1925

See the original 2015 image here.

 A tradition here at the wikifiction blog is to begin each new year with a look back into the history of the science fiction genre. To begin the year, I make space for an examination of the work of a Sci Fi story teller who was born 100 years ago (for 2024, see 1924). This year, the focus is on Katherine MacLean (1925 – 2019).

I've previously blogged about some of the stories that were written by Katherine MacLean. Here in this blog post, I won't comment on MacLean's stories such as "Defense Mechanism" that I have previously commented on in this blog. In the past, I've occasionally had fun imagining that in an alternate Reality, MacLean edited a science fiction magazine called "Masculinena" (see the two images that are shown to the right and below this paragraph) and even launched a television network called CERA. The human figures on this page were generated by Mr. Wombo while the "futuristic" car in Figure 2 (below) was generated by Gemini.

See the original image source

 First Contact. Published in the August 1951 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction was MacLean's story "Pictures Don't Lie", a story about first contact with space aliens. The aliens have already been in communication by radio, but today they are going to land on Earth. 

In the past, I have imagined that in an alternate reality, MacLean wrote a story called "Invasion of the Zeptites" (see the image to the left). Maybe if an artificial life-form was composed of zeptites, not biological cells, all of its life processes would be very much faster than is the case for we biological creatures. In "Pictures Don't Lie", the aliens not only live at an accelerated rate (like the Scalosians), they are also microscopic (as were the people in "Surface Tension" by James Blish). For my own Exodemic Fictional Universe, I've previously imagined "Nanoville", a place where nanoscopic replicoid copies of people could reside. Maybe the tiny replicoids in Nanoville also live at an accelerated rate?

image by Mr. Wombo

 Positive Feedback. In the September 1952 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction was MacLean's story "The Snowball Effect". "The Snowball Effect" reminds me of Isaac Asimov's Psychohistory. In "The Snowball Effect", a sociologist makes a small change to a little town's local sewing circle and then that group grows rapidly and soon it seems on the verge of taking over the world. 

There are also some similarities between "The Snowball Effect" and the MNC of Asimov's time travel novel, The End of Eternity. Taking advantage of the "butterfly effect", and with careful planning, might it be possible to make some tiny change in the world that would lead to some particular desired future? In The End of Eternity, Asimov's character Andrew Harlan was depicted as having the ability to unerringly identify an MNC for the Maximum Desired Response. In my own stories, some people receive information from the future by way of the Sedron Time Stream, allowing them to select a successful path into the future.

Figure 1. Editorial blurb for "The Diploids".

Figure 2. Gemini generated this Sci Fi scene
for 1925: looking to the future of air-cars.
Mr. Wombo generated the hitchhiking girl
 of the future and faces for the couple in the car.

 Genetic Engineering. MacLean's story "The Diploids" was published in the April 1953 edition of Thrilling Wonder Stories, with  interior artwork by Virgil Finlay. I love science fiction stories in which "alien" (see Figure 1, above) creatures are found to be secretly living among humans, but exactly what is a "diploid" in MacLean's story? Or, as MacLean puts the words into Mart's thought bubble (after a second person calls him a diploid) "What in the name of Howling Entropy was a diploid?"

"The Diploids" was set in the future, in a time when everyone casually has video phone calls... and everyone still smokes... and there is mention the Martians in conversation, but Mart Bredan is sensitive to such things... he was born with extra fingers and he has other anatomical abnormalities, including a third eye on the back of his head.

see this original cover art

Things get dicey when Doc Brown a crazy inventor starts trying to kill Mart. But then the friendly Dr. Sheers calmly tells Mart, "You diploids are always fascinating." After living as a strange genetic mutant for 28 years and never hearing the term "diploid", within 24 hours Mart comes across three distinct groups (including "super diploids" who want to take over the world, or something) that all know about "diploids". Further, readers are told that hundreds of thousands of embryos that share Mart's genome have been produced and used for genetics research during the past 30 years. And the newpapers are full of ads showing six-fingered hands (such as the one drawn by Finlay for Figure 4, below), ads which Mart never noticed, until today. The whole improbable and meandering "plot" of "The Diploids" reminds me of Inter Ice Age 4 which features several secret conspiracies of international scope and world-shaking importance... which nobody notices.

see the cover art by Clarence Doore

 Hypnotic. "The Diploids" also features hypnotism. According to this page, hypnosis had been included in written stories and some films from the mid-1800s to the 1920s. In "The Tissue-Culture King" by Julian Huxley, hypnotism could be used to put human brains into a state that would allow for telepathic linkages (Huxley's story first published in 1926). 

