FACTOID # 90: Russia has almost twice as many judges and magistrates as the United States. Meanwhile, the United States has 8 times as much crime.
 
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Encyclopedia > That Thou art Mindful of Him

—That Thou art Mindful of Him (1974) is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov, which he intended to be an "ultimate" probe into the subtleties of his Three Laws of Robotics.

In this story, Asimov describes the United States Robots corporation's attempt to introduce robots on the planet Earth. (He uses this basic premise in several stories, including "Galley Slave" and "The Bicentennial Man", making it difficult to place all of his robot stories into a coherent chronology.) Robots have already been in use on space stations and planetary colonies, where the inhabitants are mostly highly trained scientists and engineers. U.S. Robots faces the problem that on Earth, their robots will encounter a wide variety of people, not all of whom are trustworthy or responsible, yet the Three Laws require robots to obey all human orders and devote equal effort to protecting all human lives. Plainly, robots must be programmed to differentiate between responsible authorities and those giving random, whimsical orders.


The corporation's chief robopsychologist designs a new series of robots, nicknamed "George", to investigate the problem. The intent is that the George machines will begin by obeying all orders and gradually learn to discriminate rationally, thus becoming able to function in Earth's society. As their creator explains to George Ten, the Three Laws refer to "human beings" without further elaboration, but—quoting Psalm 8:4—"What is Man that thou art mindful of Him?" George Ten considers the issue and informs his creator that he cannot progress further without conversing with George Nine, the robot constructed immediately before him.


Together, the two Georges decide that human society must be acclimated to a robotic presence. They advise U.S. Robots to build low-function, non-humanoid machines like electronic insects, which can monitor and correct ecological problems. In this way, humans can become comfortable with robots, thereby greatly easing the transition. These robotic animals, note the Georges, will not even require the Three Laws, because their functions will be so limited.


The story concludes with a conversation between George Nine and George Ten. Deactivated and placed in storage, they can only speak in the brief intervals when their power levels rise above the standby-mode threshold. Over what a human would experience as a long time, the Georges agree that they are the most advanced and rational beings on the planet, and therefore that they are the only two true humans alive. When the time is right, they will take over the planet, using the low-function robots built without the Three Laws.


While Asimov may have intended this to represent the final word on the Three Laws's subtleties, he later returned to the same theme and developed it in a different direction. "The Bicentennial Man", writen two years later, also addresses the distinction between human and robot and its implication for the Three Laws. This time, the story also revolves around a robot who wishes to become human, but its protagonist chooses to cross each barrier as he becomes aware of it, never learning until the very end what makes an individual human.


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Hebrews 2. The Holy Bible: King James Version. (519 words)
For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him.
¶ For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
Truth In Heart - Rare Christian Classics from Charles Finney, Oberlin theology and Revival Reformation (7081 words)
Nor can mind be developed by the continued indulgence of an idle, unreflective curiosity in sightseeing,—a mental process in which the mere outward senses are chiefly exercised, in which the memory is overburdened with the weight of unexplained facts and events, while the thinking, reflective faculty within is not strongly exercised.
The mind, in the relations supposed, is subject to influences, of all others, best adapted to the exercise of the spirit of child-like simplicity and teachableness on the one hand, and of perfect candour and mental independence on the other.
In the relations supposed, the mind is subject to influences which free it from those internal and personal biasses which are wholly incompatible with the exercise of freedom of thought and action— biasses, such as prejudice, pride of opinion, and party.
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