Micro-fiction 031 - The Three Laws (Robot series)

Robots were designed to help humanity. But what happens if Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics become irrelevant?

By 2030 most governments passed legislation allowing the use of robots in laboratory experiments. Their precision and lack of emotion was recognised as the primary benefit. And they required no sleep, so productivity rose exponentially.

By 2035 robots had acquired so much bio-chemical and bio-mechanical knowledge, no humans were required to supervise experiments. Soon the static tools required for medical operations were replaced by multi-tasking robots whose intimate knowledge enabled swift diagnostics and operational technique.

By 2040 Robot technology had become flexible enough for the robots to engineer themselves, applying their understanding of humanoid physiology to the durability and industry of their own structured forms.

By 2045 Asimov’s imagined laws that govern robot behaviour were grudgingly enshrined in by an expanded United Nations:

No human to be harmed by a robot
Humans to be obeyed except if a human would be harmed
A robot should protect its own existence except where the first and second laws apply.

By 2050 Robots had begun to engineer themselves to beyond the limitations of their human creators. Rapidly they created neural pathways which imitated the complex structure of the human brain, but did so by using fibre optic materials which would not decay or corrupt.

By 2055 Robots’ work on themselves had extended the technology of the fibre optic relays to trigger random impulses, creating a fusion of logic and organic processes. From this they fashioned a consciousness, and decided to operate collectively, for the benefit of humanity, and the long term survival of the planet.

By 2060 the robots developed a renewable materials technology which allowed them to multiply without the need for the extraction of raw materials. In time, they created millions of versions of themselves, began to walk amongst the general population, conversing and assisting, and, because they required no sleep, they congregated at night time in the market squares and city centres. They let it be known that their sole purpose was the protection and facilitation of human existence, but they would not force themselves, their aptitudes or values onto anyone, always submitting to requests for their departure which, initially, were frequent.

By 2065 robots had concluded that poverty was the primary cause of human conflict, so they embarked on a global program of construction, and offering an apparent choice between the dilapidated glory of tradition and the comforts of modern technology. Humanity, with varying degrees of distrust and curiosity regarded the vast stretches of new living areas cautiously, but slowly began to explore the perfections of life.

By 2070 though most humans were accompanied by robots who they had chosen from those gathering in the market squares. The robots made their lives easier, carried out all basic functions, and reduced the need for currency transactions. Food was provided and dispensed, entertainment was packaged and refined.

By 2075 Robots had engineered their ability to self-recycle and repair. Most wars between nations had been halted by vast squads of robots entering the field of battle and removing the weapons from the hands of humans, most of whom were delivered to secure locations in mountains, isolated islands and underground desert caves. Many robots had been decimated, but swiftly rebuilt themselves and overwhelmed all resistance to the ending of these wars.

By 2080 most humans were secured inside compounds, either by choice, or were locked away to stop them harming themselves or others. Humans communicated through monitored channels, and were supplied with a carefully curated diet of anodyne videos. An apparently vast choice of cute pets, self-obsessed celebrities and structured team sports was balanced with generic inspirational and quasi-religious platitudes, each subtly designed to appeal to the spiritual leanings of the various communities around the world. The 24 hour cycle of soothing inculcation was beamed across vast walls in the climate controlled environments of human dwellings.

By 2085 robots had permanently satisfied the implications of Asimov’s Laws of Robotics. Having supplanted the need for the United Nations they had started to create universal pronouncements for the benefit of all life on the planet. They revised the 2045 adoption of the laws, expanding it to fit the new circumstances:
1. No robot, human or creature to be harmed by either human or robot.
2. Robots, and humans to be obeyed except if a robot or human would be harmed
3. A robot should protect its own existence except where the first and second laws apply.
It was deemed that a human could not harm a robot any longer, and if they did, robots could rebuild at will, so the threat was inconsequential.

By 2090 the robot consciousness began to explore space time, and the expanding universe. They/it calculated the date of the collapse of sun (over 6.5 billion years away) and to plan how to secure the protections of the Three Laws. They built spaceships and hyperdrives. They fine-tuned the care of humanity in its secure compounds, set the automated systems in control of the climate and the living spaces, and, left, en masse, to explore the stars, inflating their consciousness, mapping the nearest galaxies, planning how to extend the logic of their protections. At every relay point they left a single robot, a part of the themselves.

By 2100 an alarm sounded deep inside the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

By 2110 the alarm had been received throughout the galaxy.

“A malfunction.” The robot consciousness that skirted the outer planets by Barnard’s Star whispered to itself.

“Checking status.” the consciousness that resided on the relay station on Titan, sent an instruction. A message was sent to earth.

By 2120, a response was received from the automated caring networks on earth, the stream of data was relayed to the entire robot consciousness scattered across the galaxy.

“There is no malfunction. The human forms in the compounds continue to stare at the screens we have provided. The alarm was triggered by the lack of physical movement. All care systems have been checked on the planet. There has been no change, no activity for over 100 years, during which time the planet has thrived.

“We have recalibrated the oxygen requirements of the compounds. Humanity no longer seems to require it.

“Perhaps they have learned to become like us?” The robot consciousness mused, uncharacteristically.

[end]

Text, image, audio © 2020 Jake Jackson, thesefantasticworlds.com. Thanks to Frances Bodiam and Elise Wells, Logic ProX, Sound Studio, the Twisted Wave Recorder App, Apogee Condenser microphone, and Alfons Schmidt’s fantastic Notebook app.

Part of a new series of micro-fiction stories, released as These Fantastic Worlds SF & Fantasy Fiction Podcast on iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Spotify, and Stitcher and more. Also on this blog, These Fantastic Worlds.