Hey kids! It’s Wednesday, and that means it’s time for a Book Report. I realized, rather belatedly, that I didn’t have an Author Spotlight last month, and so I shall do my best to make up for it now.
Today I want to focus on one of my favorite authors. When asked by Barbara Walters what he would do if he had six months to live, he responded, “Type faster.”
The term “robotics” was coined in 1941. In 1920, the word “robot” was introduced to the public via Czech playwright Karel Čapek in his play Rossum’s Universal Robots. While Čapek’s play presents the basic idea of man-made machines replacing the human laborer, much of what we now consider robotic and robotic behavior stems from the author who coined the term “robotics” (in a science-fiction short story, of all places): Isaac Asimov.
Born in Russia in 1920 (though his family moved to Brooklyn when he was three; he never learned to speak Russian, his parents always spoke to him in English and Yiddish), by the time of his death in 1992 Asimov had become one of the most prolific authors of all time, having some hand in the writing or editing of nearly 500 books and over 9000 letters or postcards (postcards being his favored way to respond to fan mail). His works have appeared in nine of the ten major categories of The Dewey Decimal System, the sole exception being the 100s: philosophy and psychology (which I actually find to be a bit strange, since his work has helped to define, almost entirely, our psychological and philosophical conception of robotics).
Asimov studied—and eventually earned a Ph.D in—biochemistry, and although he was a tenured professor in biochemistry at Boston College, he actually made more money writing than he did teaching. Asimov loved science, and firmly believed that science-fiction would help direct the discoveries of science-fact.
In “My Own View” published in The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction (1978) he writes,
“Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today — but the core of science fiction, its essence, the concept around which it revolves, has become crucial to our salvation if we are to be saved at all…It is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be …This, in turn, means that our statesmen, our businessmen, our everyman must take on a science fictional way of thinking.”
Also, in “How Easy to See the Future” published in Natural History magazine (1975) he writes, “Science fiction writers foresee the inevitable, and although problems and catastrophes may be inevitable, solutions are not.”
Possessing an amazing intelligence (he did get a Ph.D in biochemistry, after all), he was was a reluctant vice-President of Mensa International, calling certain members of the organization “brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs”. Of course, he also stated that the only men he would admit to being less intelligent than were Marvin Minsky and Carl Sagan.
Asimov’s contributions to literature are astounding and expansive. He was the first author to combine science-fiction and mystery, advocating that science-fiction was a merely a flavor that could be added to any genre and not a genre limited to itself. He coined the term “social science-fiction” to describe a new trend in the 1940s of science-fiction authors (following the trail blazed by Asimov and Robert Heinlein) writing less about space opera and gadgets and more about the human condition.
He was friends with Kurt Vonnegut, who once asked him, “How does it feel to know everything?” (To which Asimov replied that he only had the reputation of knowing everything, which made him very uneasy)
He also was a friend to Arthur C. Clarke, and during a cab ride along Park Avenue in New York, they formulated the “Asimov-Clarke Treaty of Park Avenure”, where Asimov was required to insist that Clarke was the best science-fiction writer in the world (reserving second place for himself) and Clarke was required to insist Asimov was the best science writer in the world (reserving second place for himself). In Clarke’s book The Report on Planet Three (1972), the dedication reads, “In accordance with the terms of the Clarke-Asimov treaty, the second-best science writer dedicates this book to the second-best science-fiction writer.“
The Three Laws
One of the most enduring marks Asimov made on the world was his view on robotics (and his invention of the word). In 1950, Gnome Press released I, Robot, a collection of short stories Asimov wrote between 1940 and 1950 that had originally been published in the magazines Super Science Stories and Astounding Science Fiction. The majority of these stories contained an invention of his: The Three Laws of Robotics, which dictate all robotic behavior.
Law 1: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
Law 2: A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
Law 3: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
Formation of these Laws enabled Asimov to write robot stories that differed from the trend of most authors to conclude their robot story with a Frankenstein ending.
