Robots and Empire
by Isaac Asimov · first published 1985
32% recommend68% neutral
Why HN recommends it
Late entry in Asimov's Robot series that ties into the Foundation books. One of his best, and especially satisfying for those who have followed the earlier Robot novels.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
Esta quinta novela de la «Serie de los robots» supone un sensacional hito en la galaxia de ciencia ficción de Asimov y constituye la apasionante continuación del bestseller Los robots del amanecer . En Robots e imperio vemos cómo el futuro del universo corre peligro. Aunque se han debilitado las fuerzas de los siniestros Spacers, el doctor Kelden Amadiro no ha olvidado -ni perdonado- su humillante derrota a manos de Elijah Baley, el adorado héroe de la población terrestre. Amadiro ansía la venganza y está más decidido que nunca a consumar la destrucción del planeta Tierra.
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It's not the "I, Robot" books, it's the quadrilogy sometimes called the "Robot" series (confusing, I know). "The Caves of Steel", "The Naked Sun", "Robots of Dawn", "Robots and Empire". These are without a doubt my favourite of Asimov's books :) Earth has evolved to a point where the population lives in Cities (capitalisation is important!) -- massive, hundreds of square miles completely…
on “The Longest Conveyor Belt” ↗> The email confirmed she had purchased science-fiction classic ‘Robots and Empire’ by Isaac Asimov First of all, that's a great choice by the ants, maybe she should read it anyway. I recall Nooks had issue with ghost touches (often due to minimal moist), are the kindles similarly…
on “Ants crawl inside woman’s Kindle and start buying books” ↗Asimov's Zeroth Law of robotics: A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm. "Robots and Empire" is a nice discussion of the perils of LawZero. IMHO if successful it necessarily transfers human agency to bots, which we should be strenuously working to avoid, not accelerate.
on “Yoshua Bengio Launches LawZero: A New Nonprofit Advancing Safe-by-Design AI” ↗The Foundation series is mind blowing. I recommend reading the "Robot" series before it though as they are interlinked, particularly "Robots and Empire"; the whole thing's a joy.
on “Beginnings of Science Fiction” ↗…they're worthy sequels to the "trilogy". The Robot novels are also a top read and tie in with the later Foundation books in a satisfying way: - The Caves of Steel - The Naked Sun - The Robots of Dawn - Robots and Empire
on “Ask HN: What books have you read in the first half of 2016?” ↗…the "Cave of steel" was the best written of his books from the 50s, a bit better than "Naked Sun" and "Second Foundation", or at least better paced. But his best books are either "Foundation's edge" or "Robots and Empire", at least to me.
on “When “Foundation” Gets the Blockbuster Treatment, Asimov’s Vision Gets Lost” ↗Law 0 / A robot may not harm humanity, or through inaction allow humanity to come to harm. This precedes the 3 laws. Source: Isaac Asimov in Robots and Empire
on “Boston Dynamics will start selling its dog-like SpotMini robot in 2019” ↗…any Robot involvement at all in the Foundation series is a very late in the books "twist". In part because it came from Asimov's late use of Foundation as the "capstone" to tie together/lightly retcon Robots and Empire and few other things into a final united timeline. They were considered all dead in the Empire era. It was another interesting departure to show one in direct service to the Empire in the first season,…
on “America is running on fumes” ↗Not quite what the article is about, but I just re-read Robots and empire by Asimov and the idea that natural radiation in the crust from the theia impact (churn heavy elements out of core) is a cause of the degree of biodiversity on earth is core to the story.
on “Is Radiation Necessary for Life?” ↗Yes, I had to buy a hard back Robots and Empire. One thing I'd like is to have a hard back Asimov collection.
on “Apple confirms TV series order of Asimov’s Foundation” ↗Yes there was, Asimov added it in Robots and Empire. "Zeroth Law added" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics#:~:text...
on “Claude's New Constitution” ↗It was a really strange feeling to read through Asimov and get to Robots and Empire, where the story, having ranged throughout a galactic empire in the far-flung future, follows the characters not just to Earth but to Three Mile Island — a place I had seen before! A place less than an…
on “Local Wikipedia: Wikipedia, but only for things a half hour walk from you” ↗And there is a zeroth asimov law. Time to read 'Robots and Empire'
on “Apple’s Three Laws of Developers” ↗…long way, in a recommended order I found online that pulls in the robot novels and the empire novels. Only frustrating bit with that is that every single one of those books except for one (I think it was Robots and Empire) is available as an ebook. :)
on “Apple confirms TV series order of Asimov’s Foundation” ↗I had a great time reading that series - I chose to do the long version, like the complete narrative that included the Robot novels. But the bummer part is that there's one book, Robots and Empire, that appears to be out of print - it's the only book I couldn't buy for Kindle or iBooks, and I didn't realize until I had already somehow skipped past it and spoiled something for myself. Still haven't…
on “Isaac Asimov: Man of 7,560,000 Words (1969)” ↗