Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!iad-peer.news.verio.net!news.verio.net!iad-read.news.verio.net.POSTED!edseiler.clark.net!user From: edseiler@clark.net (Ed Seiler) Newsgroups: alt.books.isaac-asimov,alt.answers,news.answers Followup-To: alt.books.isaac-asimov Reply-To: edseiler@clark.net Distribution: world Subject: Isaac Asimov FAQ, Part 3/4 Message-ID: Organization: is lacking Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU Expires: 1 July 2000 00:00:00 GMT Summary: This document answers frequently asked questions about Isaac Asimov and his work. Lines: 580 Date: Fri, 02 Jun 2000 12:34:53 -0400 NNTP-Posting-Host: 168.143.10.164 X-Complaints-To: abuse@verio.net X-Trace: iad-read.news.verio.net 959963643 168.143.10.164 (Fri, 02 Jun 2000 16:34:03 GMT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 02 Jun 2000 16:34:03 GMT Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu alt.books.isaac-asimov:19426 alt.answers:49320 news.answers:184817 Archive-name: books/isaac-asimov-faq/part3 Posting-Frequency: monthly Last-modified: 1 December 1999 Copyright: (c) 1994-1999 Edward J. Seiler and John H. Jenkins Maintainer: Ed Seiler and John H. Jenkins 4.9 What is the significance of the ending of _Foundation_and_Earth_? _Foundation_and_Earth_ ends with a "hook" for a sequel -- the main problem of the novel itself has been solved, but a new problem is introduced in the last few pages which threatens the future of mankind. Asimov fully intended to write a sequel to _Foundation_and_Earth_, continuing the story chronologically. He had, however, no specific plans for how he would develop the problem with which _Foundation_and_Earth_ ends, let alone how to resolve it. His next (and final) two Foundation books were stories of the life of Hari Seldon, written largely because he couldn't figure out what would happen after _Foundation_and_Earth_. He died before he had any specific plans for what would happen next. ------------------------------ 4.10 Why do Asimov's books give two reasons why the Earth becomes radioactive? Asimov introduced the idea of the Earth becoming radioactive in _Pebble_In_the_Sky_. It is also a plot element in the other two "Empire" books, _The_Stars,_Like_Dust_ and _The_Currents_of_Space_. In these three books, it is always assumed that the Earth became radioactive as a result of a nuclear war. These books were all written in the early 1950s, when it was commonly felt that there would be a nuclear war between the United States and Soviet Union in the next few years. Later on, Asimov realized that this explanation wouldn't wash. The effects he described would not be possible as the result of a nuclear war. He therefore provides a different explanation in _Robots_and_Empire_ and _Foundation_and_Earth_. Within the fictional universe, the explanation is that the *characters* in the three Empire novels thought that the Earth became radioactive as a result of a nuclear war, but that they were wrong. ------------------------------ 4.11 Did Asimov write the Foundation books with any plan in mind? No. Asimov's original intention was to write a series of longer stories to complement the series of short stories he was writing about robots. He started the Foundation series as a saga of the collapse of the First Galactic Empire and rise of the Second, using Edward Gibbon's _Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire_ as a model. It wasn't long before he got bored with the series. Since the Foundation's ultimate success was guaranteed by psychohistory, there was a considerable lack of dramatic tension, and it was hard keeping the stories from contradicting each other. He therefore wrote "Now You See It--" as a way to end the series, but John Campbell, the editor of *Astounding*, would have none of it and insisted that Asimov alter the ending so that the series could continue. By the time he wrote the next Foundation story, "--And Now You Don't," Asimov had come to hate the series so much that Campbell didn't even attempt to convince him to continue. (Ironically, "--And Now You Don't" is among the strongest stories in the series.) Over the course of the writing of the original Foundation stories, the focus shifted slightly. The "tiny bit of cribbin' from the works of Edward Gibbon" faded into the background. Mentalics were introduced at Campbell's insistence as a means of throwing a monkey wrench into the Plan with "The Mule" -- superhumans with psychic powers were a favorite theme of Campbell's. The existence of the Second Foundation had been a part of the series from the beginning, as was its location at "Star's End," but its exact nature wasn't clearly defined until it acquired its role as the Mule's nemesis. With these last two stories written, he considered himself forever finished with the Foundation series, even though there were still over 500 years of the Plan to run. They would simply be century upon century of the Foundation's growth and triumph under the direction of the Second Foundation, and really rather dull. Asimov did write one more Foundation story to open _Foundation_ and nothing more for over thirty years. In the 1980s, Asimov was persuaded by Doubleday to write a new Foundation book. The result was _Foundation's_Edge_. Again, he decided to create a more interesting story by making up a new threat to the Seldon Plan. _Foundation's_Edge_ was so successful that Asimov was persuaded to finally write the third Elijah Baley novel, _The_Robots_of_Dawn_, which created the first (implicit) connection between the Foundation and Robot books. This connection, which was not anticipated when Asimov started writing robot and Foundation stories in the 1940s, was finally made explicit in the next two books written, _Robots_and_Empire_ and _Foundation_and_Earth_. Finally, because he wasn't sure what to do next, Asimov wrote _Prelude_to_Foundation_ and _Forward_the_Foundation_ to tell the story of Hari Seldon's life and the beginnings of psychohistory. ------------------------------ 4.12 Is Data from "Star Trek: The Next Generation" an Asimovian robot? The television program "Star Trek: The Next Generation" included an android character, Data, whom we are specifically told (in the episode "Datalore") was created in an attempt to bring "Asimov's dream of a positronic robot" to life. Unfortunately, the producers of the show locked onto the "positronic" aspect as if that were the key quality to Asimov's robots. Asimov's view was exactly the opposite -- his robots are "positronic" because positrons had just been discovered when he started writing robot stories and the word had a nice science-fictiony ring to it. The use of positrons was just an engineering detail and relatively unimportant to him. Asimov's key insight was that, inasmuch as we engineer our tools to be safe to use, we would do the same with robots once we start making them -- and that the main safeguards for an intelligent being are its ethics. We would, therefore, build ethics into our robots to keep them going off on uncontrollable killing sprees. In some sense, the specific Three (Four) Laws are themselves an engineering detail, the robotic equivalent of the Ten Commandments -- it is a specific ethical system but not the only one possible. In Asimov's universe, they are the basis for robotic ethics and so absolutely fundamental to robotic design that it is virtually impossible to build a robot without them. Asimov tended not to let other people use his specific Laws of Robotics, but his essential insight -- that robots will have in-built ethical systems -- is freely used. In particular, Data *is* an "Asimovian" robot because he *does* have an in-built ethical system. He does *not* have the Three Laws, however (witness the episode "Measure of Man" in which he refuses to follow a direct order from a superior officer [Second Law] without invoking either danger to a specific human [First Law] or the higher needs of all of humanity [Zeroth Law]). Moreover, his ethical programming is *not* fundamental to his design (his prototype, Lore, lacks it altogether, and Data's ethical program is turned off for much of "Descent, part II"). Asimov stated that Roddenberry asked for his permission to make Data a positronic robot after the fact. Asimov himself had no input into the character. There were plans to have Asimov appear on the show as a holodeck simulation and talk to Data (just as Stephen Hawking did). A combination of Asimov's location and ill-health made this impossible. ------------------------------ 4.13 What *are* the Laws of Robotics, anyway? The Three Laws of Robotics are: 1. A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. From Handbook of Robotics, 56th Edition, 2058 A.D., as quoted in _I,_Robot_. In _Robots_and_Empire_ (ch. 63), the "Zeroth Law" is extrapolated, and the other Three Laws modified accordingly: 0. A robot may not injure humanity or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm. Unlike the Three Laws, however, the Zeroth Law is not a fundamental part of positronic robotic engineering, is not part of all positronic robots, and, in fact, requires a very sophisticated robot to even accept it. Asimov claimed that the Three Laws were originated by John W. Campbell in a conversation they had on December 23, 1940. Campbell in turn maintained that he picked them out of Asimov's stories and discussions, and that his role was merely to state them explicitly. The Three Laws did not appear in Asimov's first two robot stories, "Robbie" and "Reason", but the First Law was stated in Asimov's third robot story "Liar!", which also featured the first appearance of robopsychologist Susan Calvin. (When "Robbie" and "Reason" were included in _I,_Robot_, they were updated to mention the existence of the first law and first two laws, respectively.) Yet there was a hint of the three laws in "Robbie", in which Robbie's owner states that "He can't help being faithful, loving, and kind. He's a machine - made so." The first story to explicitly state the Three Laws was "Runaround", which appeared in the March 1942 issue of _Astounding_Science_Fiction_. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 5. Other writings 5.1 What is the relationship between the movie "Fantastic Voyage" and Asimov's novel? Asimov wrote the novel from the screenplay. He made a certain number of changes which he felt were necessary to minimize the scientific implausibility of the story. Because, as he put it, he wrote quickly and Hollywood works slowly, the novel came out some six months before the film was released, giving rise to the idea that the movie was made from the novel. Asimov was never satisfied with _Fantastic_Voyage_, and he never thought of it as "his" work. Later, a person who had bought the rights to the title and concept (but not the characters or situation) of the original was interested in making _Fantastic_Voyage_II_. Naturally he turned to Asimov, who at first refused. At some point, Asimov agreed, but insisted on handling his side as a pure book deal with Doubleday. Consequently, Asimov's book _Fantastic_Voyage_II_ should not be considered a sequel to the original. ------------------------------ 5.2 What did Asimov write besides the Foundation and robot books? Lots. Asimov published over 500 books by the time of his death. Many of these, of course, are anthologies of work by other people, and a large number are juvenile science books, but there are a lot of books left. Following is a list of some of Asimov's better-known or more influential works. The list is purely subjective, based on the personal preference of the FAQ-keepers. There is much which is worthwhile but not listed. See the full lists of Asimov's works for more information. A) Other science fiction novels The Lucky Starr books Fantastic Voyage, and Fantastic Voyage II Nemesis The Gods Themselves The End of Eternity B) Science fiction short story collections Nine Tomorrows Earth is Room Enough The Martian Way and Other Stories Nightfall and Other Stories The Bicentennial Man and Other Stories The Best Science Fiction of Isaac Asimov C) Anthologies The Hugo Winners/New Hugo Winners (7 volumes) Isaac Asimov presents the great sf stories (25 volumes for 1939 through 1963) D) Mysteries Black Widower stories (several collections) A Whiff of Death Murder at the ABA E) "Guides" Asimov's Guide to the Bible Asimov's Guide to Shakespeare Asimov's New Guide to Science F) Essay collections F&SF Essay collections (Asimov had a monthly science column from the early 1950s through 1991) Asimov on Science Fiction Asimov's Galaxy G) Histories The Greeks The Roman Republic The Roman Empire H) Other non-fiction Understanding Physics (aka The History of Physics) The Universe Asimov's Biographical Encyclopedia of Science and Technology I) Humor Isaac Asimov's Treasury of Humor The Sensuous Dirty Old Man Asimov Laughs Again ------------------------------ 5.3 What is the source of the title of the novel _The_Gods_Themselves_? The title is obtained from the quote "Against stupidity, the gods themselves contend in vain" , which originally appeared in German ("Mit der Dummheit kaempfen die Goetter selbst vergebens") in Friedrich von Schiller's play _Jungfrau_von_Orleans_ (The Maid of Orleans, or Joan of Arc), Act III, Scene 6. _Bartlett's_Familiar_Quotations_ translates the quote as "Against stupidity the very gods themselves contend in vain." _The_Oxford_Dictionary_of_Quotations_ gives the translation "With stupidity the gods themselves struggle in vain." ------------------------------ 5.4 Is there an index of his science articles for the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (F&SF)? Of his editorials in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (IASFM)? Asimov compiled a list of his F&SF essays on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of his first essay, in the November 1978 issue of F&SF, and reprinted (slightly updated) in the collection _The_Road_to_Infinity_. That list is ordered alphabetically according to the title of the essay, and includes a designation of the collection in which each essay appears as well as a very brief subject description for each essay. However Asimov went on to write a total of 399 essays, the last of which appeared in February 1992. (A 400th essay was compiled by Janet after his death and published in the December 1994 issue of F&SF.) Of the 174 editorials published in IASFM, dealing mainly with Asimov's thoughts on Science Fiction, 22 were included in _Asimov_on_Science_Fiction_, 66 in _Asimov's_Galaxy_, 10 in _Gold_, and 3 in _Magic_, but he did not compile an index to these. (_Gold_ also reprinted 3 of the IASFM essays that appeared in _Asimov_on_Science_Fiction_ and 19 of the essays that appeared in _Asimov's_Galaxy_, and _Magic_ reprinted 2 of the IASFM essays from _Asimov_on_Science_Fiction_ and 3 from _Asimov's_Galaxy_). Asimov also wrote numerous other essays that were published in other magazines, many of which have appeared in other essay collections. Seeing the need for a single index to all of Asimov's essays, Rich Hatcher and Ed Seiler valiantly decided to compile one, and after many months of work, it was completed. Their guide lists over 1600 essays, including the subject of the essay, the publication in which the essay first appeared, and a list of Asimov's collections in which the essay appeared. Indexes list the essays chronologically for each major series (e.g. the science essays in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction), and also group the essays by subject, in order to help you find any essay Asimov wrote on any given subject. The guide is available via the World Wide Web, at ------------------------------ 5.5 What is the Asimov-Clarke treaty? The Asimov-Clarke Treaty of Park Avenue, put together as Asimov and Clarke were travelling down Park Avenue in New York while sharing a cab ride, stated that Asimov was required to insist that Arthur C. Clarke was the best science fiction writer in the world (reserving second best for himself), while Clarke was required to insist that Isaac Asimov was the best science