The Three Laws of Robotics and The 0th Law

The Three Laws of Robotics and The 0th Law

The Three Laws of Robotics are a set of rules devised by Isaac Asimov( Know more about Asimov), one of the most famous science fiction authors.The rules were introduced in his 1942 short story Runaround. The Three Laws are:

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

       2.   A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except  where   such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

These form an organizing principle and unifying theme for Asimov's robotic - based fictions, including his Robot series. Many of Asimov's robot-focused stories involve robots behaving in unusual and counter-intuitive ways as an unintended consequence of how the robot applies the Three Laws to the situation in which it finds itself. Other authors working in Asimov's fictional universe have adopted them and references, often parodic, appear throughout science fiction as well as in other genres.

The original laws have been altered and elaborated on by Asimov and other authors. Asimov himself made slight modifications to the first three in various books and short stories to further develop how robots would interact with humans and each other. In later fiction where robots had taken responsibility for government of whole planets and human civilizations, Asimov also added a fourth, or zeroth law, to precede the others:

The 0th Law

In the chapter "The Duel" in Robots and Empire, Asimov first presents another law, which he calls the Zeroth Law of Robotics, and adjusts the other ones accordingly:

0. A robot may not harm humanity, or through inaction allow humanity to come to harm.

1. A robot may not harm a human, or through inaction allow a human to come to harm, unless this interferes with the zeroth law.

2. A robot must obey orders given to it by a human being unless such orders interfere with the zeroth or first laws.

3. A robot must defend its own existence unless such defense interferes with the zeroth, first or second laws.

The Three Laws, and the zeroth, have pervaded science fiction and are referred to in many books, films, and other media.

ebinkvk@gmail.com

Ice 196°C G.R. Indugopan

Ice 196°C     G.R. Indugopan

G.R. Indugopan’s novel Ice 196°C is possibly the first complete science fiction in Malayalam literature. The work brilliantly uses the possibilities and hypotheses of science and technology. Science fiction is the area, where Malayalam literature is still unable to set its foot. Ice 196°C could be an ice breaker for Malayalam literature.

          The novel is centred on two characters and their eternal revenge for each other, Bindusaran and Rasmidharan. Once great friends, they were Malayalees settled in the U.S running a successful company. But they became enemies living to kill each other. The action starts with the murder of Bindusaran. Anticipating his fate Bindusaran had already made a bond with Dr. John Hopkins, the owner of the Alpha Life Extension Institute. After the murder Dr. Hopkins preserves Bindusaran’s head in cryonic suspension. Bindusaran’s mutilated body is taken as proof to substantiate his death.

          To his dismay, Rasmidharan finds that Bindusaran is planning to make a comeback ‘from the death’, after decades, to take him down. In his second birth Bindusaran would be younger and richer. Fearing his entrance Rasmidharan decides to apply for cryogenics ‘to born again’ younger and stronger.

          The introduction of Dr. Shyam Nair, a genius in the field of Nano medicine, is a turning point in the plot. He virtually connects the brains of the opponents, Bindusaran and Rasmidharan. The novel attains a new manner from that moment on wards. Dr. Shyam was shocked to recognize that his research may lead to the creation of a dangerous generation. The novel move to the climax with the dilemma of Dr. Shyam and describes how he tries to overcome the problems.

          The story of Dr. Shyam’s childhood in Kerala is brilliant sub plot. The idea of programmed humans created with the DNA of the persons living in cryopreservation is an admirable concept. They are created in the lab through cloning and growing inside the lab. Their brains are empty and unable think or feel or act themselves. The scientists upload and install programs to their brains and they act in accordance with those programs. They are practically working as a computer not as humans. The personal robot of Dr. Shyam, which starts to feel like human beings and at last commits suicide to save Dr. Shyam is another memorable event in the work

          Ice 196°C discuss about the life of humans in a future world, where technology plays the pivotal role. 

T.D Ramakrishnan’s Alpha

T.D Ramakrishnan’s Alpha

Alpha is a Malayalam utopian novel by the author T.D Ramakrishnan. The story is set in an imaginative island called Alpha. The leading character in this novel is Professor Upalendu Chattergee, a reputed Anthropology professor.

The novel talks about an unusual experiment of twelve persons, who belongs to different stratas of society, led by the professor. They have decided to live in the island for 25 years, cutting all the relations with the outer world. They have burned their boat, dresses and all equipment and decided not to use the language that they have used up to that moment.

Professor Chattergee believed that they could achieve all the progresses within 25 years that the humanity achieved through centuries.

No one in the real world, except Professor Sathish Chandra Banergee, knew about this experiment. He was supposed to visit the island after the 25 years and evaluate the progress of the experiment. He entrusted this duty to his disciple, Avinash, at his death bed.

