Isaac Asimov Interview 1985

Isaac Asimov was one of the first science fiction writers to predict that and he imagines even more sophisticated robots in the future those kinds of predictions appear often in his collection of 335 books 16 of them were published in the last six months alone it's incredible Isaac Asimov a very tired man is here well 330 135 in how many of the last year oh I don't know in the last year there's over how do you do it by not doing anything else well but come on I mean nobody is that prolific and still have that kind of popularity oh I'm not sure about the popularity I'm not no Stephen King you know yeah but he doesn't write it 355 books either Oh give him a time I guess well but I tell you the subject of robots this Popular's matter of fact the reason I'm in Washington is because the Congressional Clearing House wants me to talk to them about robots the Congressional Clearinghouse on the future uh yes right and what are you gonna tell them well I'm not sure yet I've got till tonight to make up my mind God tell us what you believe I mean we robots and Empire ISM is one more science fiction that builds on some other earlier books you've written but let me stay with just the what you're gonna tell the Congressional Clearing House and and how you feel about robots and where is it all going put your telescope on well the importance of robots is that they're going to do the kind of jobs that human being is important to do because it under uses the brain and yet human beings have had to do it because neither animals nor machines are smart enough now we've got computerized machines robots that are smart enough to do this work the only trouble is that it means lots of people are going to find their jobs disappearing and we're going to have a transition period like whom we know all about robots on assembly lines that's reality today forecasted 15 years and who's gonna lose their job because of anis well it seems to me that a great deal of the office work the scut work and officers are going hiking letters doing that I think yeah either that or be automated yeah that service servants if any still exists we'll be replaced by robots to some extent and similarly any kind of work that is repetitious and dull and doesn't really take much brains probably can't be done by robots are there nations ahead of us in the process of using robots well there's no nation that's ahead of us in the technology but Japan uses more robots than we do for some reason their social system can absorb the robots faster than we can in the future though we're going to have to imagine Japan are we gonna run into real problems with labor unions and and some real social issues about protection of people who've invested most of their lives with company oh yes oh yes there's going to be technological unemployment there's going to be a lot of resentment against robots and I think that we're going to have to take into account the necessity of finding work for many people at retraining them reeducate again if if it can't be done in some cases than finding work anyway for them you are an interesting man and I want to just just got born in Russia that's right came here where in Russia I was born fifty miles south of smaug ends or 230 miles southwest of Moscow came to the United States when you were held three years yeah parents immigrated Oh was several years after the Revolution we came in 1923 and so my native language is English I remembered nothing about the Soviet and you wanted to be a writer very early eleven years old I started writing first book Poe's wouldn't have not 1950 well that was the first book published in 1950 when I was thirty years old but I'd been publishing in the magazines short stories for eleven years before that my first short story was sold professionally in 1938 so that I'm rapidly approaching my fiftieth anniversary as a professional writer which isn't bad considering that only a little over 30 is it getting easier for you yes it is it's been getting easier all the time simply because I gained in self-assurance I snot for decades about worried about rejections and then you know a certain facility do you have writer's block not so far never never 355 books would suggest by definition there's no writer like here however I tell you I switch from I switch from one thing to another that is I sometimes get tired of something I'm writing fortunately I'm never without several projects in mind so that so that if I wake up in the morning I'm sick and tired of what I'm doing I do something else so you've got about six typewriters there in the house where you can go to one to one to one well I've got several stories falling I only use one but I take out pieces of paper put in different pieces of paper you've written biographies oh you're a lot of magazine articles everything about from about atomic energy and to to what well I've even written about seven books of limericks tour from two of them clean and I've written a two-volume book on shakespeare a two volume analysis of the Bible and I've written all about twelve or thirteen history books I've written mysteries as well as science fiction I've written books for young people and I've written a three-volume history of physics what do you want people to say about you do you want them to say he was prolific he was prophetic or do you care about them saying here is a great writer here's a craftsman of the language oh I doubt that he want to savage say I'm a great writer I hope they say here's one fellow who got a lot of pleasure out of writing because most of the writers I know or have heard of have suffered experiences painful and I don't I enjoy it it comes like a stream with you oh you just sit down and you I saw once said what do you need to start writing and I said a typewriter then rich what time do you start writing get up in the morning and go right to it I'm an early morning person I usually get to work by 7:30 yeah did you go to an office to do it no right my right my apartment right there so you get up take a shower but work get to work and do you right for the entire day well I used to write till around 10 p.m. I noticed slightly old age is catching up him old age is catching up with me I tend to stop at 9 p.m. however I'm frequently interrupted I must make it appear that I work 7:30 and phone calls and phone