The Three Laws of Robotics

Robby the robot from movie Forbidden Planet

1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.

Yes, this very short post is a placeholder. That is because I am at my mother-in-law’s house for Thanksgiving and am not planning to spend time composing a significant post for tomorrow.

But, here are some simple trivia questions to keep you occupied in your “Black Friday” haze.

Who is the author who wrote the Three Laws of Robotics?

In what short story and what year were all the Three Laws introduced?

What movie, with an African-American actor as the male lead, was made from the short stories that followed from this original story?

A fourth law was eventually added, but it was not called the fourth law. For bragging rights, what was the wording of the fourth law and what was it actually called? For super-bragging rights, who deduced the law and what year was the book published in which the law was announced?