Point of View

by Isaac Asimov

Point of View is a short story by Isaac Asimov that first appeared in Boys' Life magazine in July 1975. It is one of a loosely connected series of such stories concerning a fictional computer called Multivac.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories

7 pages, ebook

First published July 1, 1975

About the author

Works of prolific Russian-American writer Isaac Asimov include popular explanations of scientific principles, The Foundation Trilogy (1951-1953), and other volumes of fiction.

Isaac Asimov, a professor of biochemistry, wrote as a highly successful author, best known for his books.

Asimov, professor, generally considered of all time, edited more than five hundred books and ninety thousand letters and postcards. He published in nine of the ten major categories of the Dewey decimal classification but lacked only an entry in the category of philosophy (100).

People widely considered Asimov, a master of the genre alongside Robert Anson Heinlein and Arthur Charles Clarke as the "big three" during his lifetime. He later tied Galactic Empire and the Robot into the same universe as his most famous series to create a unified "future history" for his stories much like those that Heinlein pioneered and Cordwainer Smith and Poul Anderson previously produced. He penned "Nightfall," voted in 1964 as the best short story of all time; many persons still honor this title. He also produced well mysteries, fantasy, and a great quantity of nonfiction. Asimov used Paul French, the pen name, for the Lucky Starr, series of juvenile novels.

Most books of Asimov in a historical way go as far back to a time with possible question or concept at its simplest stage. He often provides and mentions well nationalities, birth, and death dates for persons and etymologies and pronunciation guides for technical terms. Guide to Science, the tripartite set Understanding Physics, and Chronology of Science and Discovery exemplify these books.

Asimov, a long-time member, reluctantly served as vice president of Mensa international and described some members of that organization as "brain-proud and aggressive about their IQs." He took more pleasure as president of the humanist association. The asteroid 5020 Asimov, the magazine Asimov's Science Fiction, an elementary school in Brooklyn in New York, and two different awards honor his name.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_As...

Reviews

[Gladimore · Rating 2 out of 5]

I need to read this again. I'm not sure I completely understood this.

[Storm · Rating 3 out of 5]

Collected in The Complete Robot. Roger's father and their team can't figure out what is wrong with Multivac or why it gives inconsistent answers until Roger tells them to look at it from a different point of view. A clever story, but I'm not sure if the solution will hold up.

[Eggp · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sulky Multivac
fibbing to get some down time
give the kid a break.

[Alice · Rating 4 out of 5]

The humanity Asimov imbues into his technology is more than many people reserve for humans.

[Antonella · Rating 2 out of 5]

Certezza di esperto è un racconto di fantascienza di Isaac Asimov che narra di un padre che lavora con un computer multifunzionale, il Multivac, e di suo figlio che gli suggerisce una soluzione al problema del computer che fornisce risposte diverse alla stessa domanda.
Il racconto ha alcuni aspetti positivi, come l'idea originale di paragonare il computer a un bambino che ha bisogno di divertirsi e di esprimere la sua creatività.
Tuttavia, il racconto è poco credibile e poco coerente, perché non spiega come il Multivac possa avere una propria personalità e una propria emotività, e perché nessuno se ne sia accorto prima. Inoltre non è probabile, perché non tiene conto del fatto che il computer non può provare le stesse emozioni umane, come la stanchezza e la noia, che sono il motivo delle sue risposte errate.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty interesting observation and pretty human writing.
This story was a pretty good one. I do like how the entire story is just framed through the lens of a single conversation between a father and son. I think that they make an interesting observation on the way that companies place this huge amounts of pressure placed on both people and equipment which causes them to crack under the weight of the work.
The solution being so elegantly simple is kind of blunt, but I do think that they managed to get an idea of the value of the less jaded and more innocent view of a child.
so yeah, this is pretty damn good.

[SunKen_Sun · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute ending, does not overstay its welcome, and the view of having a city and the workers needed to keep the multivac working were all strong positives for this story. Nothing about it stands out too much to me, but overall I am glad I read this. Found in: The Complete Robot

[5t4n5 Dot Com · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is in the collection, The Complete Robot .

Sometimes, just maybe, when you're not sure about something, you may consider asking a child for their "Point of View".

Next up is Think! .

[Kareen · Rating 5 out of 5]

muy buena historia de nuevo paa variar de isaac asimov sobre un niño que opina que las máquinas en este caso Multivac debería descansar un poco.

[Vaishali · Rating 1 out of 5]

Quite interesting to see how far programming and technology has progressed in such a short time.