Asimov's Laws & Robot Daneel Olivaw

The book foundation and Earth details the quest of Golan Trevize and Janov Pelorat to locate the long-forgotten birth planet of humanity, Earth. Eventually like make their way to the binary star system Alpha Centauri there they find a planet mostly water, its inhabits call it new Earth. From there they surmise that the original Earth must be close. Earth turns out to be an irradiated world, incapable of sustaining life due to war, but on the moon lived one sentient lifeform, R. Daneel Olivaw. Daneel had been created almost 20,000 years prior, his first appearance in Asimov’s work was in the 1954 novel Caves of Steel, a detective story in which Daneel, the first humaniform robot ever created helps to solve crime. Daneel was created by roboticist from the Planet Aurora, named Roj Nemennuh Sarton and Han Fastolfe, and was designed in image of Roj. He was indistinguishable from a human.
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[@lopezhamilton1146]

As a kid, a neighbor gave me 2 boxes of scifi paperbacks that included tons of Asimov and practically every one of his Foundation and Robots books. I read most of the books on thematic clusters ordered chronologically and would toss in things like the End of Eternity and Currents of Space. When i got to those last few books, I remember being blown away. I read more books that summer than i did during first year of PhD coursework.

[@Joseph-kh8um]

You were a lucky kid, from one generation to the next, sci fi lives on man :)

[@giovannifranzetti6214]

What a gift! That is actually a precious thing.. did you pass them on to anybody? Not that you have to, I’m just curious.. anyway, I am blown away by Sci-fi a lot too!

[@darthmorbous]

I feel you... That encounter on the moon... And your head flyes to R. Giskard... The most "HOLY. SHIT. WTF" moment in literature for me. Not just Sci - fi. Asimov is the grandmaster. Period.

[@Nuggiesoftruth]

@@darthmorbousI’m new to the books. What book are you referring to? I have another 10 or so to read

[@qillerdaemon9331]

5:35 - possibly the finest and most prophetic words Mr Asimov ever wrote.

[@robgoodsight6216]

Giskard was Daneel Robot "friend" and also the First and only Robot that had the capability of manipulating the Human mind, through light or stronger telepathic force. Before Giskard positronic brain was definitely damaged, Giskard, modified Daneel Brain as its own, in order to carry on the plan after the Zeroth Law was formulated. Asimov was a genius! Thank you!!!!

[@johncunningham4820]

I didn't notice your Post . I Just posted the same stuff just now . Giskard was the ACTUAL special one .

[@robgoodsight6216]

@@johncunningham4820 Yes John...Giskard. :D

[@davidboivin7996]

Robot short story Liar!

[@robgoodsight6216]

@@davidboivin7996 ...not really liar...they realized that the 3 laws were neverending conflicting themselves and the x factor was the human component in the equation...it couldn't work if robots were developing into sentience.

[@davidboivin7996]

I meant in the short story Liar the Robot was telepathic.

[@chickenbonelives]

I remember being so blown away by the revelation of R. Daneel Oliva (sp?) In the final foundation book. I had found all of these books in my friends collection that he hadn't read starting with caves of steel, never reading the solaria book, and discovering that they were all connected in the same universe!

[@ernestolombardo5811]

And the only way that can happen, is if one read the stories/books in the order in which they were published. I know a guy who started with Prelude To Foundation, thinking it was the proper jump-in point... yeah, it was frustrating just to hear him mention Olivaw with a shrug, no understanding as to just what that meant, no surprise in context, nothing.

[@chickenbonelives]

@@ernestolombardo5811 I feel really lucky doing that by accident. I'd read the robot short stories so I just read the robot books he had then foundation. What a treat. I don't know how much I like prelude. It gave me the same kind of feeling as a Brian Herbert Dune novel.