calls in the mail and I have to eat and my wife insists I talk to her once in a while I didn't know you still slip off a little Gilbert Sullivan and then oh yes I belong to go with the solvent society and I attend Gilbert and Sullivan place every chance I have and in fact what I would like to do it is to write a book on Gilbert & Sullivan I'm trying to find time for it well why don't you take time because you list such an important part of your life it's one of your few I think I will I think I will is just that you'd think with 335 books that publishes and say let's try somebody else but they don't someone said to um I guess it was Sir Laurence Olivier why you act and he said because if I don't I'd go crazy is it the same way with writing well it's been suggested that since I can probably make enough by working half the year why don't I relax the other and I said well I would but just to pass the time away do you mind if I write isaac asimov he is prolific he is popular he is an interesting man and we'll talk more when we come back stay with us guys I mob is here this robots enterprise is science fiction about robots how is common you've written about that you got a new book about that too yes it's called Oz mobs guide to Holly's comment it's different published of nonfiction but different publishers they'll be pleased did you mention that to Walker in copper that's the partnership robots no pirates doubled it okay so they're all happy tell us about how he's coming what's significant about it cuz you well go ahead well the first the first thing that's important about Halley's Comet is that was the first comment or habits orbit worked out and it's return predicted that made an enormous splash in the 18th century because until then nothing had been known about comments they're very mysterious people are scared of them they were omens the Romans of unusual things happening and unusual things are always catastrophes but once you can show they follow a fixed orbit then come back at predictable times there's nothing mysterious about them anymore and so that was the doorway into studying comets as simple ordinary gastronomical phenomena and then the other importance about them is that it's the largest and brightest of the short term a short period comets the only ones that a larger and brighter coming from way out there when was the last time that we saw him in 1910 1910 yes it was a much better show than than this one is now because was it past Earth closer to it so that it looked larger and brighter so this is a big deal uh well it's a big deal this year for for our astronomers because for the first time in history they're going to be sending our probes to pass close by Halley's Comet and study it study it uh Soviets are doing a better job than way of doing that aren't they well let's say human beings are sending out for probes it doesn't matter the nationalities there are two Soviets one Japanese one West European the West European name Giotto will come closest that will pass within 500 miles but whatever material they find out whatever showers are shared by the International sign that's right that's right so that human beings are doing it uh are you excited by it yeah I have a feeling that it'll bear out it'll bear out the current theory of cometary structure which was suggested by Fred Whipple back in 1950 that it's a dirty snowball a dirty snowball 85 to 90 percent just ordinary ice but with all sorts of dust and gravel mixed in and undoubtedly that'll be it but there's all sorts of interesting things we can find out about the minor components yeah the slightly different ices and also how the tail forms what electromagnetic effects are present in the in the tail how it interacts with the solar wind particles from the Sun and so on about to find out all sorts of things now do you have some theory about comets and the death of dinosaurs oh well this is my theory I wish it were because it's a very interesting one back in 1980 they discovered that there was a layer high in iridium at a certain point in the earth and it came just about at the time where the dinosaurs disappeared and so they felt that perhaps an object from outer space which is usually richer and iridium than Earth's crust this had hit what's iridium oh it's a heavy metal very much like platinum okay there's very little iridium it's not I mean the amount that's there isn't worth anything but it's more than is in delayers just above or just below and they figure there was a collision with some object from outer space which perhaps cast up such a pall of dust and smoke that it cut off sunlight for a period of time killed most of the plant life and therefore killed most of the animal life what about the stars star Bethlehem well some people think it might have been Halley's Comet we showed up at 11 BC do you believe them no I don't it's because there are so many other theories about it that there's no way of telling which one if any is right it may have been entirely a a pious fiction we can't tell at this date the only mention of the Star of Bethlehem is in a couple of verses of the Gospel of st. Matthew that's all there is no independent reference to the star anywhere are you a religious man no I'm not why not uh well the easiest answer is I wasn't brought up so yeah and so but I mean you were obviously a very curious man and you have an open mind about everything oh sure and so you what you investigated religion and came to the conclusion that uh no I can't say I investigated religion with any particular interest but I was interested in the Bible as a work of literature and so I wrote a two-volume book on that but only as a work of literature as as one of the earliest if not the earliest serious histories we have the book of kings monocles the book of Samuel and also as a repository of great poetry probably the greatest poetry we have certainly the greatest early poetry we have and also as teachings of rather excellent ethical ethical statements the one thing that the Bible isn't that some people seem to think it is it's not a biology textbook it's not an astronomy textbook the first the first chapter of Genesis the first couple of chapters of Genesis are the sixth century BC version of how the world might have started we've improved on that sense I don't believe that those are God's words those