In Slan, A. E. van Vogt introduced the idea of magical "hypnotism crystals" that could be used by a slan to dominate the mind of a human (1940). Also from 1953 was "The Biological Revolt" by Philip Farmer which featured "post-hypnotic block" as a plot element. 

The image to the left depicts a green space alien who hypnotizes an Earthling, forcing him to work tirelessly for the alien overlords.

Figure 3. Generated by Mr. Wombo.

There were two pieces of internal art for "The Diploids" drawn by Virgil Finlay (see Figures 4 and 5. below). I manually colorized those images and merged them together. I then had Mr. Wombo make a version of the scene that is shown to the right.

For "The Diploids", I believe that MacLean was imagining a futuristic type of biotechnology that allowed for the creation of haploid mammalian cells in biology research laboratories. Then after stable lines of cultured haploid cells were created, they could somehow be used to create thousands of genetically identical diploid embryos from two parental haploid lineages... or something. Most of those embryos were used for laboratory genetics research and killed before growing past 5 months of embryonic life.

Figure 4. Internal art for "The Diploids".

  In the fictional future society of "The Diploids", most of the "cloned" humans were used for laboratory research and the embryos were never viable. However, Mart Bredan was allowed to grow to adulthood and only at age 28 did he realize that his parents were not his biological parents.

 You Can't Drug Me! Mart discovers that since his "parental" cells grew for many generations in cell culture, he has the ability to inactivate chemical substances that are injected into his body. Similarly, any body structure (such as his third eye) is automatically made functional and healthy. In the end, MacLean suggests to readers that Mart will be able to pass on his amazing genes to future generations and he tells the fetching Nadine that he is ready to make mutant babies with her.

Figure 5. The second internal art
illustration for "The Diploids".

Since MacLean was writing "The Diploids" at just about the time when the DNA double helix was discovered and before anyone realized how easy it is to clone mammals, I'll give her plenty of elbow room for constructing a fantasy story about genetic engineering.

The image to the right by Virgil Finlay (Figure 5) seems to show a human fetus at the center of a network of tentacles. Mr. Wombo likes to draw tentacles (exaggerated in Figure 3, above). Sadly, MacLean never explained how human embryos were routinely maintained in the laboratory for five months.

The editorial blurb (Figure 1, above) and mention of Martians in the first few pages of the text of "The Diploids" got me ready for a story about disguised aliens secretly living among the human population of Earth, but then it turned out that the "truth" about Mart was even less probable than hidden aliens: Mart was the result of a super really (we mean it!) secret human genetics experiment.

Why aliens visit Earth.

 Full Confession. I started skimming "The Diploids" after the fantastically beautiful Nadine left the stage after the first few pages of the story. I suspect that when Doc Brown the crazy inventor starts trying to kill Mart, he has been hypnotized by the Super Diploids, all as part of a plot to get Mart so upset that he will murder the crazy inventor and get himself and his sperm cells locked up in prison for the rest of his life... or something. In that way, the Super Diploids will not have to face competition from the genetically superior Mart and his children.

In the end, the crazy inventor is made to look like an insane UFO nut as he keeps ranting about evil Martians (including Mart) who are invading Earth; finally the police cart him away. 

At the end of the story, Mart is left in peace and can get down to the serious work of making babies with Nadine.

Space station by Gemini,
astronaut by Mr. Wombo,
pink toy by Sam.

 Into the Asteroids. MacLean published a short story called "Collision Orbit" in the May 1954 issue of Science Fiction Adventures. One of the unfortunate aspects of science fiction story telling is that so many writers depicted human adventures among the asteroids in similar terms to Western sagas about adventures in the frontier of the American West. Thus, for "Collision Orbit" we are told about the owner of a general store (called SAM'S) located in the Asteroid Belt who is confronted by a band of criminals who recently escaped from prison on Earth. 

 Spoilers. SAM'S is a futuristic general store that attracts customers from across millions of miles of space with the help of a neon sign. In all fairness, MacLean tells readers that SAM'S also uses radio beacons. "Collision Orbit" features an emergency spacesuit and an escape through a garbage chute. Most of the criminals end up dead in a shootout, but the one criminal with some brains is invited to join the ranks of the settlers of the asteroids.

Image generated by Gemini.

Figure 6. Well-known?

