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"Social Science Fiction":
Its Importance in the Works of Isaac Asimov.
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PART I
"Social science fiction?"
Science fiction is a term familiar to many people. This is especially true
due to the tremendous influence of television. But the term "social science
fiction," although not heard too often, is a term is descriptive of most of
today's science fiction literature.
"But what does it mean?"
Social science fiction is the term given to literature "which is concerned
with the impact of scientific advance upon human beings."(1) It is to be set
apart from the adventure or "gadget" science fiction which is characterized by
simplistic plots and flat characters. Social science fiction is concerned with
the problems presented to humanity by technology and science.
This theme can be seen readily throughout many of Isaac Asimov's science
fiction works. But, Mr. Asimov was not too concerned with the problems of
atomic power or overpopulation when he was three years old.
Asimov was born in Russia in the year 1920. He and his parents emigrated to
the United States when Isaac was three years old. Upon arriving, young Asimov
wasted little time in beginning his writing career. He had taught himself to
read and by the age of seven, he had his own library card.(2) But, of the two
books he was allowed to take out, only one of them could be fiction. Thus,
Isaac took a liking to many science and history books, and his amazingly
retentive memory allowed him to recall many of the things he read.
Because of his excellent reading habits and his superb memory, Asimov was
considered brilliant when he entered school. A grade of 95 from a person
capable of 100 was considered a poor grade by Isaac's father. Although he was
an excellent student, Asimov was frequently bored by school. In order to
escape boredom, he would create stories in class for himself and others.
Although he did this verbally at first, he began writing down his stories at
the age of eleven. Yet these in-class activities did not distract him from his
schoolwork. He graduated the Boys' High School in Brooklyn when he was
fifteen. From there, he went on to receive a B.S. from Colombia University in
1939, a Masters in 1941, and then a Ph.D. in 1948.(3) Asimov says he would
have continued his studies had it not been for World War II.
Asimov's first exposure to science fiction occurred one day while he was
working in his father's candy store. Although Asimov worked in this store all
the way up into his college studies, he still found time for reading. But his
father forbade Isaac from reading the dime novels on the shelves in his store.
One day, though, a magazine appeared on the shelf entitled, "Science Wonder
Stories." Since the word science was included in the name, young Asimov was
permitted to read it.(4)
Although Asimov would become a famous writer in his own time, he did not
think of writing as a career in those pressured times. He wanted to complete
his college studies and then begin a career in chemistry. Writing, to him, was
an amusement.
But his father did not think that way. His father saw the potential of
becoming a great writer. Although Asimov had only submitted two of his stories
at the time, his father felt that deserved some credit. Credit in the form of
Asimov's first typewriter.
But it was not until 1938 that Asimov would get his first story in print. In
that year, the magazine known as "Astounding Stories" changed its name to
"Astounding Science Fiction" and its editor to John Campbell. Asimov wrote a
number of letters to the magazine, letters that were published. Encouraged by
his father, Asimov submitted a manuscript to Campbell in person. The editor
met with Asimov, looked over the manuscript, and rejected it. But Asimov did
not take the rejection as a negative experience, but rather a positive one.
Although he continued to send stories in to Campbell, the editor kept sending
him rejections. Asimov finally sold his first story. But it was not to
"Astounding Science Fiction," but rather to another magazine titled, "Amazing
Stories."
Asimov continued writing for the next eleven years in order to pay his way
through college. During this time, he joined a science fiction fan club
titled, "The Futurians."(5) He was able to pay his way up through his Ph.D. in
biochemistry. But it was not until his first novel, Pebble in the Sky, was
published in 1950 that he began to look at his writing skills with seriousness.
In 1957, Asimov realized that all he really wanted to do was write.(6) But it
was in 1958 though, that he quit his job as associate professor at Boston
University School of Medicine, and took up writing as a career. Asimov felt
that he had made the right decision not only for the increase in his salary,
but also for "the feeling of absolute delight that washed over me as I did so."