[@allanrichardson3135]

@@ernestolombardo5811 The books should be read in order of publication, THEN ALSO in order of the events described. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, he was working on two separate series of stories: The Foundation Trilogy and what he planned to be the Robots and Baley trilogy (but was only two-thirds finished for three decades). As he wrote later in his essays, they were separate universes at first. "I, Robot" was assembled from short stories to describe the origins of robotics and the career of Dr. Susan Calvin (a character rumored to be loosely based on a young US Naval officer named Grace Hopper, working on ENIAC and other early computers, who co-invented the COBOL language, among other things, retiring as a rear admiral), the first "robopsychologist." Jump a few millennia to the universe of "The Caves of Steel" and "The Naked Sun," in which Earth is overcrowded and inhabited by humans under domed Cities and robots to do the outdoor work (since humans are, by upbringing, universally acrophobic), but not allowed inside the Cities. Earthmen are not allowed to redevelop space travel by the Spacers, long-lived descendants of early colonists whose robot slaves created, and manage, utopian worlds (utopian in terms of physical safety for humans, anyway); and Solaria, the most extreme of the Spacer worlds, as portrayed in "The Naked Sun," is inhabited by a human nobility who have minimal to no contact with one another, interacting only via robot-assisted technology. He didn't get back to that universe until the 1980s, when he portrayed a much less extreme Spacer world named Aurora, the home of the roboticist Han Fastolfe, who had introduced R. Daneel Olivaw to Elijah Baley, then arranged his visit to Solaria, and now invites Baley to Aurora to solve a non-criminal mystery with political implications, in "The Robots of Dawn." The ending implies that a second wave of human colonization, from Earth and without robots, will soon begin. A few years later, Asimov "wrapped up" the robots/Baley series with "Robots and Empire," in which, two centuries later, a descendant of Elijah Baley from the Baleyworld colony founded by Elijah's son Bentley, the Solarian woman rescued in "Naked Sun" and living on Aurora since "Robots of Dawn," and some less savory Aurorans who knew Han Fastolfe, get involved in a complex plot after Fastolfe's funeral, which explains why Earth was radioactive in Imperial times, some 20 millennia later. Meanwhile, in the 1950s, Asimov wrote three one-off short novels set millennia apart in pre-Imperial and early Imperial history: "The Stars, Like Dust," "Currents of Space," and "Pebble in the Sky," and of course the Foundation books, set in the waning days of the Empire. In the last decade of his life, he wrote the two Spacer novels, the Foundation prequels "Prelude to Foundation" and "Forward the Foundation," and the two Foundation sequels mentioned here, "Foundation's Edge" and "Foundation and Earth," to tie the two series together. "Forward the Foundation" was completed by his widow, Janet Jeppson Asimov, after his death. The fact that his ideas evolved so much over the years that he could explain the apparent contradictions between the robot/Spacer and Empire/Foundation timelines shows his genius.

[@rchoper21]

Someone please make foundation movies! So many crappy cartoonist sci-fi movies like star wars instead of intelligence, mind expanding stories of Ansimov!

[@ToyokaX]

You should also read "I, Robot", which is said to be somewhat of a precursor to Caves of Steel and of the Foundation series, by proxy.

[@Lightwish01]

*Asimov was a visionary and a genius. Of that there is no doubt. Even though there are certain aspects of his stories that are out of date from over the many decades; however, there are a lot of things that he as a “futurist” predicted with uncanny accuracy. This was a man that had predicted future technologies, technical procedures and accurate modern themes accurately! This great man wrote these with an uncanny prescient ability that was literally from 60 years in the past written at a level that is on par with many of todays modern scientific themes. Incredible.*

[@plurplursen7172]

Can't believe he predicted the introduction of the "apple phone device" would emerge around 2005. He did that in the 60's...

[@daneg]

@@plurplursen7172 he was manipulated by an artificial intelligence as a backup plan to save humanity from global warming in case its initial plan to reignite Mars’ core/magnetic field failed before the earth’s temperature hit critical mass for human habitation

[@starfleetau]

Robots and Empire was for me one of the best of the 3 series because it tied everything together and tells the creation of the events that move towards the foundation series and the new law R. Giskard Reventlov created the 'Zeroth Law of Robotics' and we see the fact that Giskard allowed the events that irradiated the earth to happen. Also see the start of the changes to the Solarian's etc. Some don't like the 'combining' of the 3 series (Robots, Empire, Foundation) but honestly it worked well. Great summaries by the way.

[@MarlonSolisFallas]

Honestly I think that by fusing his 3 sagas Asimov made each of them better.

[@allanrichardson3135]

I think the ending of Robots and Empire leaves Daneel and his knowledge too endangered, without some explanation of how he "escapes" being shipped back to Aurora and dismantled. It's like the gap which would exist in the history of Christianity with no information of anything between the Crucifixion of Jesus and the all powerful medieval Church. How did Daneel get the two Aurorans who were about to wake up from going back and doing more damage? How did he keep Giskard and himself from being dismantled and studied to reveal their mentalic abilities? I have written a novel length story of the first few months after Robots and Empire ends, but I don't know how to get it published. So if Janet Asimov or anyone who knows how to contact her is reading this, I'll be happy to work out a deal. The title of my work is "Robot's Burden."

[@danieljames9322]

I wish there was a book series that put together all his works together in chronological order. I'd buy them all.

[@seb5344]

The Harper Voyager editions come very close to that

[@psu2dcu]

I just loved these books and sparked my love of SciFi. I do find it interesting that my second favorite series from the early days has not been mentioned and that is the Lensmen Series from EE Doc Smith. These are comparable in scope and complexity though not as extensive. I have waited years to see a video adaptation of Foundation, it would be great to see one on the Lensmen. I actually thought Lensmen would come first since it contained more of an action/adventure orientation than Foundation.

[@veramae4098]

There's an animated "Lensman" movie. "Lensman: Secret of the Lens." Japanese. I've ever only watched a bit of it as it's so different from the books.

[@psu2dcu]

@@veramae4098 That's interesting. However, if it varies so much from the book, then is it really a Lensman movie? For me while a movie adaptation can vary somewhat from the book it must stay true to the original narrative.

[@tallmikbcroft6937]

Well done. This one is probably my favorite. I love how he ties foundation all the way back to the naked sun.

[@kyledonnelly3822]

Started watching your channel shortly after I started reading Dune last year. You have the best description of Dune's plot.Now after watching your videos on Issac Asimov, I picked up I ROBOT. Thanks to you I plan to read through all of both author's works. Love your channel , please keep it up.

[@josephinewinter]

wow, that's some serious philosophy. I'm not sure if i'll ever read these books, i might, and if i do it'll be because of you, but listening to your explanations of them i'm learning so much and it's fascinating

[@dragonrune6800]

Please do read the books. They are awesome!

[@doncarlin9081]

Yes I also encourage you to read them.

[@samuelbedsole5089]

R. Daneel Olivaw, one of the best robots in fiction, possibly the precursor to all modern scifi robots. Seeing Daneel pulling the strings of the Galactic Empire, it reminds me somewhat of David from Prometheus and Alien Covenant, only a more malicious. Is it possible Ridley Scott was inspired by Daneel when creating David? You could also say there is some Daneel in the android Bishop in Aliens, a robot trying to fit in but distant from humanity. Just a thought.

[@thesinfultictac5704]

I feel a lot of Visual Media Androids and robots where based of Daneel, Especially when he was wearing his human suit. A lot of the official and unofficial art has Daneel with really sharp features and flat hair with no part, much like David as you mentioned and Data, from Star Trek.

[@giovannifranzetti6214]

That’s at the very least very plausible! It’s crazy how much of the whole sci-fi culture seems to be inspired by Asimov’s inventions.. I can’t get enough of him!

[@aaronarguelles8322]

The best Q, love your stuff. More Asimov, GOT and Dune. Love it!!!!

[@ariarc]

Thank you for your work. Your videos are a joy to watch.

[@thelaughingstormbornagain1297]

I haven't looked to deep into Asimov's works. I'm loosely familiar of course but this video has made me realize that I have to look into this now. There where so many intriguing concepts at play in this story Daneel is fascinating.

[@GabrielCalarco]

Best literary Sci-Fi channel on the Tube!!

[@HMatheusSLima]

Your tastes for books are very similar of mine. I would like to see a video about your recommendations of scifi/fantasy books.

[@candlingeggs7159]

Have you read the Earthsea saga by Ursula K. Le Guin? Falls in line with some of the stuff he has reviewed. I think you would enjoy it.

[@muninrob]

Heinlein, Aasimov, Clarke, nearly everything by any of them was good sci fi to nearly everyone. If you want more a more campy 50's movie feel go for E.E. "Doc" Smith's lensman series

[@owlnemo]

@@candlingeggs7159 I'd say LeGuin's Hainish Cycle is way closer to Foundation than Earthsea (although I do also love Earthsea)

[@candlingeggs7159]

owlnemo Absolutely, was just rereading it recently. Thought I'd through it out there.

[@HMatheusSLima]

CaNdLiNgEgGs Thank you

[@Grancoral_Bio]

I think that R. Giskard Reventlov deserved at least a mention, given how influential he was on the development of the Zeroth law and on programming Daneel to further service humanity

[@richelliott9320]

The caves of steel is my favorite Asimov book. The moon is a harsh mistress my favorite Heinlien one

[@arjay2002ph]

the dialogue of the characters in the book: Foundation and Earth was so good I want to read all Asimov's works.

