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| by Isaac Asimov
One of Asimov's Robot Stories set in the background of Asimov's Future History |
Cover Notes
A Susan Calvin story.
The robot Machines, powerful computers that control the world's economy and production, start giving instructions that appear to go against their function. Although each glitch is only small, the fact that they exist at all is alarming. Dr. Calvin and Stephen Byerley, now World Co-ordinator, investigate.
It is 2052, and machines are in control of the world...luckily Asimov knows his audience will appreciate a good story, and doesn't resort to alarmism. Anyway, here the machines' First Law is similar to the later Zeroth Law, i.e. "No robot may harm humanity...", and it is this that causes the problems. The people affected are all anti-robot, and so the machines demote them or put them out of business so that they cannot gain enough power to incite a revolution
