Shortly after our January 2005 issue was released to our printer, I received a note from a long-time reader scribbled on a subscription order form. This note had traveled on a circuitous route via ground transportation, interoffice mail, and perhaps even pneumatic tubes, from our fulfillment center in Connecticut to our editorial office in New York City. The journey took some time to complete, so the letter writer was unaware of the transitions taking place at the magazine when he dropped his note in the mail. He made some recommendations, however, that were not that different from the changes we are instituting at the magazine. The writer suggested that we "re-Asimovfy" the magazine with a return to a letters column and editorials. Unfortunately, we can’t give this reader Isaac’s wonderful editorials–except online where we often reprint them at www.asimovs. com.

The April/May issue does bring back the letters column, and our new nonfiction column, Thought Experiments, provides us with the opportunity to take a contemporary look at subjects that were important to Isaac. This month’s essay by Therese Littleton profiles Helen Greiner, a real-life Susan Calvin and the purveyor of the Roomba vacuum cleaner, who named her company after Isaac’s book, I, Robot.

The "World Robotics 2004" survey published by The United Nations Economic Commission for Europe with the International Federation of Robotics speculates that while there were around six hundred thousand household robots in use by December 2003, there will be over four million such robots by 2007. The integration of robots in our daily lives, as with all quickly paced technical developments, opens up practical, political, and ethical issues that future Thought Experiments will highlight and discuss.

Household robots, obviously, have a long way to go before they reach any semblance of perfection. One can imagine that a Roomba let loose in my cluttered two-bedroom Manhattan apartment (and home to an active family of four) would either finally learn to cry or shut itself down to avoid a horrendous recursive loop. Still, once these logistical difficulties are worked out, it will be hard to say no to a robot willing to relieve me from my drudgework.

Once robots can pass the equivalent of a Turing Test, where a conversation or even face-to-face interaction with a mechanical being is indistinguishable from one with a human being, it may be equally as difficult to say no to service from a helpful robot clerk that may be more pleasant and knowledgeable than some humans. We don’t like the idea of jobs being outsourced to other countries. It’s quite likely that we may not be very comfortable with having jobs that are dependent on people skills and that currently seem impervious to automation become the province of robots. Will CNN’s Lou Dobbs or his future equivalent run angry features on ’botsourcing?

It is also possible that humans may do jobs that might better go to robots. Without robots, we would not be exploring Mars, and robotics has transformed modern warfare. In recent months, President Bush has emphasized manned space exploration over robotics. This emphasis certainly sounds exciting to the science fiction author and reader, but it may interfere with developments in robotics. It would be disappointing to see the near-term future of robots centered along mundane household tasks rather than space exploration. Should we care or be worried if this happens?

Close at home, though, robots can, and do, help humans in some profound ways. Robots are already an integral part of certain surgical procedures. Yoshiyuki Sankai, a Japanese professor of engineering who was influenced by Isaac’s novels as a child, has invented a robot suit that will aid the disabled, and he is working on perfecting it. I can imagine a very exciting future filled with robots such as these.

I can imagine a future where robots are misused, too. It appears that most developments in robotics are currently in the military. We applaud when military advances cut down on our casualties (and, with a sister in the army, I am fully aware of these concerns), but many people have asked if modern warfare helps us become inured to the loss of civilian lives, or even to a massive loss of opposition lives. We don’t really know whether robots will complicate this problem, alleviate it, or have no effect at all. And, spin-offs from military research have contributed to many of the advancements in household robotics.

Naturally, all of the concerns mentioned here have been addressed in science fiction. From Isaac’s original robot stories to tales that appeared in Asimov’s, such as Lucius Shepard’s "Fire Zone Emerald" and "R&R" and James Patrick Kelly’s "Prisoner of Chillon." None of these stories are new, either, but the current advancements in robotics are. These advancements are certain to influence future SF tales. They may shape the main plots, or they may simply act as wallpaper.

In his own stories, Isaac imagined a number of kinds of futures with robots. In many of his stories, people were afraid of robots, and robots often had to labor in secret to save humanity from itself. In others, people became so dependent on robots that they preferred them over all human company. The Good Doctor is best known, though, for a far more reasonable approach to robots. He felt that humanity should benefit from, rather than fear, its own ingenuity. In a delightful story of social satire, "Christmas Without Rodney" (Asimov’s, Mid-December 1988), Isaac showed an elderly couple bumbling along with difficulty–but not completely ineptly–when they give their robot a vacation. Perhaps that story mirrors how we will cope when the Roomba gets to take the weekend off.

On occasion, I will run pieces in Asimov’s that will explore different aspects of these questions, and I plan to publish essays that take opposing sides. I’d like to hear your thoughts on these subjects, too.