09-21-2012, 12:13 PM | #151 |
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09-21-2012, 12:20 PM | #152 | |
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UNDER PRESSURE, on the other hand, I found to be a cut above everything of his but DUNE. (And, being a glutton for punishment, I have a fairly deep Herbert library.) At the time it was highly regarded, too. Bradbury I just never got into. A matter of style and taste. Most poetry doesn't do much for me either. I just prefer lean prose (Asimov over Bradbury, Donaldson over Tolkien, etc) |
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09-21-2012, 12:22 PM | #153 | |
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09-21-2012, 01:00 PM | #154 |
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So you don't like babies, and you believe women who find the process of making them mutually enjoyable to be worthy of denigration. Are you a misogynist all the time, or just today?
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09-21-2012, 01:48 PM | #155 | |
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All children, really, but not children in general. It's just that most of the ones I meet, I hate personally and individuall.
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Are you a liar all the time, or just today? (Note: you started the namecalling, not me.) |
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09-21-2012, 02:30 PM | #156 |
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09-21-2012, 05:01 PM | #157 |
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Asimov was definitely an idea man. His best stuff is probably his robot stories, where he takes an interesting concept (his Three Laws of Robotics) and then turns them into pretty good stories that also serve to show the twists and turns and limits of the basic concept.
They are fairly dated, though. I reread I, Robot after the Will Smith movie came out, and stuff like astronauts on Mercury riding on the shoulders of robots and steering them with the robots' ears was just wacky by that point. Even his Three Laws of Robotics are kind of a charming anachronism in the modern day. I will also say that I appreciate the economy with which the 50's sci fi guys wrote. I like it when I can read an entire novel within 150 pages. |
09-21-2012, 05:31 PM | #158 |
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09-21-2012, 06:32 PM | #159 | |
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After watching that movie? I'm thinking future generations will be a *lot* kinder to Asimov than to the producers of that particular bit of Hollywood dreck... (Bridget Moynihan is a fine actress but way down the list of appropriate casting choices for Susan Calvin. And that is the least of brickbats headed their way.) I will grant that as attrocious as I ROBOT was, it pales before the abomination that was Nightfall (1988). |
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09-21-2012, 06:53 PM | #160 |
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Asimov's three laws are well beyond our ability to implement. To obey the first or third laws requires that the robot be able to recognize when harm is taking place or is about to take place. It then requires the robot to recognize what steps to take to correct or prevent the harm.
The second law, getting the robot to understand what you want when you give it an order is tricky enough as it is. I didn't think I, Robot was a great movie, but it did seem a possible outcome of the Zeroth Law of Robotics, "A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm." Once you allow the robots to violate the First Law, pretty much anything goes. The robot would free to do anything that it thinks will prevent harm to humanity. Nightfall, that was a couple hours I wish I could surgically remove from my brain. Last edited by QuantumIguana; 09-21-2012 at 06:56 PM. |
09-21-2012, 06:56 PM | #161 | |
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Lesson #1 in any programming class is the difference between the computer doing what you told it to, and doing what you want it to. |
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09-21-2012, 07:17 PM | #162 | |
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And as it is not unpleasant for the masochist, therefore there is no psychic damage inflicted too. Easy enough isn't it? |
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09-21-2012, 07:35 PM | #163 | |
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Just thought I should clarify that I didn't mean to imply they weren't worth readin. Just that if a person didn't like Asimov writing for adults, I can't imagine what they would think of him writing for young adults. |
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09-21-2012, 07:38 PM | #164 | |
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09-21-2012, 09:04 PM | #165 | ||
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_Starr_series Quote:
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