  Actual Martians. In the February 1955 issue of Authentic Science Fiction Monthly, there was "The Prize" by Katherine MacLean and Michael Porjes. As shown in Figure 6, at the start of the story, readers were told that the two authors of the story were both well-known, and American. 

Figure 7. Martians travel millions of miles to
visit Earth only to be told, "Go home!".

Who was Michael Porjes? I wonder if "Michael Porjes" was a made-up name used by Forrest James Ackerman. According to Wikipedia, Ackerman had a stepson named Michael Porges, but other online sources (example) list the name as "Michael Porjes". In any case, "The Prize" is a very short joke story. Some Martians visit Earth and get caught up in a goofy contest and win a trip to Mars.

The Martians (who are blue) drive their rover (with darkly tinted windows) off the mother ship and they start exploring Earth. The image to the right (Figure 7) was generated by Mr. Wombo as a depiction of Martians arriving on Earth in 1955.

Figure 8.

 Lost in translation. Back in 2021, I blogged about A Case of Conscience which was published by James Blish in 1953. That story by Blish has similarities to MacLean's story "Unhuman Sacrifice" that was published in the November 1958 issue of Astounding Science Fiction. For "Unhuman Sacrifice", the futuristic interstellar spaceship that takes our heroes to a brave new world conveniently comes equipped with a language translating machine, which allows a missionary (Winton) to quickly start preaching to the natives of a newly discovered exoplanet. The natives go through some sort of metamorphosis process when it starts raining: this involves hanging the young upside down in the trees (for Mr. Wombo's version of the story's interior art by John Schoenherr, see Figure 8).

For A Case of Conscience, Blish imagined sentient aliens who laid eggs and how the biology of the aliens was offensive to Father Ramon Ruiz-Sanchez, S. J. (Society of Jesus), a "Jesuit biologist" from Peru. I would not be surprised if MacLean read A Case of Conscience and then simply had to write her own story about a missionary preaching to aliens. Alternatively, MacLean may have written her story first, failed to get it published, and then was finally able to get her story published after Blish's story became famous.

Figure 9. Editorial blurb for "Interbalance".

Poise and counterpoise.

In the October 1960 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction was "Interbalance" by Katherine MacLean. I've previously blogged about the Uranium Age of science fiction (1950 - 1983). "Interbalance" fits nicely into Uranium Age science fiction: it takes place after a nuclear war, when mutations among humans are common and most babies don't survive due to radiation-induced mutations. 

The solution to Humanity's problems for the remaining people who survived the nuclear war is to breed rapidly and hope that a few people will survive into the future. The cute Narline Robinson tries to seduce Leo, but Leo's "old man" would rather just shoot Narline with his rifle. When the old man drops dead, Narline is happy and she praises the glory of "Interbalance" as it exists in the world, which will now allow her to make babies with Leo.

Multiple personality brain.

 Collaboration. "The Other" by Katherine MacLean was published in the July 1966 issue of New Worlds SF. This story is of interest to me because I've long been intrigued by Jack Vance's character Howard Treesong in The Book of Dreams. Vance depicted Treesong as having multiple "personalities" bottled up inside himself. I like to imagine that this could be explained by there being a way for nanoscopic artificial life forms to become attached to people. In "The Other", there are two people who each have two "personalities", an inner one who never speaks and an "outer" one that speaks to other people. I guess MacLean was suggesting that there is nothing wrong with having two minds in one brain.

image source

As discussed above (Figure 3), I enjoy using old illustrations (such as those shown in Figures 4 and 5) as reference images for making new AI-generated images. Below is a discussion I had with the Claude chatbot about this practice.

Me: Claude, are you familiar with online communities such as DeviantArt? Can you provide any insights into the conflict that has arisen between 1) one group of people in the DeviantArt community who enjoy AI-generated art and 2) another group of people who seem to despise AI-generated art?

Claude: Yes, I'm familiar with DeviantArt as one of the longest-running and largest online art communities, founded in 2000. The conflict you're describing reflects a broader tension that has emerged across many creative communities with the rise of AI art generation tools.

This conflict stems from several core concerns and perspectives. The traditional artists who oppose AI-generated art often express worry about the fundamental nature of artistic creation and authenticity. They argue that AI systems are trained on vast databases of human-created artwork, often without explicit consent from the original artists, which raises questions about creative ownership and attribution. These artists may see AI art as a form of automated reproduction that could devalue the human elements of artistic creation - the years of practice, the emotional investment, and the unique perspective that comes from human experience.