are the words of men trying to make the most sense that they could out of out of the information they had at the time you don't buy Adam and Eve either no I don't buy Adam and Eve either but it's undoubtedly a legend which has some significance but it's not his start what about the life of Christ well Jesus well this of course is in historic times it's the time when the when the Roman Empire was at its height and the thing about it is that all the only information we have about the life of Jesus in the Gospels in the New Testament Gospels there's no reference to an any literature outside there's one dubious paragraph of histories of Josephus which may have they're right there's no reference to Jesus other than Matthew Mark Luke John and of course in the rest of my residence Illya the epistles of Paul actually Russell's but outside the sacred writings absolutely no mention no historian who was not who is not who is not a Christian that's better that we're not in Bethlehem no one left any writings of any kind none none this doesn't mean that he didn't exist the chances are he did there were many people at the time who were rushing to say messianic who were believed to be messiahs by one group or another and Jesus survived in the size of a soccer edible impact for someone who got such little notice at the time from historians right now that's true but that's the way that's the way sometimes it works out with Mohammed also received little notice outside of Arabia and I dare say many founders of great religions were dismissed by people of the time except those who believed in them it's just one more kook interesting in it back in a moment Isaac Asimov interesting man we'll talk more about science fiction and the future science reality stay with us Isaac geyser mommy's here what scares you about the future nuclear war okay uh older copy overpopulation really yeah we've got now four point eight billion now what's the problem with overpopulation I mean when you go to the length and breadth of this country's I constantly though you see nothing but open spaces yes but the open spaces are devoted to feeding the people to live in the urban areas that's right yeah but we got more food than we need we have we're not seeing well okay the world doesn't don't forget we've had two billion people when I was born on earth it's four point eight now I'm not responsible but that's the way it is and you know children oh I have two children that's just replaced me in my wife you know but in addition if we consider that next time next time Halley's Comet passes by if we continue to increase at the present rate well I will have 10 billion people next time.bye was in nineteen seven did ten least 75 years ago 75 plus 85 is what 98 2065 something like that yeah something like that and they'll be then at the present rate of increase 10 11 billion people I was in China when billion already 1 billion already but they're doing their level best to keep our and to the displeasure of some people who have find real fault with their yes but if they continue to increase the numbers the way they have been in the past that would be to the dissolution of a lot of people too beyond that what about the the any ethical questions with robots any other any other thing about the future that scares you well not with robots I consider that robots is liable to be a very good thing for us if they're used properly uh but what about the possible abuse anything convenient is well they can be used to do the human labor and the humans who have been doing it before can be thrown up a street and considered and not considered at all and that could create a great deal of human misery and absence of respect for human integrity for the dignity of woman or man well if we if we get to the point where we this where we have no respect for labor if labor is only something robots do and then I think that might be bad it still should be possible for human beings to work if they had then what we usually would consider robotic labor you know what I don't understand about you is how do you how do you know so much could you spend all your time writing huh well I don't I also read in my spare time in the interstices in the interstices as in addition I don't forget I don't know how long that'll is you have a photographic memory oh I wouldn't say photographic yes I forget things like what my daughter looks like and so you daughter looks like when her birthday was she wants to fight next to me and I ignored her until after a while as I studied her face carefully I realized she was my daughter but the things I need for my writing yeah I tend not to forget keep notes and cards and all that no all in my it's all up here yeah which worries me because I am getting old now I'm a little over 30 do you use a word processor yes but I haven't thrown out my typewriter do you use computers at all and just the just the word processor yeah yeah when you when you look at the people that have influenced you who's had the most influence well aside from my Fife a father a mother father mother yeah well John Campbell he was the editor of astounding science fiction from 1938 to 1971 astounding science fiction right and I brought in my first story on June 17th 1938 he'd only been the editor for a few months and he took me in hand for some reason and in a sense charlie'd me along made sure I kept my nose stuck to the Rhinestone encouraged me discussed my stories gave me and and the quaint phrase made me what I am today he did yes I can mainly because he boot made you believe in yourself and made you he saw something in me that maybe I might not have seen in myself quickly right is born or made oh I think born you think born yes boy a lot of people want to be writers don't know whether there they've got it or nothing well I daresay you can make a little yeah but there's a limit to how much you can make Isaac I some of you have certainly been if nothing else prolific and and certainly popular one of the best-known writers I want you to come back and we'll talk more pleasure to have you well if I'm in Washington I'll be glad to thank you will continue stay with us

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Views: 145,872

Keywords: Isaac Asimov (Author), Interview (TV Genre)

Id: OvMZxNmWoko

Length: 20min 40sec (1240 seconds)

Published: Fri Jun 12 2015