The history of the future

Isaac Asimov's books reveal complex relationships between humans, science and technology

Isaac Asimov is considered one of the three giants of science fiction writers, along with Arthur C. Clark and Robert Heinlein. The stories he wrote won prizes and honorary degrees, and his series of books are still considered classics and receive countless mentions and imitations. The period in which he wrote, from the 1992s to the XNUMXs, is considered the golden age of the science fiction genre. Asimov is considered one of the most prolific writers in history: he has no less than five hundred books. It is likely that he would have added several more books to this long list, had it not been for his death in XNUMX from AIDS, under circumstances that I will expand on later.

Asimov Born in Russia in 1920 to Yehuda and Rachel Asimov. Asimov was Jewish, spoke Yiddish fluently and was a staunch atheist. When he was a small child, his parents immigrated to the United States and opened a series of candy stores in New York. In these stores it was common to also sell cheap magazines, and it was there that Isaac was first introduced to science fiction stories.

Asimov's literary career was a resounding success right from the start. The first and second stories he submitted for publication in a science fiction magazine were rejected by the editor, but the third was accepted when he was only 19 years old. In 1968, he wrote the story "Sunset", which won the title of "Best Short Science Fiction Story of All Time", an honor given to Asimov by his colleagues at the Science Fiction Writers of the United States conference.

Starless Night: Planet Lagash

Nightfall tells the story of the inhabitants of the planet Lagash. The planet is in a complex system of stars, so it has six suns. As a result, night does not fall on Lagash: there is at least one sun in the sky at any given time and at any point on the globe.

From this point of departure, Asimov embarks on a journey that explores the consequences of this strange situation on human society. Asimov wrote, as he himself defined it, 'social science fiction' - he was always interested in the way humans react to technological developments and the conflicts that arise from them. Except for his early books, in the vast majority of his books there is not a single alien.

Since there is no night on Lagash, its inhabitants are unaware that there are other stars in the sky around them. The science of astronomy is degenerate and underdeveloped and physics, the "queen of the sciences", is a relatively neglected science in Lagash. As a result, basic laws of nature, such as universal gravitation and Newton's laws, were not even discovered there as quickly as they were discovered on Earth.

This starting point chosen by the author is particularly interesting because Asimov, who loved history very much, demonstrates how important astronomy was to the development of science on Earth. Our concepts of time are closely related to the movement of the celestial bodies, and if not for astronomy, science and technology may very well have been backward.

The scientists in the story "Sunset" make two surprising discoveries almost simultaneously. The first shows that every two thousand years a rare solar eclipse occurs in which all six suns are hidden behind the (until now unknown) moon of Lagash, and the planet plunges into a dark night that lasts about twelve hours. The second discovery shows that every two thousand years a catastrophic event occurs on Lagash that causes an almost total erasure of civilization. These disasters occur periodically and regularly, as evidenced by the remains of an ancient city that show that for tens of thousands of years it was destroyed and rebuilt every two thousand years.

Soon a psychologist discovers the connection between these two discoveries, and he realizes that the person responsible for this mysterious "natural disaster" is actually the Lagash people themselves. Darkness is not a natural state on Lagash, and no one can tolerate complete darkness for more than a few minutes at a time. When night falls so suddenly on the entire planet, the hysterical inhabitants go berserk, burning everything nearby just to banish the darkness and the entire human civilization goes up in flames.

The scientists, who understand that they cannot prevent the evil of derivation, are trying to preserve the knowledge accumulated in the current cycle of culture in order to pass it on to the people of the next cycle and thus, perhaps, break this cruel chain of destruction. Those who disturb them are members of a religious group whose ancient books predict the coming of the end of the world every two thousand years. Those who wrote the books of prophecy are the only ones who managed to keep their sanity during the long darkness: the children, the fools and the drunkards. All other books and scriptures were consumed by the incendiary madness.