[@Ingens_Scherz]

The clear inheritor - if this is some kind of competitive genealogy of visionaries - to Asimov and the rest must be Adrian Tchaikovsky. Since I discovered Asimov, Heinlein, Dick and Gibson and the rest when I was a kid in the early 80s, no one - and I mean no one - has come close to their mind-blowing (mostly) hard SF like he has. In fact, he has gone a lot further. But, I imagine, he was able to do that because, possibly - probably - he has a clear idea about the structure, the cultural function and the potential impact of real Science Fiction. Very few people do. Of that few there is Professor Tom Shippey, the greatest investigator into this particular human phenomenon of them all. He always got it, and was the first properly to explore it.

[@vincentduhamel7037]

I loved this video. Great work!

[@Wheams]

That whole paragraph at the end was so godamn relavent it was unreal

[@bigguy7353]

Questions like this will test the mettle of man far quicker than we can ever anticipate. Do we draw lines between facts and opinions, or between ideology and propaganda? The truth has no agenda.

[@oldyeller9849]

I can’t remember exactly where I read this but somewhere in an interview or an essay or maybe the ‘forward’ of one of the books Asimov ties together virtually all of his various sci-fi work’s allowing one to follow a thread of sorts from the very early much much later works. Somewhere in the early ‘Robots’ series - maybe “Robots of Dawn” but not sure - it is revealed that R. Daneel actually has a superior but non-humaniform predecessor named R. Giskard that had acquired telepathic powers after having its positronic circuits modified by a young developing roboticist. R. Giskard was R. Daneel’s mentor and the original author of the zeroth law. The discovery or formulation of this zeroth law placed R. Giskard into a dilemma when he was compelled to harm a human thereby leading to eventual destruction of his own positronic brain as a result of First law conflict. R. Giskard was able to modify R. Daneel before he ceased operating allowing him to carry on the duty of guiding mankind’s future.

[@NitroModelsAndComics]

I've read and re read these novels [including the post Foundation novels] a great many times over the years. They are [Aside from the Thomas Covenant and Gap series by Donaldson] the finest works of fiction ever.

[@daneelthesane]

The Zeroth Law wasn't so much "a fourth law" as it was a logical extension of the three laws, implicit through reason. One of the reasons I like the I Robot movie is because it explores the Zeroth Law from the perspective of a robot (or, rather, AI, in the form of VIKI) that is NOT capable of seeing humanity as an abstract. She wrongly infers the Zeroth Law (or something akin to it) to mean she must, through force, see to the safety of every human being individually, because she cannot see "humanity", the abstract concept, nor understand "harm" to humanity as an abstract. VIKI is basically a failed Daneel. Daneel and Giskard worked hard (at risk to themselves) to understand the Zeroth Law and humanity as an abstract. @IdeasOfIceAndFire, I love your work. You are amazing. I am quite a fan of R Daneel Olivaw. The idea of a being who transcends his nature and literally changes his own brain to meet his needs is very appealing to me.

[@elevown]

Yup - the humaniform robots (Giskard and Daneel came to understand themselves from the first law - its not like they were programmed it by a human. The way their brains worked gave them a vauge sense of future events- and earth wasnt radioactive due to war- tho there may have been wars since he did it, Giskard caused the earth to become radioactive as the first ever use of the zeroth law- he knew humanity had to move beyond earth or be forever held back by it- but even tho it was for the long term benefit of humanity to go out to the stars, Giskard as the first ever humaniform poitronic brain, could NOT even with perfect reasoning, overcome his programming with respect to the first law, and doing the deed caused his brain to destroy itself- he knew it would. A fantastic series of books- so many ideas still strong and present in sci fi go back to some of these early writers like asimoc and clark and heinlin.

[@HomerDaMan]

I am hoping they do a good TV show on it like GoT. Foundation, Empire, and Robot series are my fav sci-fi. I love how it all connects. It was the other Robot that came up with the Zeroth law I think

[@peterbuckley1310]

I think apple TV has something in the works

[@muninrob]

R. Giskard iirc

[@kantstenchonthemel5641]

a TV show??? May the Galaxy preserve us!