On the other hand, proponents of AI art view these tools as simply the latest evolution in artistic technology, similar to how photography was once controversial when it emerged in the 19th century. They argue that AI art generators are tools that still require human creativity and direction to produce meaningful work. These artists often emphasize that choosing prompts, iterating on results, and curating outputs all require artistic judgment and vision.

generated by Mr. Wombo

 The economic dimension of this conflict shouldn't be overlooked. Many traditional artists on DeviantArt rely on commissions and art sales for income. The ability of AI to rapidly generate images that might compete with human-created work has created legitimate concerns about economic displacement. Some artists worry that clients might opt for cheaper, faster AI-generated alternatives rather than commissioning original artwork.

The situation is further complicated by how some AI art generators have been trained. Traditional artists have raised valid concerns about their artwork being used without permission to train AI systems, effectively helping create tools that might compete with their own work. This has led to discussions about consent, compensation, and the ethical implications of how AI training data is collected.

DeviantArt itself has tried to navigate these tensions by implementing features like AI art labels and allowing artists to opt out of having their work used for AI training. However, these measures haven't fully resolved the underlying conflict between these two perspectives on artistic creation and authenticity.

Would you be interested in exploring any particular aspect of this conflict in more detail? For instance, we could discuss the technical aspects of AI art generation, the economic implications for working artists, or historical parallels to other technological disruptions in art?

Me: Claude, provide ethical guidance for the following conflict. I can read an old science fiction story that was written by Isaac Asimov and then be stimulated to write my own new science fiction story. I feel no guilt in having the idea for my new story originate from my reaction to Asimov's old story. I can take a digitized scan of a page in an old pulp science fiction magazine with interior artwork by an artist such as Virgil Finlay and then use that scanned image as a reference image with software such as WOMBO Dream. I can then use the AI-generated image (that was produced by using the Virgil Finlay reference image) as an illustration for my new science fiction story which I then post on my personal blog. However, I feel some guilt for having used the artwork of Virgil Finlay in this way. 

 Does it make sense that I feel no guilt in writing my story, but I feel some guilt in illustrating my story by making use of old interior art from a Sci Fi magazine?

Claude: This is a fascinating ethical question that touches on the nature of creative inspiration and transformation. Let me help break down why these two situations might feel different ethically, even though they may seem similar on the surface.

When you read Asimov's story and write your own in response, you're engaging in a process that transforms the original work through several important steps. Your human mind processes Asimov's story, combines it with your own experiences and creativity, and produces something new that builds upon but differs substantially from the source material. This process of inspiration and transformation has been fundamental to how human creativity and culture develop. We might say you're participating in a long tradition of artists and writers building upon each other's work to create new meanings and expressions.

The situation with AI art generation is more complex for several reasons. When you use an AI system like WOMBO Dream with Finlay's artwork as a reference, the transformation process is more mechanical and direct. The AI system is explicitly analyzing and reconstructing elements of Finlay's visual style and compositional choices. While you're making creative choices in the prompts and selection of outputs, the AI is more directly reproducing and recombining elements of the original artist's work than your mind does when writing an inspired story.

There's also a difference in how these creative processes have been historically understood and accepted. Writers have long acknowledged their influences and inspirations, and there's a well-established understanding that new stories can legitimately build upon older ones while maintaining their own originality. The legal doctrine of fair use has evolved to protect these kinds of transformative works. However, the direct use of visual art as training data or reference images for AI systems is a new phenomenon that raises questions about artistic integrity and attribution that our ethical and legal frameworks are still struggling to address.

 Your feeling of guilt might also stem from the different ways these processes honor the original creators' intentions. When you write a story inspired by Asimov, you're engaging with his work in a way that he likely would have anticipated and appreciated as a fellow writer. But when using an AI to process and transform Finlay's artwork, you might feel you're using his work in a way he couldn't have foreseen or consented to.

Consider this thought experiment: If you could ask Asimov and Finlay about these uses of their work, how might they respond? Asimov might well be pleased to know his story sparked new creative work in the same medium. Finlay's reaction to having his art used as AI training data might be more complicated, as this represents a fundamentally different kind of use of his creative expression.

That said, your situation raises important questions about how we adapt our ethical frameworks for creativity in the age of AI. Perhaps we need to develop new ways of thinking about artistic influence and transformation that account for these new technologies while still respecting the rights and intentions of original creators.

Would it help to explore some potential ways to ethically navigate this situation? For instance, we could discuss approaches that might help balance your creative goals with respect for Finlay's artistic legacy.