This religious group expresses a recurring motif in Asimov's books, which is the aversion to religion. Asimov, personally, did not hate religion or the religious, but he did not believe in God and the reward that this faith would give believers in the next world. "Where is the paradise where you can write, research, have interesting conversations, investigate interesting scientific phenomena?" Asimov asked, and answered to himself - "I have not yet heard of such a paradise."

Science, then, and not religion, is the key to the success and survival of the human race in the future against all the difficulties and problems that humans may encounter. The members of the religious sect in Lagash, who know that the disaster is getting closer, are unwilling to help the scientists and even oppose them out of a fanatical interpretation of the Holy Scriptures, according to which the disaster is a divine order and must not be opposed.

As if to illustrate Asimov's concept, the BBC tells us about riots that took place in Nigeria during a solar eclipse in 2001. The residents of the town of Maiduguri are devout Muslims, and when the sun began to disappear one day during the solar eclipse, the preachers in the mosques announced that it was divine punishment for the sins and apostasy of The Christian residents of the town. The enraged and maddened crowd is afraid that God will not return the sun to the sky, burned churches, destroyed places of entertainment and the like.

Psychohistory and the future of humanity

The story 'Sunset' was a turning point in Asimov's career, placing him in the forefront of science fiction writers. Fans debated among themselves who was a better writer: Asimov, or Arthur C. Clark who signed classics such as "A Space Odyssey 2001". This dispute was finally settled when Asimov and Clarke decided, while riding in a cab on Park Avenue in New York, on the following arrangement: Asimov would always declare that Clarke was the best science fiction writer in the world, and Clarke would always say that Asimov was the best writer in the world. This agreement was named the "Asimov-Clark Avenue-Park Agreement". Clark dedicated one of his books to Asimov, and wrote: "The second best writer in the world dedicates this book to the second best writer in the world."

Another honor fell to Asimov when a series of books he wrote, the Mossad series, won the "Best Science Fiction Series of All Time" award in 1965 (thereby overtaking Tolkien's Lord of the Rings).

The "Foundation" series follows human history for about twenty thousand years, when humanity had already spread throughout the galaxy and its population numbered many trillions.

The series emphasizes the idea that humans are unpredictable creatures whose actions cannot be predicted in advance, but it is possible that the behavior of billions of humans can actually be predicted. Through the use of mathematical, statistical tools and psychological analysis of the average person, it is possible to predict the reaction of large masses of people. Asimov calls this new science "psychohistory", and he gives the main character of the series - the psychohistorian Harry Seldon - the ability to predict the future of humanity tens of thousands of years ahead and, as a result, also the ability to manipulate the future history of humanity in the directions he wants. Seldon uses this control to divert humanity from an impending disaster: he initiates the establishment of a scientific organization (the "Institute") whose purpose is to collect and preserve all human knowledge, to enable the flourishing of galactic culture throughout the next thousands of years.

Asimov relies here on a familiar scientific idea: statistical thermodynamics, a branch of physics that deals with the analysis of the behavior of large quantities of atoms and other particles. As in psychohistory, the starting point of statistical thermodynamics is that there is no practical way to follow the trajectory of the movement of a single atom, but by knowing the basic laws that govern the behavior of the single atom, and their inclusion on billions of atoms, it is certainly possible to predict how the material will behave in certain situations. If we heat a gas in a balloon, for example, we have no way of knowing how fast each atom of the gas will move. But as a group, it is possible to estimate with great precision what the speed distribution will be between the atoms - that is, how many atoms will move fast and how many will move slowly. From this knowledge, it is possible to calculate what will be the pressure exerted by the gas on the sides of the balloon, for example, or what will be its temperature.

Psychohistory, then, applies these principles to people instead of impervious ones and therefore allows one to predict the future. People are, of course, a little more complex than atoms (some of them, at least...) and therefore it is more difficult to know all the basic laws that govern our behavior. Asimov is aware of this difficulty and he solves it so that the plot takes place in the very distant future, and also points out that the analysis of human behavior is only valid when the population numbers many trillions of individuals, and not billions as on Earth today.

