A Young Isaac Asimov Explains The Laws Of Robotics

By David Wharton | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

Even if you’ve never heard them called by name, or even have no idea who Isaac Asimov was, I guarantee you’ve seen some version of his Three Laws of Robotics, whether in film or TV or games or literature. The Three Laws form a common backbone of programming that is designed to keep robots from killing all humans. Of course, it seems people or ‘bots are always finding ways to skirt around the Three Laws, which has made for some great stories over the years.

Here’s a great little gem from the untraveled corners of the interwebs: a young Isaac Asimov explaining the Three Laws. Take it away, Isaac.

There are two things I love about this video. I love seeing Asimov in his younger years, before he was sporting the “white hair and mutton chops” look that became the “definitive” Asimov look. I also love that he pronounces “robot” like Dr. Zoidberg from Futurama: “robut.” I mean, this guy knew from robots. Maybe the rest of us have been saying it wrong all these years…

Sadly, there’s no explanation of where this video was filmed or in what context. Still, it’s a nifty little bit of science fiction history that puts a smile on my face, and I hope it puts one on yours as well.