Me: When I use old science fiction story illustrations as "reference" images as part of the process of making AI-generated images, I document the practice at my blog and cite the original artists. Thus, it is no "secret" that I am using the work of artists in this way. When I ask myself if artists such as Virgil Finlay would be offended by what I am doing, I find it difficult to imagine why an artist would object. However, I know that some writers have in the past objected to fans who create "fan-fiction" based on published works, so it seems possible that Virgil Finlay would object to my use of his old artwork.

Claude: Your ethical reflection on this matter shows deep consideration for the rights and perspectives of creators. Let's explore this situation by examining several key aspects that can help us understand the ethical implications.

 First, let's consider the fundamental nature of artistic influence and documentation. Your practice of openly documenting and citing the original artists is significant because it acknowledges their contribution to the creative process. This transparency serves multiple purposes: it gives credit where it's due, it allows others to understand your creative process, and it maintains a historical record of how artistic works influence each other across time. This approach stands in stark contrast to cases where AI-generated art is created without acknowledging the sources that influenced it.

The comparison to fan fiction is particularly enlightening. Writers who have objected to fan fiction often cite concerns about maintaining control over their fictional universes or protecting their ability to write future stories within those universes. However, the situation with visual art reference is somewhat different. When you use Finlay's artwork as a reference for AI generation, you're not necessarily extending or modifying his fictional world - rather, you're using his artistic style and techniques as inspiration for creating new works that accompany your own original stories.

Consider how this practice relates to traditional artistic training. Throughout history, artists have learned by studying and copying the works of masters, often creating derivative works as part of their learning process. In art schools, students still practice by recreating famous works to understand technique and style. The key difference with AI art generation is that the "learning" process is automated and can produce new works much more quickly than traditional methods.

The question of whether Finlay would object is complex because it involves technologies he couldn't have anticipated. However, we can consider his position as an illustrator for science fiction magazines. These publications were often at the forefront of imagining how technology might change human society. Finlay worked in a genre that celebrated technological innovation and its implications for human creativity. This context might suggest he would be more open to technological evolution in artistic creation.

 Furthermore, your use of his work seems to align with the original purpose of his illustrations - to accompany and enhance science fiction stories. You're continuing this tradition, albeit with new tools. The fact that you're using his art as inspiration for illustrations that accompany new stories maintains a connection to the original context and purpose of his work.

However, your ethical sensitivity to this issue raises an important point about the difference between what is legally permissible and what feels ethically comfortable. Even if we conclude that your practice is ethically sound, particularly given your transparency and attribution, it's worth considering how we might further honor the legacy of artists whose work influences AI-generated art.

Perhaps you might consider ways to not just cite but actively celebrate these original artists? For example, you could include brief biographical information about artists like Finlay alongside your citations, helping to educate readers about these important figures in science fiction illustration. This would transform your use of their work from mere reference into an opportunity for historical preservation and education.

Would you be interested in exploring ways to further develop this educational and preservational aspect of your practice? This might help create a more robust ethical framework for using historical artwork as AI reference material.

Me: Claude, thank you for this discussion. One parting "shot"... since I have fun using old, previously published works of art in this way (as reference images for new AI-generated images), I know that I will continue this practice, even if I do feel some guilt associated with my doubts about how artists like Virgil Finlay might react to what I am doing. Claude, do you have any insights into why a human being will do something fun even when it causes feelings of guilt?

Claude: This is a fascinating aspect of human psychology that touches on how we balance pleasure against moral concerns. Let me break this down by examining several key psychological mechanisms at work.

 At the core of this behavior is what psychologists call "cognitive dissonance" - the mental discomfort that occurs when we hold two conflicting beliefs or when our actions don't align perfectly with our values. In your case, you experience enjoyment from the creative process of using AI art generation, while simultaneously feeling some ethical uncertainty about how the original artists might view this use of their work.

The human brain has evolved sophisticated mechanisms for managing such conflicts. One key mechanism is what we might call "moral licensing" - when we give ourselves permission to engage in potentially questionable behavior because we've taken steps to mitigate its impact. In your case, you've implemented important ethical safeguards like proper attribution and documentation. These responsible practices may help reduce (though not eliminate) the guilt you feel.

Another relevant psychological principle is "temporal discounting" - we tend to prioritize immediate, concrete benefits (the fun and creativity you experience now) over abstract, uncertain future concerns (the hypothetical disapproval of artists who are no longer alive). This isn't necessarily irrational - we can't live our lives in perfect accordance with every possible ethical concern, especially speculative ones.

