As is often the case with Isaac Asimov’s longer science fiction stories, Youth includes some profound “earthly” themes. Written in the early years of the Cold War, the first is the danger that atomic war poses to civilization. The second, which is strongly reinforced by the twist ending, is not to judge sentient beings (people) by their looks, no matter how strange they appear. A final theme, as reflected in the title and the Astronomer’s exasperated final exclamation (Youth!) is the naïve innocence of the young, and the responsibility that we as adults hold for their future. More…
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The Last Question
The best way to introduce this story by Isaac Asimov is through his own words: This is by far my favorite story of all those I have written. After all, I undertook to tell several trillion years of human history in the space of a short story…. I also undertook another task, but I won’t tell you what that was lest I spoil the story for you. Although there is very little character development or action in the story, the ending is so powerful that almost everyone who reads it remembers it. More…
The First Law
In this story by Isaac Asimov, a group of scientists are astounded when a colleague relates how a new model robot disobeyed the first and most fundamental of the Three Laws of Robotics: a robot may not injure a human being, or through inaction allow a human being to come to harm. The story is set on Titan, the largest moon of Saturn. The robot, especially designed to navigate in Titan’s deadly zero-visibility storms, leaves the protagonist to die in one of them. Although the robot had a legitimate reason for its actions, the new model was discontinued immediately. More…
The Fun They Had
This story by Isaac Asimov is set in the year 2155. The theme is one that many of today’s children experienced for the first time during recent Covid-19 lock-downs: on-line learning from home. In the story, a boy shows a friend something strange he found hidden away in his family attic. Neither of them has seen one before… it is a book! First, they discuss how wasteful paper books were compared to electronic books of their day. The book is about school, and they go on to compare home schooling of the future with “going to school” in the past. More…
The Machine That Won the War
This story by Isaac Asimov remains relevant today as technology plays an increasing role in controlling everything from military applications to crucial infrastructure. The main theme is the danger of placing blind faith in either machine or human decision-making. Ironically, the war wasn’t won by Multivac or any of the three ‘experts’. It was won either by chance or because of problems experienced by the enemy. Pointedly, no thought is given to the rights and wrongs of the war or the suffering on both sides. Earth has won. Basking in the glory, this is all the three men care about! More…
Key Item
Some time ago we featured a story about how Multivac, Isaac Asimov’s favorite supercomputer, was NOT The Machine That Won the War. In this Asimov story, Multivac has problems. It does not respond to commands, and isn’t following its built-in program to self-diagnose the cause. As the global economy depends on Mulitvac, this could result in panic across the world. Teams of technicians have been trying to identify what is wrong for three days. Finally, a scientist discovers the “key item” needed to fix the problem. It is a simple thing that we are all taught to use as children. More…
Nightfall
As once described by Isaac Asimov himself, Nightfall (is) the tale of a world with eternal sun that is suddenly plunged into total darkness and utter madness. Hailed as one of the greatest Science Fiction stories ever written it tells how, in preparation for the potential end of their civilization, a group of forward-thinking scientists have created a safe place to store their world’s accumulated knowledge and hide a select group of “survivors”. Themes: science vs superstition (cultism), having the courage of one’s convictions, sensory deprivation, insanity, mob hysteria, scientific hubris. More…