Page "Three Laws of Robotics" Paragraph 13

Asimov attributes the Three Laws to John W. Campbell from a conversation that took place on 23 December 1940.

Campbell claimed that Asimov had the Three Laws already in his mind and that they simply needed to be stated explicitly.

Several years later Asimov's friend Randall Garrett attributed the Laws to a symbiotic partnership between the two men – a suggestion that Asimov adopted enthusiastically.

According to his autobiographical writings Asimov included the First Law's " inaction " clause because of Arthur Hugh Clough's poem " The Latest Decalogue ", which includes the satirical lines " Thou shalt not kill, but needst not strive / officiously to keep alive ".