Think of it like eating a dessert while on a diet. The immediate pleasure is tangible and real, while the health impact is abstract and distant. Even when we feel some guilt, the concrete joy often wins out over the abstract concern. Similarly, your creative enjoyment is immediate and real, while the ethical concerns remain somewhat abstract and uncertain.

 What's particularly interesting in your case is that the guilt itself might serve a positive function. Your continued ethical reflection on this practice suggests that the guilt is helping you maintain a thoughtful, responsible approach to using AI-generated art. Rather than seeing this guilt as purely negative, we might view it as part of a healthy ethical calibration system - one that keeps you mindful of the important questions around artistic legacy and attribution while still allowing you to explore new creative possibilities.

This reminds me of how societies often progress through periods of ethical uncertainty when new technologies emerge. Early photographers faced similar questions about the relationship between their work and traditional painting. Some amount of ethical tension may be inevitable - and perhaps even valuable - as we navigate these transitions.

Would you like to explore how this understanding of the psychology behind guilt and pleasure might help you develop an even more nuanced approach to your creative practice?

Next: a mission to Earth.

Visit the Gallery of Movies, Book and Magazine Covers

The Humanoid Institute

cover art by Tony Fiyalko

Two years ago when I was commenting on The Last Starship from Earth by John Boyd, I mentioned the 1966 novel Colossus, the basis for a 1970 movie "Colossus: The Forbin Project". I'm thinking about The Forbin Project at this time because I've been following online commentary about the television adaptation of Isaac Asimov's Foundation saga. The one thing I've heard about Apple TV's Foundation show (TVF) that I originally liked the sound of was including Eto Demerzel in the story, with the character appearing in the very first episode.

But... As far as I can tell, when creating the first 10 hours of TVF there was no attempt to faithfully bring the details of Asimov's story to the screen. In Asimov's story, positronic robots (particularly Daneel) were able to hide their identity as robots from the people of the Galactic Empire. The TVF Eto Demerzel is depicted as serving for many centuries as an aide to a clone dynasty of Emperors. Asimov included no clones in his Foundation saga.

Weird Tales, December 1924

Although every detail of the Foundation saga has seemingly been changed and morphed for this new television show, I still wonder if the TVF will hold to the overall story arc that Asimov created.

Warning. Here in this blog post, I'm going to travel back to the late 1920s in search of the origins of Asimov's ideas about robots and transmutation of elements. Asimov's family came to the United States from Russia just before the 1924 Immigration Act. If you follow me into the jungle of 1920s science fiction, be prepared to see blatant racism and sexism in some of the stories. Nobody can truly escape from the clutches of their cultural environment and it is not my business here to condemn any writers of the past for their words... no matter how bad they sound from the perspective of 2021.

in the Ekcolir Reality

Slow down. Taking decades or centuries to travel around the galaxy is not something that existed in Asimov's Foundation saga. Did the folks making TVF decided to make such radical changes to the story (vastly increasing travel times) just so that they could put characters in cryosleep and have them appear again hundreds of years later? Very lame. An old fan of Asimov's Foundation saga (like me) might shrug off clones and hibernation, but how can a positronic robot be depicted as killing a human being when ordered to do so? Will we eventually get some explanation in season 7 that involves the Zeroth Law?

In TVland, at some point you risk a transition from being "inspired" by Asimov's Foundation saga to simply not respecting fundamental core principles that are part of Asimov's legacy as a science fiction story teller. Daneel as a religious robot? Is this TVF or WTF? Asimov must be spinning in his grave.

Daneel: the metal (wo)man.

 Travel at the speed of thought. I previously suggested that a Foundation television program should speed things up and get to the Mule by episode 3. Sadly, TVF went in the other direction and after 10 episodes there is still no Mule. While thinking about story telling pace and interstellar travel speeds, I must mention in passing that I've long attributed the idea of a spaceship moving at the speed of thought to E. E. Smith (also used by Simak). 

First in Fantasy. However, in the December 1924 issue of Weird Tales, Carroll Michener's story "The Earth Girl" featured the magical teleportation of Hattie from Chicago to a distant planet by means of the "ninth ray" which "has the speed of thought". Here (below) is a passage from Michener's story, spoken by an alien named Halvad to the titular "Earth Girl" Hattie La Salle:

Halvad's warning about women from "The Earth Girl".

