# Isaac Asimov, I Prostrate Myself Before You **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 21, 2009, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaac-asimov-i-prostrate-myself-before-you/482259 "2009-01-21T03:38:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![mswas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e99b99/32.png) [@mswas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mswas)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaac-asimov-i-prostrate-myself-before-you/482259/41 "2009-01-21T20:54:31Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Yeah, I guessed which story it would be before I clicked on the link. Me too. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaac-asimov-i-prostrate-myself-before-you/482259/42 "2009-01-21T21:31:56Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > And now for something completely scary. Columbia got the rights for the Foundation Trilogy [Story](http://www.slashfilm.com/2009/01/16/columbia-wins-rights-for-isaac-asimovs-foundation-trilogy-with-roland-emmerich-directing/) and Roland Emmerich will direct. And you thought **I Robot** was bad. :eek: That’s not right. :mad: To save others time of looking it up, he directed movies Independence Day, Stargate, and Universal Soldier. Ok, he’s no Uwe Boll, but The Foundation isn’t just average sci-fi. I really don’t see how it could be handled well in movie form. ---
**Author:** ![AllWalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/db5fbb/32.png) [@AllWalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AllWalker)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaac-asimov-i-prostrate-myself-before-you/482259/43 "2009-01-21T22:08:12Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > I really don’t see how it could be handled well in movie form. Agreed. The unstoppable sway of history would be hard concept to put into film, especially if they get the urge to fill it with pointless epic space battles. Which they will. Psychohistory is _subtle_. Can you keep it that way please? Please? ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaac-asimov-i-prostrate-myself-before-you/482259/44 "2009-01-21T22:18:25Z")
If you want to hear how Asimov spoke, there are several videos on YouTube, such as this one. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/LO0sCs8jI4k/hqdefault.jpg "Isaac Asimov - How to Save Civilization Part 1") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO0sCs8jI4k) ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaac-asimov-i-prostrate-myself-before-you/482259/45 "2009-01-21T22:53:34Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > I had no idea at all that he died of AIDS! :eek: There was a thread about it when it was announced. A shame that they felt it should be kept quite for so long, simply because they thought people would think he was gay. One of his sons was arrested a few years ago for child porn (his computer was broken, so he took it in to be repaired, never once thinking that someone would look at the contents of the harddrive). ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaac-asimov-i-prostrate-myself-before-you/482259/46 "2009-01-21T23:02:53Z")
> [@Tuckerfan](#): > > One of his sons was arrested a few years ago for child porn (his computer was broken, so he took it in to be repaired, never once thinking that someone would look at the contents of the harddrive). Asimove only had one son, David, who he wasn’t close to, and a daughter, Robin, who he was. ---
**Author:** ![Scupper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Scupper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scupper)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2009, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaac-asimov-i-prostrate-myself-before-you/482259/47 "2009-01-21T23:03:26Z")
> [@Captain\_Carrot](#): > > _I, Robot_ was _not_ bad. It had way too much action for an Isaac Asimov story (defined as ‘virtually any action’), yes, but the trailer left all of the philosophy out of it. Obviously it wasn’t an accurate representation of the original work, but that’s impossible to do with a collection of short stories anyway. As a devoted Asimov fan, I thought it was quite good. I beg to differ. A guy is trapped in his office by a malevolent AI with his robot friend and the best way he can think of to get a message out is to make a very obscure recording and then have his robot friend throw him, _to his death_, out a window. The same robot, it must be noted, can (and does) jump out the same window, suffering no ill effects, and thus could have carried a clear recording to the police with no death involved. Or it could have thrown the message and winged a passerby. Or it could have carried him to safety down the outside of the building. But none of those things occurred to the screenwriter (Akiva Goldsman), because he, frankly, gives hacks a bad name. It was a terrible, terrible film, completely independent of it’s relationship to Asimov (or the lack thereof). ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaac-asimov-i-prostrate-myself-before-you/482259/48 "2009-01-22T00:46:02Z")
> [@rowrrbazzle](#): > > If you want to hear how Asimov spoke, there are several videos on YouTube, such as this one. > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO0sCs8jI4k](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO0sCs8jI4k) Thanks for the link, and once you start watching the Asimov videos on there, it’s hard to stop. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaac-asimov-i-prostrate-myself-before-you/482259/49 "2009-01-22T01:01:03Z")
> [@Scupper](#): > > But none of those things occurred to the screenwriter (Akiva Goldsman), because he, frankly, gives hacks a bad name. The same person, I might add, who made Irwin Allen’s Lost in Space writers look like literary geniuses by comparison. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaac-asimov-i-prostrate-myself-before-you/482259/50 "2009-01-22T01:03:43Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Asimove only had one son, David, who he wasn’t close to, and a daughter, Robin, who he was. That’s an understatement. Readers of his F&SF column can note that he mentioned Robin all the time, but I don’t remember him ever mentioning David, at least not after he got above five or so. Asimov took David with him to the picnic, (which was right before he fled to New York) and was extremely nasty to him. When I read about the porn, it didn’t really surprise me. ---