Avinash reached after the prescribed time, wherer he witnessed a barbarian community. They have found that only three are alive among the first 12. They took the three out of the island. The novel progresses through the recollection of the survived persons, Malini, Santhosh and Urmila.

The novel is short, but surprising and memorable. T.D Ramakrishnan has done justice to the author in himself. Though utopian novels are very rare in Malayalam language, Alpha by its quality, can fill that gap.

Jayant Vishnu Narlikar

Jayant Vishnu Narlikar

          

      He is known popularly as an astrophysicist, but he is also famous as the author of some science fiction works. Born in Maharashtra, he was honoured by the prestigious awards like Padma Vibhushan Padma Bhushan etc. He was educated from Banaras Hindu University. He later went to Cambridge for higher studies.

           

Narlikar returned to India to join the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (1972-1989) where under his charge the Theoretical Astrophysics Group acquired international standing. In 1988 he was invited by the University Grants Commission as Founder Director to set up the proposed Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA). Under his direction IUCAA has acquired a world-wide reputation as a centre for excellence in teaching and research in astronomy and astrophysics. He retired from this position in 2003. He is now Emeritus Professor at IUCAA.

During 1994–1997, he was the President of the Cosmology Commission of the International Astronomical Union. He was popular for his works in cosmology. Besides scientific papers and books and popular science literature, Narlikar has written science fiction, novels, and short stories in English, Hindi, and Marathi.

Science fiction works

YAKSHANCHI DENAGI (The Gift of the Yakshas) 1979

PRESHIT (The One Who Was Sent), 1983

ANTARALATALA BHASMASUR (Bhasmasur in Space) 1985

DHOOMKETU (The Comet) 1986

VAMAN PARAT NA ALA (Vaman did not return) 1986

THE RETURN OF VAMAN 1988

TROYNO GHODO (The Trojan Horse) 1987

AGANTUK (The guest) 1988

ANTARALATIL SPHOT (The Cosmic Explosion) 1992

TIME MACHINECHI KIMAYA (Miracle of the Time Machine) 1994

ABHAYARANYA (Sanctuary) 2002

Vandana Singh

Vandana Singh

 

Vandana Singh is an Indian writer of speculative fiction, which includes science fiction and fantasy. She is very much attached to the science fiction genre. The following sentences will prove her love for this genre. She says:

I love this genre (science fiction) for its imaginative richness, its vast canvas, and the sophistication with which its best practitioners wield their pens. Science fiction and fantasy have come a long way from the lurid caricatures of ray-guns and little green men (which, by the way, I still insist on enjoying, for the most part); in fact no other genre asks deeper questions about the human condition or sets up literary thought experiments about our interaction with the physical world, including other worlds and new technologies.

She was born in New Delhi and settled in the United States. Her higher education was in the field of Physics. The following are some of her works.

The Wife

Three Tales from Sky River: Myths for a Starfaring Age

Delhi

Life-pod

Oblivion: A Journey

Young uncle comes to town

The Woman Who Thought She Was a Planet

Manjula Padmanabhan

Manjula Padmanabhan

     Manjula Padmanabhan is a playwright, novelist, artist, illustrator and cartoonist. She is the author of the award winning play Harvest, which was awarded the Greek Onassis Award. She has written one more powerful play, Lights Out! (1984). Hidden Fires is a series of monologues. The Artist's Model (1995) and Sextet are her other works. She has authored a collection of short stories, called Kleptomania.

HARVEST

      Manjula Padmanabhan in Harvest presents   a war between machine and man. The play shows the futuristic picture of the modern times where the machines will be replacing and distancing human beings gradually. The play warns through the character of Jaya how one has to govern the machines instead of being governed. It is a futuristic play about the sale of body parts and exploitative relations between developed and developing countries. 

Samit Basu

Samit Basu

Samit Basu is an Indian novelist and screenwriter. The Simoqin Prophecies, published in 2003, was the first book in the bestselling Gameworld Trilogy and marked the beginning of Indian English fantasy writing. The other books in the trilogy are The Manticore’s Secret and The Unwaba Revelations.

Samit was born in Calcutta and he obtained a degree in Economics. The Simoqin Prophecies, Basu's first novel, was written when he was 22 and published when he was 23. The GameWorld trilogy has been widely well reviewed and all three books have reached Indian best-seller lists. In 2010, Basu wrote a YA novel called Terror on the Titanic. His next famous work Turbulence introduced him to the West. It also won a Wired Geekdad Goldenbot Award and appeared at no.2 on the list of hot new Amazon Science Fiction titles on the week of its release. Basu is also known as a columnist, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker and freelance journalist writing on travel, film, books and pop culture.

Basu’s work in comics ranges from historical romance to zombie comedy, and includes diverse collaborators, from X-Men/Felix Castor writer Mike Carey to Terry Gilliam and Duran Duran. His latest GN, Local Monsters, was published in 2013.