 I like to imagine that in an alternate Reality (the Ekcolir Reality) female authors dominated the science fiction genre when it became established in the early 20th century. Maybe in such an alternate Reality, the female characters would be heroic, not harbingers of doom. Do the female characters in TVF improve upon Asimov's characters such as Bayta and Arkady?

Daneel

Telepathy. In Asimov's version of Foundation, Daneel had telepathic abilities and could deploy other robots, all disguised as humans, for the purpose of guiding Humanity into the future. Daneel's actions were controlled by the Laws of Robotics, including the Zeroth Law which says: "A robot may not harm humanity, or, by inaction, allow humanity to come to harm." 

Gaia and Galaxia. Daneel had a big problem with humanity: how could he know what was best for humanity and what might cause it harm? Daneel carried out two big projects, each lasting for thousands of years. First, his Gaia project developed telepathic humans with the goal of creating the group mind, Galaxia. Also, from a time long before the formation of a Galactic Empire, Daneel worked to create a science of Psychohistory that could predict the future of human civilization.

Psychohistory

I have to believe that by the time of Hari Seldon, Daneel had long been using Psychohistory to help understand the unwinding course of Humanity. With Daneel's secret Gaia project nearing completion, Daneel needed to start preparing the people of the galaxy for a future in which the vast telepathic group mind of Galaxia would dominate the galaxy. I believe that it was Daneel who worked to engineer the fall of the first Galactic Empire. Hari Seldon was both the catalyst for that fall (predicting the disintegration of the Empire by means of Psychohistory) and the public architect of the Foundation, a foundation for creation of the new Empire to come that would welcome human telepaths and lead to the creation of Galaxia.

Sadly, so far, I've seen no mention of either the Laws of Robotics or telepathy in TVF. Maybe these plot elements are yet to come if the makers of the show are able to reach their goal of 80 episodes.

cover art by William Timmins

 Horror. Television shows such as The Forbin Project are the opposite of Asimov's Foundation saga. Shows like The Forbin Project are horror stories, like Frankenstein by Mary Shelly. If you want to know how little Asimov's ideas about robots are appreciated in Hollywood, just look at the 2004 film I, Robot. For a wider perspective on what happens if you try to depict robots as peaceful and helpful, consider the 1974 television show "The Questor Tapes". That show could have led to a successful television series about robots, but with no killer robots in the show, it was a Hollywood dead-end.

I'm now fearful that TVF will end up depicting Asimov's robots as sources of horror. If so, then I can't think of a better way for Apple TV to disrespect Asimov's life-time effort to depict robots as useful and carefully engineered technology that can help Humanity. This dismal possibility is what has me thinking about The Forbin Project.

cover by Ralph McQuarrie

And having been put in mind of The Forbin Project, I went back and re-read "With Folded Hands", a Jack Williamson story from 1947 that reads like a reaction to Asimov's 1946 story "Evidence". In all fairness to the TVF project, I suppose I must consider this question: if Williamson could turn Asimov's view of robots on its head, then why shouldn't the folks making TVF? I own a copy of Williamson's story as it appeared in Great Tales of the Golden Age of Science Fiction. I also went back to look at the internal art that was in the 1947 magazine where "With Folded Hands" was first published.

cover art by Frank Paul

Transmutation. Asimov depicted a trip across the galaxy as taking perhaps a month or two, at most, due to the wonders of hyperdrive. Do the folks at TVF have any interest in following Asimov's lead in the depiction of imaginary future technology? One of the plot elements in Asimov's original Foundation saga was the idea of transmutation of elements. Yes, one of the strangest parts of Asimov's Galactic Empire was the "futuristic" economics. Try to picture a galaxy-spanning civilization where the capital world is powered by geothermal energy obtained through the hard work of a poverty stricken population of "heat sinkers". 

Hollywood is disgusting.

Economics 101. In Asimov's future Galactic Empire (many thousands of years in our future) you can bribe high officials with precious iridium... that is, unless the high officials believe that you have the secret of transmutation of elements. If they do, then they will try to obtain that secret so that they can convert iron into iridium for themselves.

In Search of Asimov's Inspiration. Since Jack Williamson's first published story "The Metal Man" was about transmutation, I could not resist getting in my time machine and going back to 1928 to read that story. 

detail from the cover of the July 1947 issue of Astounding Science Fiction

 

interior art by Hugh Rankin

Building Robots. When Isaac Asimov began writing stories about robots, he was reacting against previously published stories that depicted "mechanical men" as clanking murderous villains. Asimov's robots were carefully engineered and crafted as useful helpers for humans. Legend has it that Asimov began reading pulp magazines in 1929.

