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First Law
Short-short tale recounting a singular exception to the First Law of Robotics.
6 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 25, 2003
1 person is currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
Isaac Asimov
4,368 books28.2k followersWorks of prolific Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov include popular explanations of scientific principles,
The Foundation Trilogy
(1951-1953), and other volumes of fiction.
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.
Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).
People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.
Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.
Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 7, 2021
Collected in The Rest of the Robots and The Complete Robot, this Donovan and Powell three laws of robotics story can be read a here. Donovan relates a tale from 10 years ago when he was on Titan, where he met an EM (Emma) robot that disobeyed The First Law of robotics because it had a higher prerogative.
July 13, 2018
First Law is a bit of a strange out of character behavior from Asimov.
While most of the stories have dealt with the three laws of robotics in a very logical manner. This particular story simply does not.
See a robot may be able to find it way around a specific law, or interpret the law in a different way, or even use the clash of one law with another to make a decision that does not follow these laws.
However this particular robot "Emma" have effectively chosen to completely disobey the first law, disregarding its own programming, and choosing to save its infant "which was built by Emma", rather than to save the human being.
There was no explanation as to how the robot managed to escape its own programming like that, besides maternal reasoning, which simply can not work in a robot.
While most of the stories have dealt with the three laws of robotics in a very logical manner. This particular story simply does not.
See a robot may be able to find it way around a specific law, or interpret the law in a different way, or even use the clash of one law with another to make a decision that does not follow these laws.
However this particular robot "Emma" have effectively chosen to completely disobey the first law, disregarding its own programming, and choosing to save its infant "which was built by Emma", rather than to save the human being.
There was no explanation as to how the robot managed to escape its own programming like that, besides maternal reasoning, which simply can not work in a robot.
November 6, 2025
4.5
An Asimov robot story that I hadn't yet read. One of his shorter works as well. A little bit off the beaten path since it's published in the rest of the robots, not one of his more popular works the same way that I robot is.
I listen to it a few times since it was so short and to take it and fully. I'm interested in the intricacies of Asimov's three laws and how that plays out in his fiction.
In this case the robot supposedly broke the first law. Nut I wonder if it actually did.
alien life also pops up in this story, so there is more precedent for alien life in his robot and foundation series then I think people realize.
other than the obvious social consequences of mechanized robotic and AI labor which were dealing with now more than ever, I'm also interested in robots as a sort of representation or metaphor for the autistic spectrum and existing on the spectrum, which would not surprise me if asimov was. I might do some more research into that and make a case for it.
An Asimov robot story that I hadn't yet read. One of his shorter works as well. A little bit off the beaten path since it's published in the rest of the robots, not one of his more popular works the same way that I robot is.
I listen to it a few times since it was so short and to take it and fully. I'm interested in the intricacies of Asimov's three laws and how that plays out in his fiction.
In this case the robot supposedly broke the first law. Nut I wonder if it actually did.
alien life also pops up in this story, so there is more precedent for alien life in his robot and foundation series then I think people realize.
other than the obvious social consequences of mechanized robotic and AI labor which were dealing with now more than ever, I'm also interested in robots as a sort of representation or metaphor for the autistic spectrum and existing on the spectrum, which would not surprise me if asimov was. I might do some more research into that and make a case for it.
March 14, 2017
First Law is an incredibly short story, but one which offers a rather substantial contribution to Isaac Asimov's body of robot fiction. The main point of this story could be conveyed in fewer words than this review, but it may prove invaluable to your understanding of works like I, Robot.
September 6, 2023
2.5 stars
A decent well written short story about robotics first law but some might get confused on what the first law actually is.
I thought it was protecting the dog was the first law or was it something else?
Pros
Well written story
Free short story
Cons
Confusing first law to some
Some volumes list as a EA while others list Emma as a MA.
A decent well written short story about robotics first law but some might get confused on what the first law actually is.
I thought it was protecting the dog was the first law or was it something else?
Pros
Well written story
Free short story
Cons
Confusing first law to some
Some volumes list as a EA while others list Emma as a MA.
July 13, 2021
Short read
I hadn't heard of this short story before and was delighted to find it on Amazon. In the end the story left me with a few questions to which I may never get an answer.
I hadn't heard of this short story before and was delighted to find it on Amazon. In the end the story left me with a few questions to which I may never get an answer.
October 12, 2022
Historia muy bonita y curiosa sobre un robot Emma que busca a un robot Emma junior y lo protege hasta de los humanos yendo en contra de cómo dice el título de la primera ley.
March 23, 2025
Indiscutible. Aún aplicado a otra realidad hay cosas que son Indiscutibles, como lo que va antes de ésta primera ley.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews