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/sci/ - Science & Math

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5968853 No.5968853 [Reply] [Original]

Hey, /sci/. I know most of the anons here have a low opinion of science fiction but what do you guys think of Isaac Asimov? After all in addition to being a successful hard sci-fi author, he was also a college chemistry professor who wrote several nonfiction books about various scientific subjects, mostly astrophysics.

>> No.5968864

>>5968853
>I know most of the anons here have a low opinion of science fiction

I don't think that's true. The problem is not science fiction, but when dumdums think that science fiction is real. fwiw I think Asimov is awesome. Some trolls from /pol/ or whatever will probably disagree.

>> No.5968872

endless off-topic threads

>> No.5968879

>>5968872
How about if we change the thread topic to "What is /sci/'s opinion of Isaac Asimov's nonfiction writings on science?"

>> No.5968907

>>5968853
Asimov is the shit. Though he himself said he was a mediocre at best chemist.
>>5968879
Never actually read any of them.

>> No.5968924

>>5968879
He could get pretty sloppy with the details, leading you to feel like you have a much better understanding of something than you actually do.

>> No.5968989
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5968989

I want to say something.

It does not justify retardation. If you /k/now how to shoot a tiger, to prevent it from killing your brother, you need to be faster . oterwise, you are just as good as a book laying around, or a mispelling hunter program. So, uh, intelectualism and anti intellectualism are 2 extremes. Only God knos. You just need to be vigilant and serve his kingdom.

>> No.5969020

>>5968853
See, I've only read iRobot and some of his short stories, which I actually loved, because it covers that whole 'ethics and AI' topic. But it's hardly /sci/ worthy, especially with all the Singularity-naysayers, so...idk man, I really like his writing style and the message some of his short stories and books present....

>> No.5969111

>>5968853
My 2 cents :

he was a great writer of SF novels.
He was one of the first to develop the 'ethics and AI' topic in a consistent way. He really investigate the question deeply : assuming we become able to create really "powerfull" AI, how can we be sure that we'll still stay the masters.
So he invented the "3 Laws of robotics". They seem robust. But he tried to break them down in a lot of short stories, and you can see that's not THAT simple.

I remember one moment where a robot doesn't trust he is a creation of man : "you totally suck. you can't compute anything, you're slow, fragile, you're dumb, and moreover, you need to load your battery every 16 hours for 8 hours (<sleep>) ! You're obviously a troll when you're pretending to be my creator, you piece of shit"
--> very 4chan-style


But I don't think his scientific work was remarkable

Amusing fact, for those who don't know :
enter about:robots in the adress bar (in firefox)
first is a reference to the tree laws

>> No.5969113
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5969113

>>5968864
This.
Science fiction is fine.
People who think science fiction will be real are morons though.
Pic related

>> No.5969114

>>5968853
Asimov was successful as a scientist. Published several times.
a big fraction of his 200+ published books are text books.
The fact that he also wrote fiction means only that he was also a writer.

>> No.5969254

>>5968853
while his science fiction books where like all science fiction, completely unrealistic, he shines because he brought philosophical ideas to the table, prime example is the positronic man, sure its unrealistic and years ahead of its time, but it poses very important questions, as well as demonstrate the likely human reaction to it.

>> No.5969285

>>5969113
wow, didn't know that douche did things other than his waifu shit and re-imagined characters. He really should do more stuff like this.

>> No.5969596

Reading one of Asimov's nonfiction books on Kindle right now (title: Extraterrestrial Civilizations). Chapter 1 provides a brief lesson in scientific thinking as well as how to determine whether or not other animal species could be considered intelligent. The conclusion is that while other animals could be considered intelligent none of them posses intelligence on par with humans because unlike us they don't know how to make fire.

>> No.5969634

>>5969285
You might be glad to know someone made a live-action adaptation of that strip.
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEChG1DKGvY

>> No.5969643

>>5969634
good link