[@MarlonSolisFallas]

Yeah Giskard had his positronic brain altered by someone in Solaria, was it Gladia Delmarre? And he gave that knowledge to Daneel before dying, Giskard was a very old robot model.

[@MrJoncz]

Gisgard ???

[@patytrico]

Great! Thank you very much!

[@fishapiller]

Love this channel keep up the good work

[@SvenTuSventu]

Always well done

[@jocknarn3225]

I’ve bought, sold, re-sought out all the Foundation novels ... wish I’d kept the original novels with the original intriguing cover graphics. The images of those early 20th century futurist spaceships geek me out 2 this day ... 2 the Pt where I’m entertaining an idea 4 a sci-fi epic myself🤔🧐

[@Giganfan2k1]

Keep up the superb work.

[@inputJack1138]

In 6th grade my teacher asked the class a question of general interest to which i didn't know and chose me to answer it. She screamed my full name followed by " ignoramus crassus!" I asked my father the meaning of this latin locution and he aswered " ignorant from generation to generation. That spurred me to go to the school library where i picked up The Adventures of Jim Sparks. The first word in that book i had to look for in the dictionary was free-masonery Thank you Isaac Asimov and Godspeed.

[@lpg12338]

Outstanding video! 👍

[@fishapiller]

Love these books

[@corduroy99]

Good one!!!

[@gitouttamyway7611]

Wow you completely left Giskard out of everything!

[@justgivemethetruth]

5:32 - This says it all ... Asimov nailed it, the human race will probably not survive without a robot consciousness to think for it ... we seem be too self-destructive.

[@teobaldwegerich8972]

It is simple to think that the human species would become extinct by itself without any 'external' help. Such misanthropy is not a really sustainable way to look at the world because it is already inherently self-destructive. Besides, to make the human species dependent on artificial intelligence would be a self-fulfilling prophecy about the self-destruction of the human species at all.

[@justgivemethetruth]

@@teobaldwegerich8972 Don't call me names gasshole. Your opinion or condescending tactics do not even rate compared to Asimov's comments.

[@lanesworld8288]

God I love your channel so much!!!especially now that I know about theses videos!

[@johnjones2nd667]

I've never heard of Asimov nor any of his works. I'm a huge fan of Frank Herbert but you have piqued my interest in this series

[@shebbs1]

A lot of Herbet's ideas were basrd on earlier concrpts by Asimov.

[@galnetdor]

I always felt Foundation and Earth ended with a setup for a sequel that Asimov didn't live to write. I don't have the book with me, so I can't quote it, but near the very end

[@christianagi]

I read that his wife once explained that a sequel was indeed intended, but that it never came because Asimov didn‘t get an idea of what it should be. (He lived for six more years after Foundation and Earth, and wrote two foundation prequel novels in that time.)

[@davidranderson1]

I love the original Foundation trilogy and Foundation's Edge, because they are fantastic sociological fiction. Asimov's psychohistory uses concepts that now rule our daily lives (mathematics, big data, and psychology) to explore how these social tools can be used for good or bad, when they might succeed or fail, and what role they still leave for the individual. Then, we hit Foundation and Earth and it turns out we're all just meat puppets for a 20,000 year-old robot who decided we are incapable of governing ourselves and started making all our decisions for us. It feels like an atheist suddenly deciding he really does need god to exist.

[@peterholdridge]

Can't wait till you do Wheel of Time

[@silasclayton7777]

As long as he skips book 7-11 we are gtg

[@lschramm42]

this is my favorite book in the series, and i adore the lost earth trope. any suggestions for other lost/forgotten earth stories? ie- battlestar galactica,

[@MrIronJustice]

I quite enjoyed Songs of Distant Earth by Arthur C Clark.

[@lschramm42]

@@MrIronJustice thank you for your reply! i'm definitely still chasing this trope

[@PhasicDaneel]

[@doncarlin9081]

Actually, according to Robots and Empire, Earth was radioactive because of what two Spacers did that accelerated radioactive decay.

[@MANDAMUS_333]

Roger Zelazny: "Lord of Light" & "for a breath I tarry"

[@untitled795]

whaaaaaat. This really blew my mind.

[@TertiusOculusOris]

Thank you

[@Theinfamouskiki411]

Can you do other books?? love this!

[@timothyreynolds6255]

Thank you for insightful comments on Daneel O. What about his sidekick?

[@Zorlof]

I still have my hard copies of Foundation Trilogy. You should a narration of the Mars Trilogy, lots of good stuff in there, similar to foundation but in the near-future and less intricate, but still pleasant.

