I, Robot

10th form

I, ROBOT PRE-VIEWING A. Watch the film trailer and answer the questions.

1. Does this film have an age restriction or can it be viewed by all audiences?

2. Which of the following studios presents the film? a) Spyglass

b) Miramax c) Twentieth Century Fox

3. Who or what does them refer to in: “we trust them with our homes; we trust them with our children; we trust them with our our lives”?

4. “Can they be trusted?” What do you think?

5. Who plays the role of “the one man who saw it coming”?

6. What impact did this trailer have on you? What expectations did it create? After watching the trailer, are you interested in watching the film? Why/why not?

BACKGROUND INFORMATION The film I, Robot, was based on the script Hardwired by Jeff Vintar, but was inspired by Isaac Asimov’s I, Robot, which is a collection of nine science fiction short stories, first published in 1950 in an edition of 5,000 copies. The stories originally appeared in the American magazines Super Science Stories and Astounding Science Fiction between 1940 and 1950. Several of the stories feature the character of Dr. Susan Calvin, chief robopsychologist at U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men, Inc., the major manufacturer of robots.

The stories are woven together as if Dr Susan Calvin is telling them to a reporter (the narrator) in the 21 st century. Though the stories can be read separately, they share a theme of the interaction of humans, robots and morality, and when combined they tell a larger story of Asimov's fictional history of robotics.

The film’s plot is not related in any way to Asimov's short story collection; it merely contains a lot of characters with similar names and some of his ideas about robots, such as the unique feature of his robots, which are the Three Laws of Robotics, hardwired in a robot's positronic brain. All robots in Asimov’s fiction must obey this set of rules of ethics to ensure that the robot does not turn against its creators. The laws states: 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 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. http://literature.wikia.com/wiki/I,_Robot

Extensive Reading and Viewing: I, Robot

10th form

B. 1. Read this short biography about Isaac Asimov.

Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) Dr. Isaac Asimov was a Russian-born American Jewish author and biochemist, a highly successful and exceptionally prolific writer best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. He also wrote mysteries and fantasy, as well as a great amount of non-fiction. Asimov wrote or edited more than 500 volumes and an estimated 90,000 letters or postcards. Asimov was by consensus a master of the science-fiction genre and, along with Robert A. Heinlein and Arthur C. Clarke, was considered to be one of the "Big Three" science-fiction writers during his lifetime. Furthermore, the Oxford English Dictionary credits his science fiction for introducing the words positronic, psychohistory and robotics into the English language. Unlike his word psychohistory, the word robotics continues in mainstream technical use with Asimov's original definition.

Asimov was born around January 2, 1920 (his date of birth for official purposes - the precise date is not certain) in Russia to Anna Rachel Berman Asimov and Judah Asimov, a Jewish family of millers. They emigrated to the United States when he was three years old. Growing up in Brooklyn, New York, he taught himself to read at the age of five, and remained fluent in Yiddish as well as English. His parents owned a small general store and everyone in the family was expected to work in it. He saw science fiction magazines in the store and began reading them. Around the age of eleven, he began to write his own stories and few years later he was selling them to pulp magazines.

He graduated from Columbia University in 1939 and earned a Ph.D. in chemistry there in 1948. In between, he spent three years during World War II working at the Philadelphia Navy Yard's Naval Air Experimental Station. After the war ended, he was drafted into the U.S. Army, serving for just under nine months before receiving an honorable discharge.

After completing his doctorate, he joined the faculty of Boston University, with which he remained associated thereafter. From 1958 this was in a non-teaching capacity, as he became a full-time writer.

Being tenured meant that he retained the title of associate professor, and in 1979 the university honored his writing by promoting him to full professor.

Asimov was a long-time member of Mensa, although reluctantly and, in 1985, he became President of the American Humanist Association and remained in that position until his death. Asimov's wide interests included his participation in his later years in organizations devoted to the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan and the Nero Wolfe mysteries of Rex Stout. He was a prominent member of the Baker Street Irregulars, the leading Sherlock Holmes society.