But, since his move to become a full time writer, Asimov has had little time
between 1960 and 1981 to write much in the area of science fiction. Despite
his prodigious output of non-fiction stories, he has only had time to write a
few short stories and only one commissioned novel. It has only been in the
past few years that he has begun to take up science fiction writing again.
PART II
As has been mentioned, many of Asimov's works deal in the area of social
science fiction. The effects of technology and science is an important theme
in many of his short stories and novels and can be seen readily. Asimov also
presents the problems of present day society to us by paralleling these
problems in a future society.
Asimov's first novel ever published, Pebble in the Sky, dealt with issues
that were prevalent during the late '40's and has begun to reappear in todays
society, prejudice.
Pebble in the Sky is set in the far future. Earth has been plagued with
atomic war and is now a decaying, radioactive husk of a planet. Man has spread
out and colonized the galaxy. The beginnings of a Galactic Empire are at hand.
On Earth live the outcasts of the galactic society. The Outer Worlds, as the
colonies are called, look upon the people of Earth with disgust, seeing them as
"repulsive carriers of radioactivity." This prejudice towards the people
remaining on Earth stretches even into the bureaucracy: soldiers are em-
ployed to keep the Earth people from emigrating to the other worlds of the
galaxy.
The "hero" of the novel is named Joseph Schwartz. Schwartz is a retired
tailor from the Chicago of 1942 accidentally transported to the distant future
from a nuclear accident. Schwartz, although, is not the typical hero in that
his actions are to uphold truth, justice, and honor, but instead, he is
motivated by crankiness and a sense of independence. It is only until the end
of the novel does he see any connection between his life and the galactic
crisis at hand that motivates him towards the side of good.
Another form of prejudice can be seen in another of Asimov's novels, The
Currents of Space. In this novel, the setting is once again the far distant
future. The Galactic Empire is on the verge of being initiated. The conflict
at hand is an agrarian planet named Florina. This planet is under controversy
because it is the only planet capable of growing a highly prized and sought
after fiber called kyrt.
In parallel to the South of pre-Civil War days, Florina is established as
having human slaves to tend the crops, with the slaves being controlled by men
called Townsmen. These townsmen are, in turn, responsible to the governor of
the planet, Sark. The prejudice shown towards the slaves is extremely obvious
and is seen throughout the entire book.
Another, more subtler theme, is the theme of the relationship between
idealism and fanaticism. A Townsman, who has been plotting to overthrow his
superiors, the Squires of Sark, is motivated by his idealistic goals of
justice. But, his idealism slowly turns into fanaticism as he maims an
innocent farmer to keep his plans secret. Asimov uses this twisted form of
idealism to show us that idealism in extreme is fanaticism.
Probably the stories for which Asimov is most famous are his robot stories.
Nearly all of these stories deals with the reaction of humanity towards new
advances in technology and science. I, Robot, in particular stresses these
themes.
I, Robot is a collection of some of Asimov's finest robot stories. The first
story in the collection, "Robbie" tells of a little girl, her parents, and her
nursemaid, Robbie the robot. To the little girl, Robbie is a playmate, a
friend. To her mother, the robot was, at first, an escape from housework, but
now is a possible threat to her daughter's mental health. To the little girl's
father, the robot is a tool which he knows can never harm his daughter nor
anyone else in the family. Being Asimov's first robot story, the plot and
characters are rather simple. The different viewpoints on technology can be
clearly seen: the mother who is wary of technology and would rather see her
daughter with real friends, the little girl's father who sees technology as a
boon to mankind, and the little girl who is entirely ignorant of the fact that
Robbie is a robot and would rather think of it as a friend.
The next story, "Runaround" takes place on the planet Mercury. Being another
world, Asimov has chosen two new characters, George Powell and Michael Donovan.