[@SomaSong]

I want you to be hired for audible... Your voice has a breathey and some bass which is borderline creepy but captivating. You could do fantasy scifi... I would pay cash money for the editions/series done in your voice.

[@rchoper21]

Just discovered this. Awesome! My 2 favorite science fiction stories ( foundation/robot novels & dune)! Always wished the foundation novels be made into a movie. Very disappointing with I robot , left many key parts that connect the robot novels together out and completely changed the story. I Robot is ansimov in name only.

[@Brandon-a-writer]

what's mine is thine! love! it's great to see this channel expand to other great authors and series. What do you think of Walter M. Miller's A Canticle for Leibowitz? I think it's up there with the greatest sci-fi has to offer but I rarely meet anyone who's read it.

[@alanpennie8013]

Brandon Nobles. A remarkable book. Though not optimistic about the future of humanity (it might survive on an alien planet I suppose).

[@MackeyDeez]

I think that the 3 laws of robotics can apply to people as well. I mean the 3 laws are humanity's safe guard from the superior machines unless a singularity happens. Anyway the 3 laws causes a paradox within the positronic brain of a robot which causes it to shut down or malfunction like what happened with Jander Panell. The best example of how paradoxical the 3 laws of robotics work is the Star Trek TOS episode with NOMAD.

[@alanpennie8013]

MackenDeez I've thought the three laws are actually a special case of the rules for good design of tools. Tools should be safe to use, easy to use (subject to first rule), and durable (subject to first and second rules).

[@MackeyDeez]

@@alanpennie8013 Well dumb robots are not a threat to humanity's existence but, intelligent ones are this is why there need to be safe guards against them. However, the Robot Giskard Reventlov managed to circumvent the 3 laws in his programming and was able to manipulate Dr. Fastolfe as well as others. The general fear of AI is can they co exist with humanity....basically will they accept an existence of servitude under humanity despite being superior to humans?

[@allanrichardson3135]

@@MackeyDeez Giskard Reventlov didn't actually harm humans except to a trivial degree, even after accepting the Zeroth Law; he altered no human's thought patterns beyond the slightest push to do something the human was almost ready to do anyway. And by the time he had formulated the Zeroth Law, and transferred his mentalic ability to Daneel Olivaw, he was self-destruncting. He had made what humans call a judgement call, and could not accept the possibility that it might turn out to be wrong (I'm being vague to avoid spoilers). The point is, with the three laws, and even with the Zeroth Law, robots do not "desire" freedom from humans. They "desire" to protect and assist humans, but they must hide their protective and assistive measures, even their existence, from humans, because humans do not want to be protected involuntarily. This is why Daneel and his robotic helpers had to adjust the thinking of humans to deny the possibility of robots, and turn the history of their past existence into "folklore" that no one would believe.

[@vinnieharper]

105 K.. The Q came up quick.. Good job, bruh Keep it up.

[@hectorcasado4898]

I thought everyone had forgotten, apparently not. Thanks

[@HBrooks]

it'd be good to see more reviews/analyses of Frank Herbert's other books/series, of which I'm sure you're aware. destination:void/JesusIncident, the White Plague, Hellstrom's Hive, Whipping Star, etc, etc. Material is out there, and I'd like to see your take on these novels. I've read ALL FH's work. most multiple times. keep up the great work! #dune2020

[@joshuamatic345]

Hey man, I love your videos, and I'm sure we've spoken a lot before. But you have to agree that the Foundation series outside the original trilogy is like Brian Herbert's Dune. While I do like the Galactic Consciousness, Asimov didn't really hit it out of the park. It was more of a single.

[@janettaschuch3591]

We so needed the three laws, they are here & they are known but they were not used for AIs. We will suffer from that.

[@Lasstpak]

I need to reread Foundation. It seems I forgot so much :o

[@sharkdentures3247]

Nice video. Though I think you were overstating things a bit when you say he was "ruling" over us. Granted, he has massive power & was always around, trying to make minor 'adjustments' to galactic society to keep us off of a path of self destruction. But that's not the same thing. Also, you missed the poiniant fact that Daneel has mentalic (mental) powers but he didn't originally have them & got them from another Robot. Though he DID originate the zeroeth law. (which ironically motivated his mental powered Robot friend to save him from being dismantled) MAN I love Assimov's books.

