Postby Technomancer » Sun Mar 28, 2004 3:21 pm
I Robot is absolutely canon for sci-fi fans; Asimov's always been one of the greats. I think I first read this one when I was back in grade 8 or something. Hmm, now I'm trying to remember what the other books in the series were (they also ended up being tied in with the Foundation books somwhere along the line too). *edit, I'm thinking of "The Caves of Steel" somehow; I can't quite remeber everythin that happened in this one.
In any case, the Animatrix story is itself an iteration on very a old theme. You know, the story of the golem, Frankenstein, RUR, etc.
The scientific method," Thomas Henry Huxley once wrote, "is nothing but the normal working of the human mind." That is to say, when the mind is working; that is to say further, when it is engaged in corrrecting its mistakes. Taking this point of view, we may conclude that science is not physics, biology, or chemistry—is not even a "subject"—but a moral imperative drawn from a larger narrative whose purpose is to give perspective, balance, and humility to learning.
Neil Postman
(The End of Education)
Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge
Isaac Aasimov