Etica e fantascienza. Io, robot e i dilemmi etici

Isaac Asimov’s collection of short stories I, Robot is best known for his formulation of the “Three Laws of Robotics”. It is a science-fiction novel, thus a work of literary art, but also a true ethical-philosophical reflection. The three laws, in fact, apart from being principles of computer programming through which the robots and machines imagined by Asimov are constructed, are also actual rules of behaviour for them. Asimov himself admits that he was inspired by human ethics in formulating the laws. Asimov, however, is by no means an apologist for the three laws; on the contrary, it could be said that his reflection is to be a questioning of any normative approach to ethics, be it human or artificial. The aim of this essay will therefore be to investigate the extent to which Asimov’s imagery can serve as a litmus test of real, human problems.