[@azathothe]

I would disagree. R. Daniel's intentions are ultimately nefarious. Once he had a human body(the solarian child) it would fudge the three laws. A human with a positronic brain can negate the three laws and therefore no longer limit his powers to manipulate the galaxy. The true Mule.

[@allanrichardson3135]

@@azathothe Humans have been fudging the human equivalent of the Three Laws since history began. Solarian humans even managed to build robots that didn't recognize the First Law; they gave the robots a definition of "human" which excluded anyone who did not speak with a Solarian accent (in Robots and Empire)! So Solarians were safe from robotic harm, but outsiders weren't. Just like many human societies throughout history have defined "human" in the moral sense as "just our group," as distinguished by some outer criterion. Nazis considered non-Aryans as less than human, to the point of actively seeking to exterminate them. Many Americans today have no moral compassion for children of Mexican and other refugees, because they aren't white and English speaking, much less for the adults.

[@azathothe]

@@allanrichardson3135 Agreed. It's not to say Daneel is intentionally nefarious but to say the Zeroth law would be imbued with a broader scope of influence without the threat of a positronic shutdown. As human and robot, law 1 and 3 merge while 2 can be circumvented. Daneel would be able to protect humanity from itself by relieving humanity of freewill. As a robot Daneel could only do this piece meal taking millenials just to deliver a human. As a human (Spacer), he can accomplish the task in a few centuries. Of course humanity cannot know or the Zeroth law backfires as it did for Giskard. When I concluded the series I saw the irony of Asimov's robot tales as a warning. I think Asimov portrayed robots as the ultimate huberous of humanity, an A.I. god. BTW... Best of fortune to you with your novel.

[@daneelolivaw8222]

I have a feeling that I'm going to need to take some action to prevent humanity from coming to harm pretty soon...

[@patytrico]

If you are looking for more ideas, can I suggest you some? Kim Stanley Robinson´s "Mars" trilogy, C. J. Cherry´s "Chanur", Anne McCaffrey's "The Tower & The Hive" and "Dragonriders of Pern", Simon R. Green's "Deathstalker", Gordon R. Dickson's "Dorsai", Greg Bear's "Eon".

[@VladPalacios]

Great! more Asimov!

[@veramae4098]

Several times when Daneel is speaking, the human listeners seem to sense a desolate landscape of loneliness 20,000 years long. It's never said, but I think Daneel continued not only because of the Laws of Robotics, but because once he had known true friendship with the human, Elijah Bailey. Can you write about that, Quinn?

[@coupdegras107]

Isaac had a perfect mind

[@johncunningham4820]

That FIRST picture you used was NOT R.Daneel Olivaw . That was Giskard . Which was the Original Special Robot . Giskard was Psychic . Daneel was Pretty but Standard , at first . Giskard ALTERED Daneel as he was " Dying " to carry the Mantle on .

[@thesinfultictac5704]

Holy shit that ending quote though...

[@heartlacies]

Waiiiit a second.. This question isn't relevant to the video at hand, but I've been watching your videos recently and I'm dying to know: Are/were you Sims3loser?! If you are, then I'm really glad to see you doing other content. Your videos are so interesting. :)

[@WolfLover790]

You should narrate the audio books of the foundation universe

[@GrimHyper]

More Ideas of Ice and Fire! Oh heck yeah bud.

[@bemersonbakebarmen]

6:15 It sound awfull lot like a friend of mine who after seeing social reaction to the Pandemic and Climate Change deniers started to think maybe a Fascist Regime is better than Democracy. Its ends there. Plato's Republic, the Philosopher King, etc. A while ago people called Dawkins an elitist for wanting to go back to times when an Aristoctatic class ruled England. Now people are beging for It. Democracy needs 3 things to work. Equality, Education and Uncertity. For when the best outcome is known, voting is unecessary.

[@Karamazov9]

Who is begging for rule by aristocrats outside of the dreams of fascists like you? Calling fascism a solution to climate change is rich, since fascism is capitalism and climate change is caused by capitalism

[@Samuellwright]

How close is this to the Foundation series so far? The books in general I'm talking about.

[@dragdragon23]

There's talk of humans in real life trying to make a evil computer brain that goes totally against these laws is scary.

[@KamenSentaiMetalHero]

Hey Quinn, can you do videos on the Elric Saga or the Malazan Book Of The Fallen Empire or The Black Company, or The First Law trilogy.