The idea of ​​psychohistory allows Asimov to deal with the materials he likes, namely - social science fiction. In the Mossad stories there are fascinating dilemmas centered on the question of whether man is the true master of his destiny, or whether everything is predetermined. The characters in the series debate the question of whether there is any point in the actions they do, or if they are just programmed puppets controlled by Harry Seldon and his psychohistory.

In this respect, Asimov continues the age-old theological debate about the degree of freedom of action that God gives to man: if God is omnipotent and able to determine the future, does man have any independence at all? In other words, if we sin - are we really guilty, or did God determine in advance that we will sin and therefore there is no point in trying to keep mitzvot. Physicist Stephen Hawking once commented on this matter that in his experience, even the people who believe with all their hearts that fate is known and predetermined - still look left and right when crossing the road.

A blessing or a curse in the "Robots" books

Another important series of books written by Asimov is the "Robots" series. This is a separate and independent series of books and stories that Asimov began writing back in the XNUMXs, independent of the Mossad series. In the XNUMXs, Asimov managed to ingeniously connect the "Robots" series with the "Mossad" series. The last three books he wrote in the Mossad series combine the two series into one coherent and logical plot, creating a fascinating universe and future history.

The robot series is, in my opinion, the place where Asimov managed to leave his mark in the most obvious way on today's technological world. It was Asimov who coined the word "robotics" that we still use today - he borrowed here from the Czech language the word "robotovat" which means "forced labor" (the word "robot" was coined by the playwright Karl Chapek in a play presented in January 1921 in Prague, About a year after Asimov's birth, Asimov used the word "robotics" in the short story Runaround, published in March 1942.

Even before Asimov, quasi-human machines appeared in literature, but always in a negative context, such as Frankenstein or the Golem from Prague. Asimov was the first to give robots a positive character, showing how they can help humanity, and removed from them the scary and negative contexts through another important literary invention - the "Three Laws of Robotics". And these are the three laws:

• A robot will not hurt a person, or let them be hurt.
• A robot will always obey the commands of the human, unless these commands contradict the previous law.
• The robot will defend itself, unless this defense contradicts the two previous laws.

These three laws are the basis of the entire series, in which all the possible consequences of these laws on the behavior of robots and their interaction with humans are examined. Asimov breaks the rules, circumvents them, changes them, subtracts from them and adds to them in dozens of different variations. It is important to note that Asimov does not try to explain how the robots work or what the technology is that activates them or how the three laws were realized inside their minds. Its whole purpose is to provide us with a glimpse of the moral and social problems that may arise in the future as a result of the advancement of technology and to ask: what differentiates a human from a robot? When is it more important for a robot to protect itself than the human? What are the consequences of waiving some of the laws and how, despite the hard and uncompromising laws, can humans still use robots to harm each other?

For the first chapter (story) from the book: I, Robot

Asimov's final conclusion, which he expresses in the last books of the "The Institution" and "The Robots" series, may surprise the readers. As Aryeh Seter pointed out in his article "The Computer and the Brain According to Asimov" (and see: for further reading), it seems that over the years the writer has changed his principled approach towards the potential inherent in computers. If at first it appears that robots and computers can replace humans, take their place in performing complicated and complex tasks and in general will reach a level of intelligence equal to (or even surpass) the human brain - in the last books his opinion becomes/becomes pessimistic.

Recall that Asimov began writing in the XNUMXs, when computers were very rare. As computers became more and more common, Asimov also began to better understand their limitations: lack of flexibility, lack of intuition and lack of creative power. This change of attitude may have meant that in the later books Asimov's robots come to the conclusion that their very presence among humans may endanger humanity. Two robots with extremely high intelligence, Giscard and Daniel, understand that the combination of the three laws together with the robot's lack of flexibility and flight, suffocates the humans. According to the laws, the robots are obliged to prevent humans from entering dangerous situations, but an integral part of human existence is the walk into the unknown, into discovery, into the unclear and sometimes dangerous horizon. If the robots don't give humans the opportunity to take risks, humanity will die and disappear. The robots decide that the good of humanity is better than the good of the individual man, and disappear for good.

