 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (July 2008) |
A positronic brain is a fictional technological device, originally conceived by science fiction writer Isaac Asimov.[1][2] It functions as a central processing unit (CPU) for robots, and, in some unspecified way, provides them with a form of consciousness recognizable to humans. When Asimov wrote his first robot stories in 1939 and 1940, the positron was a newly discovered particle, and so the buzz word "positronic" added a scientific connotation to the concept. Asimov's 1942 short story "Runaround" elaborates his fictional Three Laws of Robotics, which are ingrained in the positronic brains of nearly all of his robots.[3]
- ^ Isaac Asimov's Utopia at Google Books
- ^ I, Robot at Google Books
- ^ Asimov, Isaac (1990). Robot Visions. United States: Roc. pp. 1–18. ISBN 0-451-45000-0.