I, Robot
Established the Three Laws, science fiction's most influential ethical framework for machines, and replaced the Frankenstein-robot with the engineering problem.
Book Entry · Science Fiction
The Caves of Steel
by Isaac Asimov · 1954 · Robot series, book 1
What is The Caves of Steel about?
In an overpopulated future where Earth's billions live in vast enclosed Cities and fear the open sky, detective Elijah Baley is assigned a politically explosive murder case — and a partner he despises on principle: R. Daneel Olivaw, a robot indistinguishable from a man. Asimov wrote it to prove to Campbell that SF and the detective story could fuse without cheating, and the result plays scrupulously fair while smuggling in a study of prejudice, agoraphobia and two kinds of mind learning to respect each other.
Why it matters
The template SF-mystery hybrid and origin of fiction's first great human/robot buddy partnership; Baley and Daneel's successors staff half of modern SF television.
Where does it sit in the series?
Asimov's Three Laws universe, from the positronic puzzle stories of I, Robot to the Elijah Baley and R. Daneel Olivaw detective novels that eventually dovetail with Foundation.
In the Guide from Robot series:
- The Caves of Steel (1954)
- I, Robot (1950)
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