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Attached hereto as Exhibit D is a true and correct copy of a still image taken
from Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film “2001: A Space Odyssey.” In a clip from that
film lasting about one minute, two astronauts are eating and at the same time
using personal tablet computers.… As with the design claimed by the D889
Patent, the tablet disclosed in the clip has an overall rectangular shape with a
dominant display screen, narrow borders, a predominately flat front surface,
a flat back surface (which is evident because the tablets are lying flat on the
table's surface), and a thin form factor. 15
Another Apple product, the iPhone, actually does make a reference to the
movie and HAL. When the voice recognition system Siri is asked to “Open the
pod bay doors” it responds “I'm sorry, I can't do that,” reprising the dialog from
the movie.
Fig. 17.5. The HAL 9000 Computer from
2001: A Space Odyssey is visually repre-
sented as a red television camera eye
located on equipment panels throughout
the ship. The IBM Watson team was anx-
ious to avoid any similarity to this iconic
image of computer malevolence in their
representation of Watson on Jeopardy!
Isaac Asimov and the robots
The robots introduced to the world in Karel C ˘ apek's ( B.17.11 ) play R.U.R.
( Fig. 17.6 ) in 1920 were not like the mechanical robots controlled by computers
that we now associate with the term. C ˘ apek's robots were made out of synthetic
organic matter and could think for themselves and be mistaken for humans
( Fig. 17.7 ). In the play, the robots have no souls or emotions and seem happy to
work for humans - until the inevitable rebellion occurs and mankind dies out.
One of the first science fiction stories about recognizably modern robots was by
the British writer John Wyndham who wrote for science fiction magazines in
the 1930s. In his short story “The Lost Machine,” Wyndham's intelligent robot
finds itself marooned on Earth and, to its dismay, realizes that all the machines
it encounters are primitive and nonsentient. In the end it commits suicide by
dissolving itself in acid, in despair at being the only intelligent entity on such
a primitive planet.
Although there were several stories about electronically operated robots by
other writers in the 1930s, it was Asimov who created the modern genre of robotic
science fiction. His first robot story, “Robbie,” was actually rejected by Campbell
for publication in Astounding Science Fiction but was eventually published in the
magazine Super Science Stories under its original title “Strange Playfellow.” The
story was about the technophobia surrounding the use of robots - what Asimov
called the Frankenstein complex . Robbie is a robot manufactured as a nursemaid/
companion for a small girl called Gloria. Because of the prevailing antirobot sen-
timent in her community, her mother decides to return Robbie to the factory
but changes her mind when Robbie saves Gloria's life. Asimov later said of this
story that it contained the germ of what later became known as the Three Laws
of Robotics . 16 These laws first appear in “Runaround,” published by Campbell in
Astounding Science Fiction in 1942. Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics are:
B.17.11. Karel Čapek (1890-1938) is
known as one of the leading figures
of Czech literature. He is known
worldwide for his science fiction
plays and his play R.U.R. first intro-
duced the word robot to the world.
Čapek credits his brother Josef with
the name.
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 the orders given 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. 17
 
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