Cory Doctorow's "I, Robot"
About a year ago, news came out that Ray Bradbury was demanding Micheal Moore rename his film "Fahrenheit 911", because of the (obviously intended) similarity to his own book "Fahrenheit 451". As a kind of response, or way of thumbing his nose at the absurdity of the idea, Cory Doctorow started writing short stories based closely on other great Sci-Fi works.

For instance, his first short story "Anda's Game" was similar to Orson Scott Card's most famous work, "Ender's Game" not only in name, but also in the theme of the work. In "Anda's Game" Ender's Battle School became a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG), and once again, it was a child in this virtual world that was faced with terrible choices and forced to make huge decisions. Doctorow does not crib everything from Card, though. The situations are distinct, the choices and characters are unique, and in the end, Cory Doctorow shows that he can write well in anybodies world. I think one of the most amazing things about this story, was that Doctorow drew not only from "Ender's Game", but also from real events that are changing the shape of MMORPG's and industrializing nations in our own world.

However, I didn't come here to discuss that story (that mini-review was more of a tangent). I wanted to talk about his newest release, a short story titled "I, Robot".

This short story takes as its source the Isaac Asimov world of Robotics, where the three laws rule. Once again, we are following the life of a police detective who has no great love of Robots (obviously taken from Asimov's character 'Elijah Bailey'). Once again, Robots play a huge part in the story. However, this is not just another Robot novel. Cory Doctorow adds to this story in the best possible homage. He questions the very fundamentals of the three laws, just like Asimov did.

In almost all of the Robot novels, we were presented with quandaries involving problems with the three laws, and showing how they can be manipulated or overridden to make Robots malfunction (usually causing the injury or death of a human). In Doctorow's work, we are presented with a larger question. Aren't the three laws, or rather, a totalitarian application of those laws, already a danger to humanity?

Doctorow subtly points out how the basic assumption behind Asimov's world is that the three laws must be imposed by a totalitarian governmental dictate. For instance, in Asimov's universe, only U.S. Robotics was allowed to build Robots, and the government oversaw many levels of development. Further, Doctorow ties this in with current examples of Digital Rights Management, and shows how any technological oppression will spawn a black market as freedom breaks through all barriers.

Doctorow even ties the analogy up tightly by referring to George Orwell's "1984", naming his nations "Eurasia" and "Oceania". While keeping a taut, quick-moving "Blade Runner" detective story feel, Doctorow manages to remind us in almost every passage how only a benevolent fascism could create Asimov's world.

As is necessary for a short story, there are huge, sweeping changes happening to individuals over a short time. The characters themselves are almost cliche' in their characterizations (The gruff cop, the rebellious teen, the smarmy pencil-pusher), but this is a necessary device for a short story, and one which Doctorow handles well by giving the characters lively dialogue. As always, Doctorow's narrative description is dense and visceral, reminding the reader less of "Blade Runner", and more of Neal Stephenson's "Snow Crash".

Doctorow also shows off his talent for "visual writing", by creating one of the most believably futuristic action scenes since the first chapter of Robert Heinlein's "Starship Troopers". There is something exhilarating about watching a thought exercise explode into actions that shock the reader with both their impossibility and inevitability.

Cory Doctorow's "I, Robot" is a compelling argument against Digital Rights Management, a thrilling story of a father fighting to protect his daughter, and an excellent sci-fi story in general. Take a half-hour to read it online. You'll be perusing it for days.


Cory Doctorow, Asimov, robot, review
- posted by BrandG @ 10:37 AM