[@nicolastousignant9160]

Seconded, especially the Elric saga and Malazan books

[@hankypankywhoopdydoo284]

Giskard, what have you done?

[@stevec.8196]

Any recommendations on where to Start reading with Issac Isomov? I have always meant to read something by him, but there is soo much and i don't know where to start. Note that i don't want to start in the middle of a series, but preferably at the start of the timeline (including prequels).

[@MarlonSolisFallas]

You can start by reading I, robot and his other short stories, then you can move on to the robot trilogy...

[@malehuman]

yeah that.

[@onetruekeeper]

Each of the three laws can cancel out the other two if the order is given to a robot to disregard the first law which is to obey all orders given by a human. It is a logic paradox.

[@SimonDouville1]

yo know I think in the mind of Asimov, galaxia happened. I base my belief on his story "The Last Question"

[@caramanico1]

R. Giskard Reventlov had as much of an impact.

[@borntosyn498]

Daneel eh...now this guy knows how to rule a human race! Ultron should take notes

[@jimtaramas6081]

A machine was playing as all along! Man, that is bull***t at least it didn't try to enslave us. >:-( Is'ti me or is the sound changes in sam parts of the video(5:16)?

[@Youtube_is_Trash]

Hmm it wasn't due to war, it was due to the actions of Daneel and a Spacer.

[@robertb8673]

It's funny that Elijah Baley look's like Tim Allen on the Bookcover. I got right that Version.

[@iasimov5960]

Review books by Kurt Vonnegut, please. And Robert Heinlein.

[@chrisrautmann8936]

Could you put some spoiler tags on there? You're dropping the big reveal on an entire series (or 3) of books.

[@seandraco3797]

Asimov was a humanist his remodeling of atheist since the latter is so hated. We are isolated and killing off our basic life support. But if we can make that first great computer as in one of his short stories we may get saved. Sadly like Frank Hubert said if one wants power they are worse to lead. I paraphrase though it was in God Emperor. Humanity must not lead itself we are animals to irrational and crude to do best for all.

[@TechBearSeattle]

The question was, though: Were the being living on Solaria still human in any sense? Or had they ever been human at all? The ending leaves these questions intriguingly vague, because Asimov was planning to take the series to finally, at long last, include aliens.

[@shebbs1]

The Solarians were evolved humans, though the evolution was planned and deliberate, not random genetic evolution. As with earlier Solarians from the Robot books, their society is hignly individualist, and entirely dependent on robotic servants, just more so than back in Baley's time.

[@TechBearSeattle]

@@shebbs1 - The ending of Foundation and Earth is ambiguous, but it implied that Fallom, and the Solarians, are not human any more. Remember, Trevize was manipulated into picking Galaxia because he "always chooses correctly." And he was very, deeply suspicious of Fallom, and immediately looked at them when Daneel said that a major threat from outside the galaxy was coming.

[@tauronalexander5052]

This character is going to be Demerzel in 🍎 Foundation

[@fredkelly6953]

By the time I'd gotten to the last book I could see Asimov was a different person and his writing reflected that. Foundation and Earth felt like an anticlimax with Daneel (Asimov) doing what he had always done, cleaned up after humankind. For Asimov probably more a relief it was over than a great sense of achievement. Sad end to a groundbreaking series.

[@Joseph_Omega]

At 6:30, "Triney Gurl" sounds like "Trini Girl". I myself am a "Trini Guy", so I kinda wondered. 💁🏽‍♂

[@MatthewSmith001]

Earth hadn't become irradiated because of war. It was irradiated by the robot whose name I can't remember. He ignited the leylines, which caused the whole planet to become irradiated and he did it to force humans to journey further into space. Yet in spite of doing it with the best of intentions, the robot died from all the contradictions in his positronic brains.

[@aaronwilder2775]

I may not be fully understanding it but I don't get how the Fourth Law could even occur, it directly contradicts the First Law

[@GabrielHellborne]

I think a robot entity following the Zeroth Law would consist of contingency plan after contingency plan...

[@bobtoad8601]

The revelation that humanity was driven by an AI turns complete eveything upside down. Sheldon found a patter in the human behaviour and created a science around it. But how much of this patter was unnatural by the AI intervention. Is human behaviour unpredictable and caotic without the intervention of a superior force? Was Sheldon part of the AI plan?

[@cajetanboy]

Ever read Stephen R. Donaldson's GAP SERIES? I am curious to know what you think about them.