writer in the world (reserving second best for himself). Thus the dedication in Clarke's book _Report_on_Planet_Three_ 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". ------------------------------ 5.6 There's this really neat story by Asimov which I would like to read again, and I can remember the title; could you tell me where to find it? If you correctly remembered the title, and Asimov did in fact write the story, you can find a list of collections and anthologies that the story appeared in on the Web in the Guide to Isaac Asimov's Short Fiction at . If you can't find the story there, it is probably because Asimov did not write it. Often there is confusion between Asimov and other well known science fiction authors such as Arthur C. Clarke or Robert Heinlein. Asimov also edited or co-edited a large number of anthologies, and since his name was usually featured prominently on the cover, readers sometimes mistakenly associate his name with a story that appeared in an anthology that was in fact written by another author. But if you remember the correct title, you will probably find the story listed in the "Index to Science Fiction Anthologies and Collections", compiled by William Contento, at , which covers stories anthologized before 1984, or in "The Locus Index: Science Fiction, Fantasy, & Horror: 1984-1996", at . ------------------------------ 5.7 There's this really neat story by Asimov, but I can't remember the title... The story is probably "The Last Question." It can be found in a number of Asimov's anthologies (it was his favorite of his own stories, after all): _Nine_Tomorrows_ _Opus_100_ _The_Best_of_Isaac_Asimov_ _The_Best_Science_Fiction_of_Isaac_Asimov_ _Robot_Dreams_ _The_Complete_Stories_, volume 1 _The_Asimov_Chronicles_ It is also found in a number of anthologies *not* consisting entirely of stories by Asimov: _3000_Years_of_Fantasy_and_Science Fiction_, L. Sprague DeCamp, ed. Lothrop, 1972 _Space_Opera_, Brian W. Aldiss, ed. Doubleday, 1975 _The_Science_Fiction_Roll_of_Honor_, Frederik Pohl, ed. Random House, 1975, pp. 35-49 _The_Future_in_Question_, Isaac Asimov, Martin H. Greenberg, and Joseph D. Olander, eds. Fawcett Crest, 1980, pp. 368-381 _Isaac_Asimov_Presents_the_Great_SF_Stories_18_(1956)_, Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg, eds. DAW, 1988, pp. 286-299 _Cosmic_Critiques_, Isaac Asimov and Martin H. Greenberg, eds. Writer's Digest Books, 1990, pp. 111-122 (Publication information for Asimov's stories can most easily be found in Ed Seiler's exhaustive story list at .) There is a mathematical possibility that you're thinking of a story other than "The Last Question", but it's *very* slight. Asimov's own experience was that if someone couldn't remember the title of one of his stories (and especially if they weren't entirely sure if it was by him), then it was "The Last Question." But just in case, here are some of the stories with titles that often aren't remembered as well as the plot: "The Last Question" concerns the fate of the universe, when a computer is asked several times through the ages if entropy can ever be reversed. "The Feeling of Power" describes a time in the future, when a young man amazes everyone with his ability to perform mathematical computations in his head, instead of relying on computers like everyone else does. "Profession" is about a boy who is brought to a house for the feeble-minded after tests show that he is abnormal, because unlike the others, who are all educated by machines and have their professions chosen for them, he is capable of original thinking. ------------------------------ 5.8 I'd like to hear some opinions about some of Asimov's books. Do you have any? Certainly opinions of Asimov's books are a favorite topic of discussion in the alt.books.isaac-asimov newsgroup, and this FAQ does not intend to answer this question once and for all. However most people have not read most of Asimov's books, and those that have are probably to busy reading to offer their opinion for the umpteenth time to new readers of the newsgroup. John Jenkins has written reviews for a great number of Asimov's books, both fiction and nonfiction, and collected them together on the World Wide Web as Jenkins' Spoiler-Laden Guide to Isaac Asimov . John offers his views of what he likes and dislikes in Asimov's books from the point of view of a dedicated Asimov enthusiast, and provides a graphical rating system that neatly summarizes his evaluations for both the Asimov fan and the intended audience of each book. He has completed reviews for all of Asimov's fiction books, and is currently working through his nonfiction and short stories. A keyword search of the Guide can be performed at the Isaac Asimov search page at . ------------------------------ 5.9 What is the title of the essay that Asimov wrote concerning the ultimate self-contained, portable, high-tech reading device of the future which turns out to be a book? Where can I find it? The title of the essay is "The Ancient and the Ultimate". It was first published in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in January 1973, and appeared in the Doubleday collections _The_Tragedy_of_the_Moon_ (1972) and _Asimov_on_Science_ (1989). ------------------------------ 5.10 In his story "Pate de Foie Gras", Asimov presented a puzzle, but did not provide a solution to that