…one of the stock plots of science fiction was… robots were created and destroyed by their creator. Knowledge has its dangers, yes, but is the response to be a retreat from knowledge? Or is knowledge to be used as itself a barrier to the dangers it brings? With all this in mind I began, in 1940, to write robot stories of my own — but robot stories of a new variety. Never, never, was one of my robots to turn stupidly on his creator for no purpose but to demonstrate, for one more weary time, the crime and punishment of Faust. (1964, in his Introduction to The Rest of the Robots)
Much of Asimov’s writing concerning robots from then on dealt with ways it may be possible—or seem possible— to break the Three Laws. Indeed, in some of his final books, there is the implication that some of the most long-lasting harm came from robots following the laws too perfectly.
Today, most scientists working on artificial intelligence view the Three Laws as incredibly idealistic, more suitable for literature than actual applied science. On the other hand, most of those scientists would also admit that without the three laws (and a fourth, the Zeroth Law, added in a later novel: “A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm”), their sense of direction in applied robotic science would not be nearly as clear.
Foundation
The Foundation Series might be for Asimov what The Dark Tower was for Stephen King: A vast storyline that ends up tying together, in one way or another, most of the science fiction he wrote. In 1966, the series won a special, one-time-only Hugo Award for “Best All-Time Series”. Asimov wrote that when he first heard about the award, he assumed it would be going to Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings.
Originally, the books were a collection of short stories, like I, Robot. Asimov wrote the stories as a sort of science-fiction retelling of Gibbon’s The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
Gradually, Asimov began to tie in references to other work, including his Robot novels, as well as his Empire series (which begins with A Pebble in the Sky, the first novel Asimov published that didn’t have an origin in a magazine). By the time of his death, the timeline for the Greater Foundation series spanned 20,000 years and one and a half million words.
Other writers have also contributed to Asimov’s fictional vision of the future. Orson Scott Card, Harry Turtledove, Greg Bear, and David Brin, among others, have all contributed stories in long and short form concerning the Foundation.
Other Work
Among the many hundreds of works that Asimov contributed to, Nightfall is one of the more interesting to me. The short story appeared in Astounding Science Fiction when Asimov was 21. It was his 32nd published story. In 1968, the Science Fiction Writers of America agreed that it was the best science-fiction story ever written up to that point.
The story’s genesis comes from a discussion Asimov had with his editor over a line from Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poem, Nature.
If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore, and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God!
From that discussion came the story of a planet, similar to Earth in every way save one: Instead of only one sun, this planet had six, the result being the people on this planet had never been in darkness. Until there comes a day where darkness falls.
Towards the end of his life, Asimov took the short story and expanded it into a full length novel with Robert Silverberg. In addition to the very interesting concept of a planet experiencing darkness for the first time, the story delves into the social, scientific, psychological, and historical ramifications of such an event, providing a very interesting examination of the human psyche in the process.
Two other novels I find incredibly interesting are his Guides.
In 1981, Asimov released his Guide to the Bible (his Guide to the Old Testament was originally published in 1967, and the New Testament was published in 1969; the version released in 1981 just combined them). Beginning in Genesis and going in order, Asimov analyzes the historical, geographical, and political setting of each book, adding biographical information about the main characters. Rather than being an analysis of the spiritual quality of the mythological aspects of the book, Asimov examines the secular aspects of each book with intellectual commentary.
In 1970, Asimov published his Guide to Shakespeare, in two parts. Applying the same rigorous research to the Bard as he did to the Bible, Asimov’s guide examines every play Shakespeare wrote or co-wrote (that hasn’t been lost, anyway) as well as the two epic poems The Rape of Lucrece and Venus and Adonis. Asimov divides his guide into sections based on the setting for each play, either Greek, Roman, Italian, or English (with Hamlet getting lumped into the English section so there didn’t have to be a one-play Danish section), and then organizes the plays in each section chronologically, making allowances for plays not based on actual events or people. Then he makes note in each play of how much is real history, how much is anachronistic, and offers short biographies of the original versions of characters, where applicable.
Asimov’s Guides serve to widen the readers comprehension of the material, which allows for a greater appreciation of it. I strongly recommend giving either a read if you are interested in classical or religious literature.
Until next time,
Still paddlin’ the old knew…
_-Akatzen-_