The series "Sunset", "The Institution" and "The Robots" represent the way in which Asimov turns away from technology and puts man at the center of his stories while he explores the mutual effects between man and machine. This intriguing combination of science fiction and humanism is - perhaps - the secret of the author's greatness.

Asimov the Man: Science, Education and Writing

Asimov's personality was fascinating. Apart from the science fiction literature in which he excelled, he wrote dozens of books and hundreds of articles on Popular science and technology. He considered educating the public to science a personal mission. If science is presented to children in a bad way, Asimov said, the children may develop hatred and fear of it - which is a worse situation than if we did not present science to children at all.

He also wrote about history, social issues, environmental protection, wasting the planet's depleting resources and even joke books. The incredible flow of writing in every field and on every subject, led the writer Kurt Vonnegut to ask Asimov "How does it feel to know everything?" Asimov replied that he only knows what it feels like to be told that he knows everything: "discomfort". His modesty is reflected in a typical anecdote: Asimov wrote for a children's magazine, and one day he received a payment that was several tens of dollars higher than the standard payment. He immediately sent a letter to the publisher, asking to make sure that no mistake was made and that the (relatively) high payment he received was not made at the expense of the other writers.

Asimov was a claustrophile, meaning he liked closed and small places. In his biography he said that his fantasy as a child was to lock himself in a small and crowded newsstand, and read science fiction magazines. Asimov also hated flying: except for a few times in his life he avoided getting on a plane. While the heroes in his books cross galaxies and fly in fast spaceships, Asimov himself always preferred to sail on cruise ships. The love of closed places and the fear of flying also seeped into the books: in the "Robots" series, Asimov describes humanity living in the future in closed and crowded cities, the "steel caves" as he calls them - without a doubt, the environment in which he would feel comfortable: while the hero of the Robot books, Alia Bailey, He also hates flying.

Isaac Asimov passed away In 1992. Only ten years later, his wife revealed to the world the cause of death - AIDS. Asimov had received a blood transfusion containing the virus during bypass surgery a few years earlier. He wanted to make a public statement about the disease, but his doctors convinced him to hide it so that his family would not suffer from stigmas and social ostracism.

Many critics have accused Asimov of lacking a literary style: that his writing is dry and matter-of-fact, that the dialogues are lacking and that the characters are not sufficiently developed. Asimov himself, and some other literary critics, pointed out the opposite - that the 'lack of style' is actually the style, and that simplicity is a tool used by the writer to convey his ideas to the reader. Either way, it is clear that Asimov had a tremendous influence on the development of science fiction, and for many years his face, with its long sideburns and thick-rimmed glasses, was the face most associated with this genre.

He often gave advice to beginning writers and was an inspiration to many writers all over the world. Asimov believed in uncompromising professionalism in writing as well, as in any other profession: he emphasized the need to know the rules of syntax and grammar, an extensive vocabulary and the power of perseverance. "And if it doesn't work," Asimov wrote, "and you don't succeed in becoming a fine science fiction writer - you can always settle for inferior professions like a surgeon, a Supreme Court judge, or the president of the country."

Ran Levy is an electronics engineer and writer. His first book, 'Perpetum Mobila - about physics, charlatans and eternal machines' was published in 2007 by the Ma'ariv Library. Presents 'Making History!', an online radio show about science, technology and history

for further reading

• "The computer and the brain according to Asimov", Aryeh Seter, October 23, 2002 on the "Hidan" website.
• "The future of humanity” – lecture by Isaac Asimov.
• Isaac Asimov, Sunset (short story): "A Selection of Fiction", translation: Emanuel Lotem, published by Em Oved 1981.
• Isaac Asimov, The Mossad series, translation: Amos Geffen, Moden Publishing, 1995.
• Isaac Asimov, the 'Robots' series, translation: Emmanuel Lotem, Keter Publishing, 1983/1985.

The article was published in Galileo magazine, issue 124, December 2008.

for her photo and license