|
Susan Calvin
Dr. Susan Calvin is a fictional character appearing in Isaac Asimov's ''Robot'' series of science fiction short stories. According to I, Robot, Susan Calvin was born in the year 1982 and died at the age of 82, either in 2064 or 2065. She was the chief robopsychologist at US Robots and Mechanical Men, Inc., posited as the major manufacturer of robots in the 21st century. She was the main character in many of Asimov's short stories concerning robots, which were later collected in the books ''I, Robot'' and ''The Complete Robot''. Fictional character biography According to Asimov's fictional history of robotics, Susan Calvin was born in 1982, the same year that US Robots and Mechanical Men was incorporated. At 16, she wrote the first of many papers on robotics, a Physics-1 paper entitled "Practical Aspects of Robotics". This was after attending a Psycho-Math seminar at which Dr Alfred Lanning of US Robots demonstrated the first mobile robot to be equipped with a voice. As quoted ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bridget Moynahan
Kathryn Bridget Moynahan (born April 28, 1971) is an American actress and model. Moynahan is best known for her role as Erin Reagan in the police drama '' Blue Bloods''. She graduated from Longmeadow High School in Massachusetts in 1989 and began pursuing a career in modeling. She appeared in department-store catalogs and magazines, and after doing television commercials, she began taking acting lessons. Moynahan made her television debut in a guest appearance in the comedy series '' Sex and the City'' in 1999, where she later had a recurring role as Natasha. She made her feature-film debut in '' Coyote Ugly'' (2000). She had supporting roles in '' Serendipity'' (2001), '' The Sum of All Fears'' (2002), ''The Recruit'' (2003), '' I, Robot'' (2004), ''Lord of War'' (2005), '' Grey Matters'' (2006), '' Prey'' (2007), ''Noise'' (2007), ''Ramona and Beezus'' (2010), '' John Wick'' (2014), '' The Journey Home'' (2014), and '' John Wick: Chapter 2'' (2017). She starred in the ABC te ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Misanthropy
Misanthropy is the general hatred, dislike, distrust or contempt of the human species, human behavior or human nature. A misanthrope or misanthropist is someone who holds such views or feelings. The word's origin is from the Greek words μῖσος ''mīsos'' 'hatred' and ἄνθρωπος ''ānthropos'' 'man, human'. Misanthropy involves a negative evaluative attitude towards humanity that is based on a negative judgment concerning mankind's flaws. These flaws are seen as ''ubiquitous'', i.e. possessed by almost everyone to a serious degree and not just by a few extreme cases. They are also held to be ''entrenched'', meaning that there is either no or no easy way to rectify them short of a complete transformation of the dominant way of life. The major flaws pointed out by misanthropes include ''intellectual flaws'', ''moral flaws'' and ''aesthetic flaws''. ''Intellectual flaws'', like wishful thinking, dogmatism, stupidity and cognitive biases, are what leads to false belief ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Del Spooner
''I, Robot'' is a 2004 American science fiction action film directed by Alex Proyas. The screenplay by Jeff Vintar and Akiva Goldsman is from a screen story by Vintar, based on his original screenplay ''Hardwired'', and named after Isaac Asimov's 1950 short-story collection. The film stars Will Smith in the main role, Bridget Moynahan, Bruce Greenwood, James Cromwell, Chi McBride, and Alan Tudyk. In 2035, highly intelligent robots fill public service positions throughout the dystopian world, operating under three rules to keep humans safe. Detective Del Spooner (Smith) investigates the alleged suicide of U.S. Robotics founder Alfred Lanning (Cromwell) and believes that a human-like robot called Sonny (Tudyk) murdered him. ''I, Robot'' was released in the United States on July 16, 2004, and in other countries between July and October 2004. Produced with a budget of $120 million, the film grossed $346 million worldwide and received mixed reviews from critics, with p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Three Laws Of Robotics
The Three Laws of Robotics (often shortened to The Three Laws or known as Asimov's Laws) are a set of rules devised by science fiction author Isaac Asimov. The rules were introduced in his 1942 short story " Runaround" (included in the 1950 collection ''I, Robot''), although they had been foreshadowed in some earlier stories. The Three Laws, quoted from the "Handbook of Robotics, 56th Edition, 2058 A.D.", are: ;First Law :A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. ;Second Law :A robot must obey the orders by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. ;Third Law :A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. These form an organizing principle and unifying theme for Asimov's robotic-based fiction, appearing in his ''Robot'' series, the stories linked to it, and his ''Lucky Starr'' series of young-adult fiction. The Laws are incorp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasting House, London. The station controller is Mohit Bakaya. Broadcasting throughout the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands on FM, LW and DAB, and on BBC Sounds, it can be received in the eastern counties of Ireland, northern France and Northern Europe. It is available on Freeview, Sky, and Virgin Media. Radio 4 currently reaches over 10 million listeners, making it the UK's second most-popular radio station after Radio 2. BBC Radio 4 broadcasts news programmes such as ''Today'' and '' The World at One'', heralded on air by the Greenwich Time Signal pips or the chimes of Big Ben. The pips are only accurate on FM, LW, and MW; there is a delay on digital radio of three to five second ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Satisfaction Guaranteed (short Story)
"Satisfaction Guaranteed" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov, originally published in the April 1951 issue of ''Amazing Stories'', and included in the collections ''Earth Is Room Enough'' (1957), ''The Rest of the Robots'' (1964), and ''The Complete Robot'' (1982). Plot summary Robot TN-3 (also known as Tony) is designed as a humanoid household robot, an attempt by US Robots to get robots accepted in the home. He is placed with Claire Belmont, whose husband works for the company, as an experiment, but she is reluctant to accept him. Tony realizes that Claire has very low self-esteem, and tries to help her by redecorating her house and giving her a make-over. Finally, he pretends to be her lover, and deliberately lets the neighbors see him kissing Claire, thus increasing her self-esteem. In the end, though, Claire falls in love with Tony, and becomes conflicted and ultimately depressed when he is taken back to the lab. The TN-3 robot models are schedu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Out Of The Unknown