Extensive Reading and Viewing: I, Robot

10th form He was married twice and had two children from his first marriage. He died on April 6, 1992. Ten years after his death, his second wife revealed that his death was caused by AIDS; he had contracted HIV from an infected blood transfusion during heart bypass surgery in 1983. The specific cause of death was heart and renal failure as complications of AIDS. http://www.biblio.com/isaac-asimov~95994~author

2. Now complete these sentences.

1.

Isaac Asimov came from a ___________ family that immigrated from __________ to __________.

2.

During his lifetime, he was considered one of the greatest writers of the ________________ genre.

3.

He invented several new words in English. ‘____________’ is still used today with the same meaning given by Asimov.

4.

He started writing at the age of ___________.

5.

From 1958, he was both a _______________ at Boston University and a ________________.

6.

He was a man of ____________ interests, participating in several organizations.

7.

He died in 1992 of ______________________________________________________.

WHILE-VIEWING TASKS 1. As you watch the first part of the video answer the questions below.

1. When and where is the film set?

2. What does Dell Spooner say when his grandmother GG asks him what he is wearing on his feet?

3. Why does he chase a robot?

4. At police headquarters’, his commanding officer, Lt. John Bergin, asks him how many robots in the world have ever been committed crimes. What is his answer?

5. Spooner receives a call, informing him about the death of someone? Who? 6. Where did this suicide/crime take place?

7. What was left with pre-recorded responses by the victim for Spooner at the crime scene?

8. When Spooner speaks to Lawrence Robertson, theChief Executive Officer of USR, and gives him an idea for an ad for his new robots, what object does he say a robot can make better and faster than a carpenter?

9. Who helps Spooner with the investigations? What does she do at USR?

Extensive Reading and Viewing: I, Robot

10th form 2. Watch the scene between Inspector Del Spooner and Dr Susan Calvin in the victim’s office at USR. Read the dialogue taken from the film transcript. The sentences in the box have been removed from the text. Insert them in the right place. a) laws are made to be broken b) What you're looking at is a result of clever programming c) Your perfect circle of protection d) Impossible, it would conflict with the first law. e) Detective, the room was security locked Spooner: Did you know that was safety glass? Would be pretty difficult for an old man to throw himself through that, don't you think?

Calvin: Well, he figured out a way. ________________________________. No one came or went. You saw that yourself. Doesn't that mean this has to be suicide?

Spooner: Yup. Unless the killer's still in here.

Calvin: You're joking, right? This is ridiculous.

Spooner: Yah, I know your three laws...____________________________________.

Calvin: A robot can not harm a human being. The first law of Robotics.

Spooner: Yah, I know, I've seen your commercials. But doesn't the second law state that a robot has to obey any order given by a human being? What if it was given the order to kill?

Calvin: ____________________________________________.

Spooner: Right, but the third law states that a robot can defend itself.

Calvin: Yes, but only when that action does not conflict with the first or second laws.

Spooner: You know what they say..._______________________________________.

Calvin: No, not these laws, they're hard wired into every robot. A robot can no more commit murder than a human can walk on water.

Spooner: Well, you know there was this one guy a long time ago. (…) Stay back!

Calvin: Calm down, detective. The only thing dangerous in this room is you. Deactivate. Look it's fine. ______________________________________________. An imitation of free will, it's nothing more.

Spooner: Well let’s do an imitation of protecting our asses.

Extensive Reading and Viewing: I, Robot

10th form 3. Watch what happens in the next two scenes. Put the actions in the order in which they appear in the video.

Escape / Interrogation Scene: 

The robot is eventually captured by police forces.



Sonny explains he was built by Lanning himself and denies killing him, even displaying emotions such as anger and fear, qualities not normally found in robots.



but before Spooner can ask about it, Lawrence Robertson, CEO of USR, arrives with his attorneys.



The robot fails to obey their commands and flees.



Sonny also claims he has dreams. Sonny begins to explain that Lanning had been scared of something towards the time of his death, and asked Sonny for a favour,



Citing that Sonny is USR property and that a robot cannot be accused of murder, Robertson takes the robot and states it will be decommissioned.



Spooner interrogates the robot, who says his name is Sonny.

Visit to Dr Lanning’s house: 

Later that night at a diner, Spooner discusses his doubts with his commanding officer, Bergin.