**Author:** ![chrisk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@chrisk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chrisk)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaac-asimov-i-prostrate-myself-before-you/482259/51 "2009-01-22T01:05:36Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Yes, Asimov spoke English like a Jew whose native language was Yiddish (which it was, more or less). Pleasant to listen to, but not the sort of voice to read something as sublime as “The Last Question.” I do think his voice suits his own stories well, though I never really thought of that connection until I heard him on audible that first time. Now, even Asimov books that I’ve never heard out loud, a lot of the main characters ‘read’ with different sorts of typically Jewish accents. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaac-asimov-i-prostrate-myself-before-you/482259/52 "2009-01-22T01:06:41Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > That’s not right. :mad: > > To save others time of looking it up, he directed movies Independence Day, Stargate, and Universal Soldier. Ok, he’s no Uwe Boll, but The Foundation isn’t just average sci-fi. I really don’t see how it could be handled well in movie form. I agree. Especially by him. Something I read in the paper mentioned Hari Seldon on trial. I hope we don’t see the action here Seldon of the 3 Bs prequels to Foundation. ---
**Author:** ![Wednesday\_Evening](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b2d939/32.png) [@Wednesday\_Evening](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wednesday_Evening)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaac-asimov-i-prostrate-myself-before-you/482259/53 "2009-01-22T01:13:43Z")
The Last Question is a classic! I am a big fan of Asimov in general. If you liked The Last Question, you may also like [The Star](http://lucis.net/stuff/clarke/star_clarke.html) by Arthur C. Clarke. It’s one of my favorite science fiction short stories. The Star is more serious than The Last Question, though. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaac-asimov-i-prostrate-myself-before-you/482259/54 "2009-01-22T01:20:42Z")
> [@Scupper](#): > > I beg to differ. > > A guy is trapped in his office by a malevolent AI with his robot friend and the best way he can think of to get a message out is to make a very obscure recording and then have his robot friend throw him, _to his death_, out a window. The same robot, it must be noted, can (and does) jump out the same window, suffering no ill effects, and thus could have carried a clear recording to the police with no death involved. Or it could have thrown the message and winged a passerby. Or it could have carried him to safety down the outside of the building. > > But none of those things occurred to the screenwriter (Akiva Goldsman), because he, frankly, gives hacks a bad name. > > It was a terrible, terrible film, completely independent of it’s relationship to Asimov (or the lack thereof). This reminds me of one thing I really appreciate about Asimov as a writer: he doesn’t leave plot holes. Anything that you could think of that would make you go, “Hey, how come…?” or “What about…?” he’s thought of too, and will explain it. I like it when the reader/audience is rewarded, not punished, for thinking clearly about what’s going on. (This is just my impression, and I say it at the risk that someone will come along soon with a counterexample. Many of you have read more Asimov more recently than I.) ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaac-asimov-i-prostrate-myself-before-you/482259/55 "2009-01-22T02:39:53Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > Asimove only had one son, David, who he wasn’t close to, and a daughter, Robin, who he was. Wikipedia gives her name as Robyn. What the \ happened to David? Sorry for the hijack. “The Last Question” rocks. It was Isaac’s favorite of his stories. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaac-asimov-i-prostrate-myself-before-you/482259/56 "2009-01-22T03:24:16Z")
I always loved that story. When I was a kid, I was obsessed with his stuff and read everything I could get my hands on. I even found his home address in a reference book at the school library and even wrote to him. So in my file cabinet I have two postcards from him (typed, but signed). And regarding his son David, about ten or fifteen years ago, I read a memoir of his in which he mentioned that David was always a socially awkward person. I think he said that he set up a trust fund for him (because he didn’t expect David to be able to hold a regular job), and also that David’s big hobby was to collect videotapes of his favorite television shows. So when the news articles about the child porn charges mentioned a collection of thousands of videos in his home, I thought that Isaac didn’t know what type of videos his son was collecting. (I was actually glad that he wasn’t alive by then.) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaac-asimov-i-prostrate-myself-before-you/482259/57 "2009-01-22T03:30:03Z")
> [@NoCoolUserName](#): > > What the \ happened to David? Like someone said, he got his father’s obsessiveness without any of his talent. But I think mostly, it’s the result of being a dull, shy, not overly intelligent person, who was raised by parents who didn’t particularly love each other and whose father, in addition to being a famous author, was an intelligent extrovert who considered him a failure and neither loved or respected him. So it warped him some. ---
**Author:** ![sleestak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/919ad9/32.png) [@sleestak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sleestak)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2009, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaac-asimov-i-prostrate-myself-before-you/482259/58 "2009-01-22T04:43:19Z")
My personal favorite Asimov story is ‘Breeds There a Man … ?’ though 'The Last Question ’ is a close second. Slee [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/isaac-asimov-i-prostrate-myself-before-you/482259.md?page=2)