These two are field-testers for the largest robot manufacturer, U.S. Robotics
and Mechanical Men Inc. They are on Mercury to test out a new series of robot
specially designed to go out onto the hot surface of Mercury and retrieve a
valuable element, selenium. Asimov plays on our intellect as he poses some
interesting problems to Powell and Donovan which are finally resolved by
Asimov's famous Three Laws of Robotics:
I. A robot cannot harm a human nor through
inaction allow a human being to come to harm.
II. A robot must obey all orders given to it
by human beings except where such orders
would contradict with the first.
III. A robot must preserve itself except
where such action would contradict the
first or second laws.(7)
To Donovan and Powell, technology is their job. They do not view it with any
other opinion except that it is their way to earn money.
The next two stories, "Reason" and "Catch that Rabbit" are Asimov's continued
experimentation with his Three Laws. Still featuring Donovan and Powell in
different situations faced with different problems.
Asimov's next story, entitled "Liar!" deals with a robot that has the ability
to read minds. Here, we get to see Asimov's representation of a
non-stereotypical female character, Susan Calvin. Calvin is one of U.S.
Robotics leading "robot psychologists." She is the one who most readily
understands the way robots function and how they will react. Asimov portrays
her in this story as being very cold and hostile as she drives the mind reading
robot insane.(8)
The next three stories, "Little Lost Robot", "Escape!". and "Evidence" are
more of Asimov's experimentation on his Three Laws of Robotics, with each story
getting successively more complicated and containing an increasingly more
difficult problem to solve.
The last story in the book, "The Evitable Conflict" is set in the future.
The world has been united in peace into one governing unit. The planet has
been divided into four Planetary Regions. In these days, the planet's economic
markets are controlled by "Machines," huge computers that monitor Earth's
economic systems. But now, the Machines are producing imperfect results,
which cause minor economic upsets. But, after some theorizing, the characters
come up with the solution that the First Law of Robotics has been altered to
read, "A robot shall not harm humanity, or through inaction allow humanity to
harm itself."
Probably the most important theme presented in this story though is the idea,
"Is man really in control?"(9) In the story, the Machines have taken over and
now control Earth's economic resources. Asimov tells us that if we are not
careful, our own technology may take us over.
PART III
"One significant aspect of the series [The Foundation Trilogy] is Asimov's
invention of psychohistory, With it's implications for determinism and free
will. Psychohistory was put together out of psychology, sociology, and history
- not hard sciences, which Campbell had a reputation for preferring, but at
best soft sciences: a behavioral science, a social science, and a discipline
that has difficulty deciding whether to define itself as a social science or a
humanity.... Psychohistory is the art of prediction projected as a science;
later it might have been called `futurology' or `futuristics.'"(10)
James Gunn points out in his book, Isaac Asimov: The Foundations of Science
Fiction, that Asimov's creativity in devising a new science is crucial to the
popularity of Asimov's most famous series, The Foundation Trilogy. I tend to
agree with Gunn. If it were not for Asimov's psychohistory, The Foundation
Trilogy, would end up being no more than a parallel to Gibbon's Decline and
Fall of the Roman Empire. It is the idea of predicting future events with
precise mathematical equations that adds a touch of suspense to the books.
Although most critics are in agreement with this viewpoint, there are some who
tend to disagree:
"Nevertheless, it is difficult to put one's finger on precisely what element
or elements so fascinate readers. From just about any formal perspective, The
Foundation Trilogy is seriously flawed. The characters are undifferentiated
and one-dimensional. Stylistically, the novels are disasters, and Asimov's ear
for dialogue is simply atrocious. The characters speak with a monotonous
rhythm and impover- ished vocabulary characteristic of American teenagers'
popular reading during the Forties and Fifties; the few exceptions are no
better - e.g. the Mule, who, in disguise of the Clown, speaks a pseudo-archaic
courtly dialect, or Lord Dorwin who speaks like Elmer Fudd, or the archetypal
Jewish mother who can say, "So shut your mouth, Pappa. Into you anybody could
bump." The distinctive vocab-ulary traits are as a rule ludicrous: God! is
replaced by Galaxy!, and when a character really wants to express his disgust
or anger, he cries "Son-of-a--Spacer!" or "I don't care an electron!" To
describe the characters' annoyance, arrogance, or bitterness, Asimov uses again
and again one favorite adjective or adverb, sardonic(ly):
Sutt's eyes gleamed sardonically.
