Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov (1920 – 1992) is credited as one of the greatest science fiction writers of all time, considered to be one of the "big three" of science fiction, along with Arthur C. Clarke and Robert A. Heinlein. Unlike most SF writers, he had genuine scientific credentials and also produced a lot of popular science books. He was an extremely prolific writer with broad interests - he published over 200 books, covering every section of the Dewey Decimal System except philosophy.[1]
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[edit] Life
Originally, Asimov started in the field of biochemistry, earning a PhD in the subject in 1948 and taking a teaching position at Boston University's School of Medicine until he turned to writing full time in 1958. He is most famed for his writing on robotics but during the 1960s, he shifted his focus almost entirely to writing popular science, which was inspired by the public's new found interest in science following the launch of Sputnik in 1957. The high quality and diversity of his pop science work earned him the title of the "Great Explainer" and once prompted Kurt Vonnegut to ask him "how does it feel to know everything?" He considered himself a rationalist, humanist, and skeptic[2] and also did some work in refuting superstition and pseudoscience.
In 2013, the FBI released files showing that, starting in 1965, they investigated Asimov as being a possible Soviet agent.[3]
[edit] Three laws
Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics:
- First law: A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.
- Second law: A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
- Third law: A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
These rules apparently logically lead to a fourth, or rather, Zeroth, law: A robot may not harm Humanity or, through inaction, allow Humanity to come to harm. This may also be considered a corollary. The I Robot series of short stories plays with these "rules", and endlessly exploits their weak links. For instance, what would happen to the laws if a human ordered a robot to kill someone, but threatened to kill themselves if the robot did not obey? Clearly, someone's head is going to explode at some point. When contradictions such as this arise, the robot is in danger of 'brain' damage, for which it may take years of 'robopsychology' to repair, if repair is even possible.[4]
[edit] I Robot, the Movie
The 2004 film version of I, Robot resembles the book in the following particulars:
- The title.[5]
- Mentioning the Three Laws.
[edit] Quotations
Asimov made many quotable statements but one relevant to RationalWiki's proclaimed purpose is:
“”There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."
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| —Column in Newsweek (21 January 1980) [1] |
Another quote from Asimov, a motto of the Foundation, is often misunderstood:
“”Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.
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This quote does not in fact refer to pacifism, but is an observation that open warfare is extremely wasteful and a leader who fails to avoid it is practically by definition incompetent. Instead, the Foundation defends itself through espionage, sabotage, religious dominance and other indirect means.
“”People are entirely too disbelieving of coincidence. They are far too ready to dismiss it and to build arcane structures of extremely rickety substance in order to avoid it. I, on the other hand, see coincidence everywhere as an inevitable consequence of the laws of probability, according to which having no unusual coincidence is far more unusual than any coincidence could possibly be.
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| —The Planet That Wasn't |
More quotes can be found here.
[edit] The Sirius Mystery
The Sirius Mystery is a book by Robert Temple, which claims that the Dogon people were visited in the past by extraterrestrials from Sirius. What does this have to do with Asimov, you ask? Temple sent the book to Asimov to ask for his opinion, and Asimov remarked, "I couldn't find any mistakes in this book. That in itself is extraordinary", a statement which was then made part of the advertising blurb for the book.[6] But Asimov did not actually support the book, saying, "Robert Temple on three different occasions, by mail and phone, attempted to get support from me and I steadfastly refused."[6] He also wrote:
He sent me the manuscript which I found unreadable. Finally, he asked me point-blank if I could point out any errors in it and partly out of politeness, partly to get rid of him, and partly because I had been able to read very little of the book so that the answer was true, I said I could not point out any errors. He certainly did not have permission to use that statement as part of the promotion, I'll just have to be even more careful hereafter.[6]
[edit] External links
- Isaac Asimov Home Page
- Asimov on the threat of creationism (in 1984!)
- The Relativity of Wrong - see wronger than wrong
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ http://www.upress.state.ms.us/books/175
- ↑ "An Interview with Isaac Asimov", Phil Konstantin.
- ↑ I, Robprof: FBI feared much-loved science fiction author Isaac Asimov was Soviet agent, The Independent, November 8, 2013.
- ↑ Asimov's recurrent robopsychologist character, Susan Calvin, explains this on multiple occasions.
- ↑ http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=i_robot
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 The Sirius Mystery, excerpt from UFOs and Outer Space Mysteries by James Oberg.