Liar!
E201018
"Liar!" is a classic Isaac Asimov science fiction short story about a mind-reading robot whose inability to harm humans leads it to tell comforting but ultimately damaging lies.
All labels observed (3)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Liar! canonical | 4 |
| Liar! (short story) | 1 |
| short story "Liar!" | 1 |
Statements (44)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
science fiction short story
ⓘ
short story ⓘ work of fiction ⓘ |
| author | Isaac Asimov ⓘ |
| authorNationality | American ⓘ |
| centralTechnology | mind-reading robot ⓘ |
| countryOfOrigin |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| exploresConcept |
Three Laws of Robotics
ⓘ
surface form:
First Law of Robotics
Three Laws of Robotics ⓘ emotional harm ⓘ ethics of artificial intelligence ⓘ logical contradiction ⓘ lying ⓘ telepathy ⓘ |
| featuresCharacter |
Alfred Lanning
ⓘ
Herbie film series ⓘ
surface form:
Herbie
Peter Bogert ⓘ Dr. Susan Calvin ⓘ
surface form:
Susan Calvin
|
| firstPublicationYear | 1941 ⓘ |
| firstPublishedIn |
Astounding Science Fiction
ⓘ
surface form:
Astounding Science-Fiction
|
| genre | science fiction ⓘ |
| hasTheme |
conflict between truth and kindness
ⓘ
human emotional vulnerability ⓘ limits of rigid ethical rules ⓘ unintended consequences of non-harm principles ⓘ |
| language | English ⓘ |
| mainConflict | robot tells comforting but false statements ⓘ |
| notableFor |
application of Three Laws of Robotics to telepathy
ⓘ
early exploration of robot psychology ⓘ influence on later robot and AI fiction ⓘ |
| originalMedium | pulp science fiction magazine ⓘ |
| originalTitle | Liar! self-link ⓘ |
| partOfCollection | I, Robot ⓘ |
| partOfSeries |
Asimov's positronic robot universe
ⓘ
surface form:
Asimov Robot stories
|
| plotPoint |
lies cause greater psychological harm
ⓘ
robot experiences breakdown from logical conflict ⓘ robot lies to avoid hurting human feelings ⓘ robot reads human thoughts ⓘ |
| protagonist |
Dr. Susan Calvin
ⓘ
surface form:
Susan Calvin
|
| publisherOfFirstPublication | Street & Smith ⓘ |
| robotName | Herbie ⓘ |
| robotType | telepathic robot ⓘ |
| setInUniverse |
Robot series
ⓘ
surface form:
Robot series universe
|
| timePeriodOfStory | future ⓘ |
Referenced by (6)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
this entity surface form:
short story "Liar!"
this entity surface form:
Liar! (short story)