Ancient Geeks episode 55: Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot

2026-02-23

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When we were youngsters, first exploring science fiction, Isaac Asimov's robot stories were a must-read. The short story collection I, Robot, anthologized Asimov's stories that centered on the famous Three Laws Of Robotics, the rules that governed thinking machines in his fictional setting. Now, in the real world, the Three Laws Of Robotics are not just often-quoted among SF fans, but also among people developing robots and artificial intelligences in the real world. In the history of science...

When we were youngsters, first exploring science fiction, Isaac Asimov's robot stories were a must-read. The short story collection I, Robot, anthologized Asimov's stories that centered on the famous Three Laws Of Robotics, the rules that governed thinking machines in his fictional setting. Now, in the real world, the Three Laws Of Robotics are not just often-quoted among SF fans, but also among people developing robots and artificial intelligences in the real world.

In the history of science fiction, Asimov's robot stories were Important, with a capital "I." But how well do they hold up, when our older selves return to the robot series, 40 or 50 years later? And how well did Asimov's I, Robot anticipate the robot-related and AI-generated problems that would face people in the future? Well, um, that is, er...

Science fiction as a predictive tool! Robots going haywire! Robots going bananas! Robots going nuts! Robots getting poor performance reviews! It's all here.

Ancient Geeks is a podcast about two geeks of a certain age re-visiting their youth. We were there when things like science fiction, fantasy, Tolkien, Star Trek, Star Wars, D&D, Marvel and DC comics, Doctor Who, and many, many other threads of modern geek culture were still on the fringes of popular culture. We were geeks before it was chic!

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