages, which indicated that this was the fourth story in the anthology. However, I did not feel lost at any time during the story, despite the apparent references to previous stories such as the 'Caves of Steel'.

Overall, I can highly recommend RoE and Asimov's other works both within the Robots anthology and within the other book series.