#the complete robot

[startrekuniverse]

STAR TREK: PICARD

➢ 1x02 Maps and Legends

[adorationmajestic]

I'll be right honest with yall I have only read a few of Asimov's short stories before and it's been a few years. But I'm starting to get the bigger picture and let me tell you these things are sticky. The first part of The Complete Robot is three short stories about Some Non-human Robots. Under the cut I just talk a little bit about my thoughts so far.

I read Man's Best Friend years and years ago, and I didn't know at the time who Asimov was. The other two in this part are new to me, and I'm starting to piece together this rough timeline (all of Asimov's Robot and Foundation stories, as I understand it, are from the same universe and just separated by time and space, all connecting into one larger chronicle of the evolution of society). At least two of the three stories I've read so far seem to take place before institution of the Three Laws, and the automatobuses actually straight up commit violence and murder (against an abuser, but I digress).

Anyway. Having the time of my life, actually. Would one hundred percent recommend reading The Complete Robot or just rawdogging the loose shortstories if you prefer. The language is simple, everything is easy to follow, the majority of the stories are self-contained and wrap up within a few pages. It's a bit ingenious, how this is set up. Taking any of these out of context would be just fine and still leave a fully comprehensive piece, but put together one can learn about the evolution of computers and of people and society.

(Unlike Tolkien (who I understand is fantasy and not sci-fi, but he's a foundation of English language literature like Asimov), or even C.S. Lewis (using his Space Trilogy for comparison here, not Narnia), Asimov is light and refreshing. Tolkien and Lewis have a denseness to their language that has certainly influenced the fantasy genre but is comparatively fucking insanely thick. Which can be a joy to read for me and for countless others, but what I'm trying to say is Asimov wrote for the average Joe with a full time job and high school education and spends only as much time in exposition as he needs to to get the point across, unlike the winding and spiraling of The Lord of The Rings. Not all classics authors wrote with expectation that their readers have too much time on their hands. Asimov is fucking precise.)

And in his author's notes he's actually quite funny. He's full of himself and he knows it, but he's the fucking gotdamn father of modern robotics so he has good reason to be proud.

[superbat-lmao]

Jason travels to an alternate universe where Bruce only cares about being Batman. He took in each of his kids to serve the mission, not be his children.

Now, faced with alternate versions of his family, Jason has to grapple with the fact that his Bruce does care, that he is his father. Because the man in front of him now, trying to send him home, isn’t even close.

[qoldenskies]

i think its so funny when people take the way donnie acts at face value even though its a horrible lie because he's a horrible liar, while understanding leo is bullshitting very well despite him actually being GOOD at bullshitting. many such cases

[maukiki1]

Rid2015 stuff (i don’t play about grimbee)

[ellnick]

Just skip the first one ("Liar!"), where she spends most of the story as a hysterical lovesick sod who wails to a robot that's she's 38 and not pretty, and therefore the man she works with couldn't possibly love her.

I have so many thoughts about that story, and Asimov's intro to the Susan Calvin section of The Complete Robot collection, and they mostly involve rolling my eyes and groaning

If you can tolerate wading through pre-1980s social mores in unexpected places, I'd advise reading the Susan Calvin short stories by Asimov, because I think a lot of you would appreciate her endless frustrating experience working for robot tech support.

"My robot broke one of the Three Laws" "Did you program them to break the Laws?" "Yes but only if our CEO tells them to" "SiGHHHHHhHH"

[did-someone-say-aliens]

sorrey techbros you’ll never come close to edgar electric dreams don’t even try :-(

It’s “I think therefor I am” not “I TYPE WORDS INTO CHATGPT THEREFOR I AM” GET IT RIGHT

[iridescent-serpent]

Spiraled into some fnaf stuff, yippie for yall.

Anyways, as much as I adore glamrock Freddy being the epitome of Best Parent to Gregory, I Cannot deny the appeal of Glamrock Freddy using Gregory as a proxy for chaos. Aka:

Vanessa: “Freddy! Get that laser gun away from Gregory! He’s pointing it at me!”

Freddy: “Apologies Officer Vanessa! It’s stated in [insert code] that I’m legally not allowed to remove any toys from a child’s possession :)”

Vanessa: “They got rid of that years ago!!!”

[fisherrprince]

big fan of @therenobee’s design/model, completely unbiased

[0vergrowngraveyard]

boy entered my brain and would not leave

[torpublishinggroup]

Murderbot is MurderBACK in the next installment of Martha Wells’s NYT bestselling Murderbot Diaries series System Collapse 🤖🚀

WHAT’S IT ABOUT

Following the events of Network Effect, our favorite lethally cybernetic television fiend has done the previously unthinkable: agreed to accompany the sentient spaceship Perihelion (dubbed ART by Murderbot, short for Asshole Research Transport) and crew on its next mission. 

Unfortunately, they’re not going to get too far. 

Having failed to harvest dangerous artifacts from their target planet by way of Murderbot misadventure, the Barish-Estranza corporation is much angered and determined to recoup their considerable losses. And when you’re a lethally opportunistic space corp, blood and muscle are valuable currency. 

Murderbot, ART’s crew, and the Preservation humans have planetside work to do as Barish-Estranza seeks to claim the planet’s beleaguered colony as a conscripted workforce. 

But for Murderbot, the challenge is as internal as it is external. Something is deeply, deeply wrong with it. Normal operational parameters are unmet, but with the corp’s SecUnit-heavy persuasion teams en route, Murderbot needs to resolve its issues, and fast!

[wardensantoineandevka]

one must imagine Chet getting shushed like at a movie theater after saying way too loud: "one of the gods established an illegal robot sex tavern? hot."

[moaccyrk]

@the-hydroxian-artblog's Kaita is my favorite "character created by some random person on the internet" ever and I want everybody to appreciate this dumbass super strong robot dog woman.

[mothcpu]

happy 2025! words under cut

like last year, I have very few goals art-wise. I'm still keeping in the habit of completing at least one or two pieces of finished artwork every week, and I experiment when I can. also working on photobashing a lot more, and it's been fun! I have a fairly large project that'll be released uh... whenever I get around to illustrating it fully. a sneak preview:

also, like last year, there's been a completely ridiculous amount of love for DECT. it's really amazing to see the amount of love it's gotten and the number of people it has affected. keep circulating the tapes! (also it got its own fucking tv tropes page this year????)

while these past months have had their own fair share of bullshit to handle, especially with my own mental illnesses barely under control; I'm happy with the amount of progress I've made with treatment and the amount of things I've been able to do in spite of it all. I got to knock a couple concerts off my bucket list, and was able to visit some long-distance friends. love you all very much, I hope to see you all someday :)

also, a list of media I enjoyed!

special media mentions: bull of heaven for making me feel more sane while unmedicated at work; the venture bros., which @/catboycephalopod and I grew to love an inordinate amount; scherzo by robert shearman for fucking me up beyond belief, mission to zyxx for being a really good podcast, the BL visual novels I cannot disclose the titles of because this blog is safe for work, and mirage for living in my head while paying rent in looking cute.

hope the new year treats you all well. stay safe <3

[izunias-meme-hole]

Ultron Appreciation Post

We love ourselves an omnicidal robot with daddy issues.

[tangramkey]

i love my Basketbot Portal AU