books where robots take control/ kill humans?

RIP Paul

RIP Paul

a fly tramp
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hello!

i just read Robopocalypse which made me immediately read Robogenesis but now i'm a bit lost on where to go.. i'm looking for book recommendations similar to Robopocalypse, one's where the robots run the world and are threatening human life. robots vs humans.

thanks for any help you give!
 
simov robots all have the three laws of robotics preventing them from damaging humans in any way. If you don't need humanoid robots, how about Fred Saberhagen's 'Beserkers' series? Or even Laumer's 'Bolos'? But the 'Things man was not meant to know/Frankenstein's monster turning on him' concept has been massively explored, frequently badly, and the idea that man be replaced by partially or totally mechanical creations is still a popular trope.
 
Can't think of any off the top of my head, but I'll move this over to General Book Discussion, which is where pleas for recommendations like this get most notice.
 
The movie "WESTWORLD" had a future amusement park populated with robots that you could 'kill' in gunfights, etc. But they got smarts and took over, killing the guests. Richard Benjamin and Yul Bryner starred. There was probably a book either before or after the movie.

Asimov's robots did have the 3 laws, but in the book "I, Robot" exceptions to the laws were explored, including one robot where the first law was re-written as "A Robot may not harm a human being." The "Or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm" clause was omitted.

--Paul E Musselman
 
I suppose Fred Saberhagen's Beserkers are the ultimate killer robots.
Designed by aliens in some long distant war, to destroy all enemy life, they were too well made!
Not only did they wipe out the enemy's worlds they then turned around and wiped out their makers as well.
They are now slowly working their way across the Galaxy destroying all life as they find it.
They are very adaptable and can repair themselves & maybe even make copies of themselves!
And like Star Trek's Borgs they are very hard to stop.
Keith Laumer's Bolos are really the opposite, these are giant robot tanks which get bigger and more powerful with each new model!
Used to fight alien ground forces in various future wars, on the whole they stay pretty faithful to their programmers.
Time and again in some of the stories half-dead semi dormant abandoned Bolos revive themselves to defend colonists from some new danger.
Even if it usually means their own destruction, the ultimate faithful old soldier!!!
 
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Some good killer robot short stories are "I Made You" by Walter M. Millar.
This is also about a robot tank, and it's written from the tanks point of view.
Also try "Fondly Fahrenheit" by Alfred Bester, watch out for the heat!
And "Second Variety" by Philip K. Dick which takes place in the aftermath of WWIII.
 
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If short stories count, I always thought the story of the droid Bounty Hunter IG-88 was the best entry in the book "Tales of the Bounty Hunters." The story is from the AI's point of view from the second it is activated. I thought it was well done for a Star Wars anthology. The description of how this machine lives it's life as a wanted fugitive, hiring itself out as an assassin is interesting.
 
I've enjoyed the first two books in a series by Ian Tregillis, The Mechanical, and The Rising. The third book in the seriesis not out yet. The series is an alternate reality / Sci-Fi / Fantasy look at free will through the eyes of mechanical servants bound to do their creator's (human) will. I enjoy his writing style. The world he (Ian) created is detailed and easy to immerse yourself in.
 
The Dune prequels are pretty pilot, but the Butlerian Jihad, Machine Crusade, and Battle of Corrin all feature robots who have enslaved planets.
 
BigBadBob141 said:
I suppose Fred Saberhagen's Beserkers are the ultimate killer robots.
Designed by aliens in some long distant war, to destroy all enemy life, they were too well made!
Not only did they wipe out the enemy's worlds they then turned around and wiped out their makers as well.
They are now slowly working their way across the Galaxy destroying all life as they find it.
They are very adaptable and can repair themselves & maybe even make copies of themselves!
And like Star Trek's Borgs they are very hard to stop.
Keith Laumer's Bolos are really the opposite, these are giant robot tanks which get bigger and more powerful with each new model!
Used to fight alien ground forces in various future wars, on the whole they stay pretty faithful to their programmers.
Time and again in some of the stories half-dead semi dormant abandoned Bolos revive themselves to defend colonists from some new danger.
Even if it usually means their own destruction, the ultimate faithful old soldier!!!
Click to expand...


isn't that the basis for the film Screamers?
 
there was also a book with black robots which stopped us (humanity) from doing dangerous things. IIRC eventually some special people learned a way through ESP to blow some of the robots up whereupon these people were recruited to be explorers?
 
A slightly different take, in a short story, is Clifford D. Simak's "How-2."
Cliff's works featured a lot of robots, although most of them were benign.
See, for example, his books City and Project Pope.
And if mechanical life forms from other planets count as "robots," see his invasion short story, "Skirmish."
 
Fred Saberhagen's Berserker Saga . The Machines don't want enslave humanity they want destroy all life everywhere.
 
REF: Waylander Too.
Yes "Screamers" was supposed to be based on P.K.Dick's "Second Variety".
I've seen the film, it's pretty rubbish and bears no semblance to the story!
 
I think the Isaac Asimov "I, Robot" series is among the best. And despite some critical reviews, I think the movie production with will Smith is fantastic, as well. The series and the movie are both worth checking out.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
 
REF: Ronald T.
Yes, I enjoyed the film "I, Robot", through it's a bit of a Asimov\Williamson hybrid!!!
 
I just read Day Zero by C. Robert Cargill a few weeks ago and it definitely falls within this category. I can't recommend it because I thought it was somewhat meh and predictable, but it kept me interested while I was reading it.
 
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