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Example research essay topic: Isaac Asimov Ungar Publishing - 1,437 words

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... other 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 'futuristic's. '" (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 improve- issued 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 Down who speaks like Elmer Find, or the archetypal Jewish mother who can say, "So shut your mouth, Pappa. Into you anybody could bump. " The distinctive vocab-ultra 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.

Rose looked sardonic. [Devers] stared at the two with sardonic belligerence. "What's wrong, trader?" he asked sardonically. The smooth lines of Pitcher's dark face twitched sardonically. But Author'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. Footnotes (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-listing 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)


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