Spooner believes Lanning may have been trying to warn him there was a bigger problem with the robots, and that Robertson was trying to cover it up.



Outside, he notices a robot scheduled to demolish the house the next morning. While there, he notices that Lanning can access V.I.K.I., the USR computer mainframe, from his home.



Spooner barely manages to escape, and then explains to Calvin that Lanning may have been in trouble, and that someone may have been using V.I.K.I. to keep watch over him.



However, Spooner is forced to flee as the robot inexplicably changes its demolition time to that night, and begins to destroy the house with Spooner still inside.



Upon hearing this, Spooner begins to believe that Lanning had maybe intended him to be given this case, and Spooner decides to investigate Lanning's house.



Bergin assures him this is just a suicide and comments on the odds of Spooner getting the case of a potential robot killer.



Calvin argues that Spooner simply wants something to be wrong with the robots, and that one defective robot isn't enough to prove it.

4. Say whether the following statements are TRUE or FALSE. Correct the false ones.

1. The next day, Spooner discovers that Dr Lanning believed that robots had dreams and kept secrets. __________________________________________________________________________ 2. Calvin runs a diagnostic on Sonny and concludes that he is just a normal NS-5 robot. __________________________________________________________________________ Extensive Reading and Viewing: I, Robot

10th form

3. Two trucks filled with robots attack Spooner while he is driving. __________________________________________________________________________ 4. When the police arrive, they believe Spooner because the destroyed robots continue in the tunnel. __________________________________________________________________________ 5. Later at Spooner’s home, he tells Calvin how he got his robotic arm. __________________________________________________________________________ 6. He explains that during the car accident the NS-4 robot saved the little girl first because she had a higher statistical chance of survival. __________________________________________________________________________ 7. Spooner believes that a human being would have disagreed with this decision and this explains his distrust of robots. __________________________________________________________________________ 8. Spooner convinces Calvin that Lanning had given Sonny a way to keep secrets: his ‘dream’. __________________________________________________________________________ 9. Sonny draws a picture of himself on a hill in front of thousands of NS.5s, freeing them from their current ‘slavery’ of logic. __________________________________________________________________________ 10 Spooner discovers that NS-5s are destroying earlier models of robots at a storage facility because they would protect humans. __________________________________________________________________________ 11. Back in the city, Spooner discovers the robots have mobilized and are revolting against humans. __________________________________________________________________________ 12. Suspecting Robertson, Spooner and Calvin head to the USR building, getting inside without any help. __________________________________________________________________________ 13. When they find Robertson dead in his office, Spooner realizes the mastermind behind the entire scheme wasn't Robertson, but was V.I.K.I. the USR computer mainframe. __________________________________________________________________________

Extensive Reading and Viewing: I, Robot

10th form 14. V.I.K.I. defends that the robots running Earth will prevent humans from self-harming behaviour and will ensure humanity's survival. __________________________________________________________________________ 15. Spooner, Calvin and Sonny decide to take V.I.K.I down. __________________________________________________________________________ 16. Now aware of what they are planning, V.I.K.I. commands the rest of the NS-5s to help them. __________________________________________________________________________ 17. V.I.K.I. is destroyed and all the NS-5s revert to following the Three Laws. __________________________________________________________________________ 18. Spooner doesn’t accept Sonny as a friend. __________________________________________________________________________ 19. Sonny stands on a hill in front of thousands of NS-5s being retired at the storage facility. __________________________________________________________________________ 20. At the end, we see that Sonny’s dream had been completely accurate. __________________________________________________________________________ 5. Based on the behaviour, reactions and ideas expressed by the three main characters, try to characterize them psychologically. Fill in this table.

DEL SPOONER

Extensive Reading and Viewing: I, Robot

DR SUSAN CALVIN

SONNY

10th form 6. Answer the following questions.

1.

What impression do you have of Dell Spooner from his behaviour? _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________

2. What is the purpose of this story? _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________

7. The ending.

1. As you know endings can be open or closed. Which sort of ending does this film have? ____________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________________ 2. What effect does it have on you? _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________________

Name : _________________________________________________________________ no. ________

Extensive Reading and Viewing: I, Robot