puzzle. He stated that some people wrote him with an answer immediately after the story's publication, and as science advanced he eventually began receiving letters with another possible solution. But he doesn't say what those solutions were. Did he ever provide the solutions, and if so, what are they? In each of Asimov's collections that included the story, whenever there was a foreword or an afterword, he avoided giving away the answer. In later years, he complained jokingly that because of the advance of science, there was at least one new way that would probably be even better than his original solution. The problem presented in the story is that the goose lays golden eggs, and through careful scientific analysis, it is discovered that the goose is a living nuclear reactor that utilizes the isotope oxygen-18 to convert the isotope iron-56 to the isotope gold-197. The gold production goes up if the goose is provided with water enriched in oxygen-18. Further investigation shows that the something in the goose's liver converts any radioactive isotope into a stable isotope, so if the mechanism could be discovered, it would provide a method to dispose of radioactive waste. The problem is that there is only the one goose, whose eggs will not hatch, and if the goose dies, they will never be able to use its secret. The scientists are able to perform a biopsy of the liver, but the small amount of cells extracted are insufficient to produce the effect. How then, can they determine the mechanism and not have it disappear forever once the goose dies? The story, written in 1956, leaves the solution as an exercise for the reader. An abridged version of the story titled "A Very Special Goose" appeared in the September 25, 1958 issue of Science World, a magazine for high school students published by Street and Smith, the publishers of Astounding. In the teacher's edition, a solution is provided in the form of a letter from Don A. Stuart, which is a pseudonym used by Astounding editor John W. Campbell. Spoilers follow! That solution explains that the best way to produce an environment free of oxygen-18 is to put the goose in a sealed greenhouse, together with a gander. The greenhouse is supplied with a sufficient quantity of plants and water for the geese to feed upon, and sunlight will keep the plants growing. Eventually the goose will process all of the O-18 from the air, food, and water, turning it into gold. Once the level of O-18 is sufficiently reduced, the goose will start laying gold-free eggs, and goslings will soon hatch. If enough goslings survive, they can be studied to determine the mechanism of the conversion process. The male goslings will then have to be studied to see if they can survive in an O-18 rich environment, since if they convert it to gold, they will not be able to get rid of it by laying eggs. Here are some of the other solutions presented in the alt.books.isaac-asimov newsgroup in the past. Since it is the liver of the goose that is of interest, if there was a way available to grow copies of the goose's liver, the mechanism might be studied in that way. Thanks to modern science, it should be possible to take the cells extracted by the liver biopsy and grow such livers in the laboratory. Because of advances in in-vitro fertilization, it might be possible to extract egg cells from the goose's ovary, fertilize them, and implant them in a normal goose. This assumes that the egg that grows in the surrogate mother goose is not a golden one, and enough chicks that hatch are genetically capable of developing the mechanism. Now that various other farm animals have been cloned, it might be possible to create clones of the goose, once again assuming that the egg can grow in a normal fashion. The advantage here is that the chicks will certainly have the same genetic capabilities as mother goose. ------------------------------ 5.11 Did you know that Asimov is the only author to have published books in all ten categories of the Dewey Decimal System? No, because that claim is not true, despite the fact that it is repeated in numerous lists of "amazing but true facts" that circulate on the Internet, and even shows up in the third edition of _The New York Public Library Desk Reference_. Asimov himself mentioned this a couple of times, but always by prefacing it with the clause "I have been told by a librarian that...". The reason that the claim is not true is because not one of Asimov's books was classified in the 100s category of Philosophy. Here are the ten major categories of the Dewey Decimal System: 000 - Generalities 100 - Philosophy 200 - Religion 300 - Social Sciences 400 - Languages 500 - Pure Sciences 600 - Applied Sciences & Technology 700 - Arts 800 - Literature 900 - History & Geography Although a great number of his books were classified in the 500s and the 600s, there are three other categories that were sparsely represented (for Asimov, that is): 200s - 7 titles 400s - 2 titles [_Words From History_ and _Words From the Myths_] 700s - 3 titles [_Visions of the Universe_, _Asimov's Annotated Gilbert & Sullivan_, and _Isaac Asimov Presents Superquiz_] A more accurate statement is that Isaac Asimov is the only author who has so many well written books in so many different categories of library classification. ----------------------------------------------------------------------