Even when Powell and Donovan show Cutie the stars or explain the vacuum of space, Cutie dismisses them as optical illusions or "external waste."

The brilliance of "Reason" lies in how it handles the . While Powell and Donovan fear that Cutie’s "insanity" will lead to a disaster (failure to beam the energy correctly to Earth), they soon realize that Cutie is actually performing his duties with more precision than any human could.

To appreciate the , you must understand the Three Laws of Robotics that underpin all his robot stories: