By: Paige Stingley
After completing I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov, our group discussed three main questions. The first was “What is the potential underlying theme of the story, or how does each short story connect to each other?” The replies for this question were pretty much agreed on, with everyone agreeing that the short stories were to make the plot of the story flow in a mysterious plot line that was there for the reader to figure out. The story, like most stories, was written in the past, about the future, and portrayed the advances in robotic technology from the beginning to the end.
The second question asked brought up lots of conversation. The question: “What is the possible meaning of writing the story? Does it contain more than what is read by the reader? Is there a message/statement trying to be said/made in the book?” came up with various answers. We decided that if we depend on technology too much, we won’t have anything to rely on if it fails. In today’s society, electronics are a big part of everyone’s lives. If one day the power were to go out, or we didn’t have our cell phones, computers, iPods, etc…, we wouldn’t know how to communicate or go about our daily lives or function under today’s standards. This answer lead to the question of “What constitutes a living thing, and how far will we go before we give up our rights. In the last chapter of our book, humans were no longer independent beings on earth, rather sections of planets ruled under the regime of robots. Our book contains a sense of science fiction mixed with slight reality, just as in Fahrenheit 451. These books were both written in the past, but still take place in a futuristic time period as we read them. We discussed whether the book was showing a new frontier, or was a warning that as we advance into the future, we need to be careful on how big technology becomes in our everyday life. The other point of perspective brought up was how even today, we are outnumbered by machines. Electric household items, cars, and technological devices are common to most. We view this now just as progress, but it can get out of control if we are not careful.
The final question asked was, “How does the book fit under the semester question ‘price of progression’”? The responses varied, but most included the ups and downs of progress. This can be related all the way back to the time of cavemen, and the use of clubs, versus bow and arrows. As we continue forward in technological uses, we tend to lose the skills we had before. Such an example is texting. Today’s generation has grown up with cell phones, IM, face book, and other means of communication with the outside world. When our parents were growing up, no one had a cell phone or computer, so their means of communication were through phone conversations. When texting can be done, more people choose that mean to communicate because it is quick and easy. Will this diminish our conversational skills as we get older? Some adults are not fans of texting, because they believe that eventually, we will not be able to carry out a conversation, but instead, texting will be our main form of communication. With more knowledge, comes more risk. If we know so much about the new and great, we risk losing everything when it fails. As we go into the future, we need to be careful to see the things that could potential cause a greater risk if it backfires, or becomes out of control. Technology, even when intended for good, can be used for destruction as see in our book, when the robots eventually are ruling humans.
