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From an essay by Robert Silverberg about robots, the Three Laws of Robotics and why we might need a Fourth Law.
Well, all that’s just science fiction. There weren’t any robots when those stories were written, and, since all stories need drama and suspense, the menace of the robot served nicely as a scary plot device. But we have lived on into an era when robots are all over the place—not the clanking two-legged mechanical critters of so many SF tales, but robots all the same, machines that perform a host of functions that once were handled by human beings. Robots sort the mail, defuse bombs, trundle down office hallways carrying packages, bustle around in houses gobbling up dust and terrifying house cats. Robot planes drop missiles on terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan. New uses for robots emerge every day. They are being employed increasingly in delicate manufacturing operations, in surgery, in all sorts of areas where more-than-human keenness of eye and steadiness of hand are required.
via Reflections.
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Barbara K Iverson 