Mallow stared him down sardonically.
Riose looked sardonic.
[Devers] stared at the two with sardonic belligerence.
"What's wrong, trader?" he asked sardonically.
The smooth lines of Pritcher's dark face twitched
sardonically.
But Anthor's eyes opened, quite suddenly, and fixed
themselves sardonically on Munn's countenance.
Evidently, all people in all time periods will be sardonic. In the
twelve-thousandth year after the founding of the First Galactic Empire,
characters still use terms drawn from the western - e.g. "lynching party" -
and slogans imported from the political slang of the times, e.g. "lick-spittle
clique of appeasers out of City Hall."(11)
As can be seen, Charles Elkins did not think too highly of Asimov's series
which won him an Hugo award for "the best all-time science fiction series."(12)
Although I believe that Elkins went a bit too far with criticism, he does have
some valid points. Asimov did not spend too much time on developing the
characters and instead spent time on working them into the plot. And the
language, did, at times, get ludicrous. Especially with angry protagonists
running about exclaiming, "Great Galaxy!"
But overall, I felt The Foundation Trilogy was a finely done piece of work by
Asimov. Considering that it was originally written as serialized short stories
for science fiction "pulp magazines," Asimov has done a fine job integrating it
all into one continuous story.
____________________
(1) Miller, Marjorie Mithoff. "The Social Science Fiction of Isaac Asimov."
Olander, Joseph D. and Greenberg, Martin Harry. Isaac Asimov. (New
York : Taplinger Publishin Co., 1977) pg. 14
(2) Fiedler, Jean and Mele, Jim. Isaac Asimov. (New York : Frederick Ungar
Publishing Co., 1982) pg. 3.
(3) Fiedler, pg. 3.
(4) Fiedler, pg. 4.
(5) Knight, Damon. The Futurians. (New York : John Day, 1977) pg. 26.
(6) Patrouch jr., Joseph F. The Science Fiction of Isaac Asimov. (Garden
City, N.Y. : Doubleday and Company Inc., 1974) pg. 214.
(7) Asimov, Isaac. I, Robot. (New York : Ballantine Books, 1950,
1977) pg. 51.
(8) Asimov, pg. 84.
(9) Gunn, James. Isaac Asimov: The Foundations of Science Fiction. (New
York : Oxford University Press, 1982) pg. 53.
(10) Gunn, pg. 38.
(11) Elkins, Charles. "Asimov's Foundation Novels: Historical Materialism
Distorted into Cyclical Psychohistory." Olander, Joseph D. and
Greenberg, Martin Harry. Isaac Asimov. (New York : Taplinger
Publishing Co., 1977) pg. 97-98.
(12) Carter, Paul A. The Creation of Tomorrow. (New York : Colombia
University Press, 1977) Pg. 294.
____________________
Bibliography
Asimov, Isaac. I, Robot. (New York : Ballantine Books, 1950, 1977)
Carter, Paul A. The Creation of Tomorrow. (New York : Colombia
University Press, 1977)
Elkins, Charles. "Asimov's Foundation Novels: Historical Materialism
Distorted into Cyclical Psychohistory." Olander, Joseph D. and
Greenberg, Martin Harry. Isaac Asimov. (New York : Taplinger Pub-
lishing Co., 1977)
Fiedler, Jean, and Mele, Jim. Isaac Asimov. (New York : Frederick
Ungar Publishing Co., 1982)
Gunn, James. Isaac Asimov: The Foundations of Science Fiction. (New
York : Oxford University Press, 1982)
Knight, Damon. The Futurians. (New York : John Day, 1977)
Patrouch jr., Joseph F. The Science Fiction of Isaac Asimov. (Garden
City, N.Y. : Doubleday and Company Inc., 1974)