The Robots of Dawn

La tercera (o cuarta, si consideras los relatos previos) entrega de la saga de Robots fue escrita varias décadas después de sus predecesoras y se nota. Es una novela más extensa, más profusa en los diálogos y con el mismo esquema de novela de detectives en el contexto del universo de ciencia ficción.

Al ser una novela más larga profundiza más en temas como el racismo o el nexo de los robots con la saga Fundación, incluso remontándose a sus relatos cortos. Se nos presenta a Giskard y aparece Gladia donde en cierta medida Asimov escribe un personaje menos sexista (comparado con las anteriores novelas es muy contrastado). Incluso hay un intento de hacer una especie de alegato de la libertad sexual femenina, siempre entre comillas porque no vamos a esperar un discurso del 2020.

La historia detectivesca es más elaborada y de hecho, se "resuelve" por los personajes dentro de la novela incluso sin que realmente sepan la verdad ni personajes ni el lector, ya que Asimov se la guarda para hacer un final muy redondo conectando desde sus primeros relatos, los robots, la colonización espacial, la psicohistoria y la Fundación.

This is the third book in the Robots series. It was written some 30 years after [b:The Naked Sun|30016|The Naked Sun (Robot, #2)|Isaac Asimov|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1335782263s/30016.jpg|1583154] and it connects the previous two books and also the [b:The Foundation Trilogy|46654|The Foundation Trilogy (Foundation, #1-3)|Isaac Asimov|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1316412178s/46654.jpg|41350].

There are references to “Liar” (of the [b:I, Robot|41804|I, Robot (Robot, #0.1)|Isaac Asimov|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1388321463s/41804.jpg|1796026] compilation) and also to "The Bicentennial Man" ([b:The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories|70787|The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories|Isaac Asimov|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1307490924s/70787.jpg|4186]), which in the "Robots of Dawn" story are believed to be old legendary tales of Earth's past. From the Foundation Series the science of "psychohistory" is mentioned as merely an idea not yet fully developed.
I really enjoyed the connections Asimov's used in this book, and as I have read the Foundation Trilogy before the Robots series, all the references worked pretty well.

I enjoyed the conceptual discussion about robot murder, robot assassination, robot destruction and "roboticide". It is always fun to read these thought-provoking dialogues written by Asimov. Also, the subject of sex is also explored in this book because we can see two differents points of view on the matter. Gladia, the Solarian woman who was the main suspect in the second book of the series, now is in Aurora and is one more time involved with a "roboticide" mystery in some way. This lady was used to the Solarian standards in which sex was a tabu and only used sporadically to reproduce when needed. Sex in Solaria was not pleasant, but merely a physical duty. Now in Aurora sex is viewed as a normal activity, like eating or going to the movies. But it is so freely practiced there that it has also become a mechanical activity with no emotional bound. Those two spacer worlds, Solaria and Aurora, are two extremes in terms of social structure and Earth is in the middle being more conservative but at the same time cultivating social contact and a not-so-robot-dependent society. This book also discusses sex between humans and robots and that was one of the things that surprised me positively, because the subject is treated in a very natural way and with objectivity. I didn't expect that Asimov would touch on that subject.

There is also a strong focus in the agoraphobia of people from Earth, who has been living for years underground without contact with the outside. And E. Baley, since his investigation on Solaria has become less and less afraid of the open, realizing that humans enjoy the sense of freedom by looking at the sky and feeling the fresh air around them. He believed that with time humans would not fear the openness anymore and it was interesting to know that he have been training his son and other volunteers to experiment being "outside" once again, away from the confines of the caves of steel.

I have to mention that the ending of this book is fantastic, it simply blew my mind! I wasn't expecting the revelations made by the robot Giskard. And this robot is literally the key of the "roboticide" mystery and the mind behind the human expansion that happened later on to form the Galactic Empire that we know in the Foundation Trilogy. And also, Giskard is a mind-reader robot, how cool is that?

And who should colonize the galaxy? I enjoyed the the idea that robots could not by themselves colonize other worlds because that would never end up well, and that humans from Earth, despite their problems living under the caves of steel, are probably the best ones to face this type of exploration. I was amazed to know in the end that R. Giskard was very fond of this idea and that humans from Earth were better prepared than Aurorans or Solarians to colonize other worlds.

There is a lot of discussion over the recommended reading order of Asimov's books. I believe that reading book:I, Robot|41804] and the [b:The Foundation Trilogy|46654|The Foundation Trilogy (Foundation, #1-3)|Isaac Asimov|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1316412178s/46654.jpg|41350] before the Robots series is the best way to enjoy the references and understand what R. Giskard was talking about in the final chapter.