The Naked Sun is another story of Lije Bailey and R. Daneel Olivaw. Lije has been called up to solve a murder on Solaria, a world with a very sparse population, where even husband and wife interact as little as possible. Robots, on the other hand, are extremely numerous, and robotics is a major industry on Solaria.
Since under normal conditions, Solarians only view each other through trimensional screens, it is all but impossible for a murderer to have committed this crime. Yet the laws of robotics make it impossible for a robot to have been ordered to do the killing. The victim's wife, Gladia, is the sole suspect, as the only human who could have possibly approached her husband in person. She tolerates physical presence better than others on her world, as Bailey discovers, but she is still not comfortable. The society presented is quite intriguing. The idea that humans can become so accustomed to virtual interaction that they cannot tolerate truly seeing each other seems somewhat more realistic in these days where people can meet people from all over the world, and some spend many, many hours every day doing so. Viewing is seen as so impersonal that people don't worry about what they wear when viewed, even though the image is so perfect it can almost be mistaken for reality. Asimov in general was an exceptional author. The ending is perhaps the weakest point in the story; certainly not his best ending, but it certainly did not ruin the book as a whole. The Caves of Steel Imagine a time when Earth is so heavily populated that Cities are domed over, so that most of humanity never sees the sun or feels the wind. This is the Earth of The Caves of Steel. There has been some colonization of space; however, the Spacer colonies are hostile and feel immensely superior to the men of Earth. But when a prominent Spacer is murdered in Spacetown on Earth, they request an Earth detective try to solve the case, with a humanoid robot assistant. Earthmen do not trust robots on Earth, as they are taking over many jobs, causing people to lose all status and be sent to a subsistence living. Elijah Bailey, the detective, dislikes his partner immensely at first, despite his complete resemblance to a human, for that reason. This is a great murder mystery story blended into science fiction. Daneel Olivaw, the robot, is a great character in his own right, and appears in many more of Asimov's stories in this universe, beyond the Robot series. The science won't impress much these days, aside, perhaps, from the ability to create the Cities and feed everyone almost exclusively on foods created from yeast, but as this story is more than 50 years old, some things do have to be forgiven. The extrapolation on how to make life more efficient, to make the Cities possible, is both uncomfortable and realistic. Little efficiencies like dining halls for most or all meals rather than kitchens in every home, make sense, even if I wouldn't want to deal with it. Find more interesting articles on this topic: https://writtenonthewind.tumblr.com/post/159152805623/books-to-movies-the-other-way-round http://ecatlibrary.weebly.com/blog/what-is-the-first-insight
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AuthorSamantha Black is author of this blog. She is from New York. Samantha is a passionate reader, professional novelist and writer. She likes Yoga, traveling and swimming. ArchivesCategories |