How we cite our quotes: (Story title.paragraph)
Quote #7
In human beings, voluntary action is much slower than reflex action. But that's not the case with robots; with them it is merely a question of freedom of choice, otherwise the speeds of free and forced action are much the same. (Little Lost Robot.164)
We don't usually think of robots as having a lot of choices—they have to follow the Three Laws. (Although there actually is a lot of leeway in how those laws are interpreted and how they put those laws into practice.) But "Little Lost Robot" shows us a bunch of robots making choices, and here we see something funny about robots: their voluntary choices may look a lot like their involuntary reflexes. So how can we tell them apart?
Quote #8
"No, but all I eat on ships are beans. Something else would be first choice." His hand hovered and selected a shining elliptical can whose flatness seemed reminiscent of salmon or similar delicacy. It opened at the proper pressure. (Escape.198)
Beans, beans the magical fruit, the more you eat the more you…wait,we'll let you finish that one. The point is, having only beans to eat while you're stuck in a spaceship sounds like it could get a little gassy. This is Brain's idea of a joke, but we wonder if this is really a joke about choice: Donovan tries to choose something other than beans, but he can't because all Brain has given them are beans. If you wanted to, you could make a connection between Brain's adherence to the Three Laws and the choices (or lack of choice) that he gives to Powell and Donovan.
Quote #9
"And the change from nations to Regions, which has stabilized our economy and brought about what amounts to a Golden Age, when this century is compared with the last, was also brought about by our robots." (Evidence.3)
Today, this might seem like a strange choice: nations do join into regional partnerships and such (such as NATO or the European Union), but it's hard to imagine nations choosing to totally join together into regions. And this was probably even harder to imagine in Asimov's day. But in these stories, this is what happens, thanks to the robots. People might not choose to join their nations together, but the robots help people out. This foreshadows what happens in "The Evitable Conflict," what with robots helping people to make good choices.