I just came across this link to a 1965 short BBC interview of Isaac Asimov concerning his famous three laws of robotics. Those laws, as Asimov stipulates, are purposefully ambiguous to that he can use that ambiguity as a vehicle for his many stories that invoke them.
What struck me most about the interview was his discussion of synthetic organic matter and the possibility of robots and human beings growing closer to each other as the robots are built with more synthetic organic matter and humans incorporate more metal and plastic in the form of artificial organs. What impressed me particularly was that his vision contained echos of Bank’s Culture novels. He envisions a time when humans and robots will share a single culture although he does not foresee—or at least doesn’t mention—the extraordinary AI that the Culture’s robots, especially the Minds, are capable of. Of course, this was in 1965 and computers, let alone AI, were much more primitive than they are today.
The video is only 5 minutes, 42 seconds long yet still manages to raise some provocative points. It left me wishing it was longer but it was nonetheless very enjoyable and something I bet almost all Irreal readers will enjoy.
UPDATE : Azimov → Asimov