''Out of the Unknown'' is a British television science fiction anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and broadcast on BBC2 in four series between 1965 and 1971. Most episodes of the first three series were a dramatisation of a science fiction short story. Some were written directly for the series, but most were adaptations of already-published stories. The first three years were exclusively science fiction, but that genre was mostly abandoned in the final year in favour of horror/fantasy stories, with only one story based around science-fiction. Many videotapes of episodes were wiped in the early 1970s, as was standard procedure at the time. A large number of episodes are still missing, although some have resurfaced—for example, " Level Seven" from series two, originally broadcast on 27 October 1966, was returned to the BBC from the archives of a European broadcaster in January 2006. Origins Irene Shubik had been a science fiction fan since college. In 1961 suggested ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wendy Gifford
Wendy is a given name now generally given to girls in English-speaking countries. In Britain, Wendy appeared as a masculine name in a parish record in 1615. It was also used as a surname in Britain from at least the 17th century. Its popularity in Britain as a feminine name is owed to the character Wendy Darling from the 1904 play ''Peter Pan'' and its 1911 novelisation ''Peter and Wendy'' by J. M. Barrie. Its popularity reached a peak in the 1960s, and subsequently declined. The name was inspired by young Margaret Henley, daughter of Barrie's poet friend W. E. Henley. With the common childhood difficulty pronouncing ''R''s, Margaret reportedly used to call him "my fwiendy-wendy". In Germany after 1986, the name Wendy became popular because it is the name of a magazine (targeted specifically at young girls) about horses and horse riding. People Business and politics * Wendy Davis, American politician * Wendi Deng, Chinese-born American businesswoman * Wendy Morgan, Guernse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reason (Asimov)
"Reason" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov, first published in the April 1941 issue of '' Astounding Science Fiction'' and collected in ''I, Robot'' (1950), ''The Complete Robot'' (1982), and ''Robot Visions'' (1990). It is part of Asimov's ''Robot'' series, and was the second of Asimov's positronic robot stories to see publication. Plot summary Powell and Donovan are assigned to a space station which supplies energy via microwave beams to the planets. The robots that control the energy beams are in turn co-ordinated by QT-1, known to Powell and Donovan as Cutie, an advanced model with highly developed reasoning ability. Using these abilities, Cutie decides that space, stars and the planets beyond the station don't really exist, and that the humans that visit the station are unimportant, short-lived and expendable. QT-1 makes the lesser robots disciples of a new religion, which considers the power source of the ship to be "Master". QT-1 teache ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Out Of This World (UK TV Series)
''Out of This World'' is a British science fiction anthology television series made by the ITV franchise ABC Weekend TV for ITV. It was broadcast on ITV in 1962. A spin-off from the ''Armchair Theatre'' anthology series, each episode was introduced by the actor Boris Karloff. Many of the episodes were adaptations of stories by science fiction writers including Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick and Clifford D. Simak. The series is described by the British Film Institute as a precursor to the BBC science fiction anthology series ''Out of the Unknown,'' which was produced by Out of This World creator Irene Shubik after she left ABC. (Only one episode exists today and is available on DVD.) Origins Series creator Irene Shubik joined ABC Television as a story editor on the anthology series ''Armchair Theatre'' under producer Sydney Newman in 1960. A science fiction fan since her university days, Shubik approached Newman during the summer of 1961 with the notion of making a science fict ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Little Lost Robot
"Little Lost Robot" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the March 1947 issue of ''Astounding Science Fiction'' and reprinted in the collections ''I, Robot'' (1950), ''The Complete Robot'' (1982), '' Robot Dreams'' (1986), and '' Robot Visions'' (1990). "Little Lost Robot" was adapted by for the 1962 ABC Weekend TV anthology television series '' Out of This World'', which also marks the first appearance of Susan Calvin, played by Maxine Audley, in TV and movies. It is the only episode of this series that survives in the archives today. It is available on DVD in region 2 from the British Film Institute. Elements of "Little Lost Robot" appeared in the film '' I Robot'' (2004), an otherwise original story using Asimov's brand. The story was broadcast as episode three of a five-part '' 15 Minute Drama'' radio adaptation of Asimov's stories on BBC Radio 4 in February 2017. Plot summary At the Hyper Base, a military research st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Foundation Series
The ''Foundation'' series is a science fiction book series written by American author Isaac Asimov. First published as a series of short stories in 1942–50, and subsequently in three collections in 1951–53, for thirty years the series was a trilogy: '' Foundation''; '' Foundation and Empire''; and '' Second Foundation''. It won the one-time Hugo Award for "Best All-Time Series" in 1966. Asimov began adding new volumes in 1981, with two sequels: ''Foundation's Edge'' and '' Foundation and Earth'', and two prequels: '' Prelude to Foundation'' and ''Forward the Foundation''. The premise of the stories is that, in the waning days of a future Galactic Empire, the mathematician Hari Seldon spends his life developing a theory of psychohistory, a new and effective mathematics of sociology. Using statistical laws of mass action, it can predict the future of large populations. Seldon foresees the imminent fall of the Empire, which encompasses the entire Milky Way, and a Dark Age ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