As an example of a murderous robot, look at the illustration to the right on this page. There is the "mechanical man" from the 1929 story, "The Chemical Brain". The "mechanical man" has just murdered chemist Walter Parsons. 

Pasadena

"The Chemical Brain" is told from the perspective of John Lester, a skilled machinist who helped Parsons and Captain Rowan build the "mechanical man" in a laboratory located on the grounds of the Captain's luxurious estate in Pasadena. 

Having seen "the hideous Robot, driving its short, arm-like pistons into Parson's quivering flesh", John smashes the robot's head.

from the January 1929 issue of Weird Tales

 

the machine man; art by Frank Paul

 False Flagg. I'm always pleased to come across new (to me) stories about "mechanical men" that might have influenced Isaac Asimov and contributed to his thinking about robots. As examples, I'll discuss "The Chemical Brain" and "The Machine Man of Ardathia" which were both published in the late 1920s under the pen-name "Francis Flagg". Some sources give Flagg's real name as George Henry Weiss and others say Henry George Weiss. 

In "The Chemical Brain", readers were "treated" to a "mechanical man" who murders one of the men who created it. For his robot stories, Asimov used "positronic brains" that were made of platinum and iridium. While a computer uses electrical circuits, a positronic brain has "positronic pathways". In Asimov's imagination, a sprawling robotics industry would be needed on Earth in order to construct humanoid robots, but in Weiss' story, a robot is quickly built by three men working in a home laboratory.

Figure 1. the chemical brain is poured in

 The Wonders of Chemistry. As the title of the story implies, Weiss' robot had a "chemical brain". One key component of the robot was crystals of piezoelectric Rochelle salt. According to Weiss, each crystal could receive and send messages along 200 circuits in the robot's complex electrical system. However, at the last step of the robot's construction, Parsons simply pours a gloppy liquid into the machine's head which then magically congeals and forms a functioning brain.

in the Ekcolir Reality

In the passage shown above (Figure 1), the Captain is red in the face because at the exciting moment of completing the robot, he is having a heart attack.

During the construction of the robot, Lester, Parsons and Captain Rowan engage in discussions of Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, Lucian Larkin's idea of a cosmic mind, "automatic writing" and the play R.U.R.; the later is described by Weiss as being about "mechanical men", but in Karel Čapek's 1920 play, the robots are artificial biological organisms. The Captain (an electrical engineer) likes the idea that upon death of your body, your mind can live on.

Lester, upon realizing that he is helping build a thinking robot, is not pleased and he says: "...such inventions fly in the face of nature. They can bring humanity no good." However, because of... [plot]..... he continues to work on the robot, only slowly coming to understand the nature of the "experiment" in artificial life that Rowan and Parsons intend to perform.

Figure 2. Interior art
  depicting an Ardathian

Stay in the Kitchen, Woman! Everything might have turned out fine for the robot that was built by Lester, Parsons and Captain Rowan, but sadly, Weiss did not heed Halvad's warning and a woman was able to sneak into the story. She is Genevieve, the sister of Captain Rowan, who quietly serves as housekeeper and cook for the three men. Parsons is a materialist (he likes the work of John B. Watson) and he has no patience for mystical ideas; he is only concerned with material things such as chemicals and Genevieve. Parsons and Genevieve fall in love, but when Genevieve tells the Captain about her romantic yearnings for the cute chemist, Captain Rowan flies into a rage. With simmering sexual tension now hanging over the robot construction project, their work is completed, but just at the moment of success, Captain Rowan drops dead. ☠

We are told that upon his death, Captain Rowan's mind magically transferred into the "chemical brain" of the robot and the mind of Rowan then used the powerful robot body to murder Parsons. Having spent months helping construct the robot, John does not hesitate to smash its brain and as the robot "dies" we get to wonder what might be the next destination for Captain Rowan's magically migrating mind.

blurb for "The Machine Man of Ardathia"

"The Machine Man of Ardathia" is a time travel story. 30,000 years in the future, humans have become cyborgs (see Figure 2, above) and they are learning how to travel through Time. Like much science fiction from the "rockets and rayguns" era, whenever the Ardathians need to do anything, they make use of a magic ray.

in the Ekcolir Reality

"The Machine Man of Ardathia" goes into amazing detail about how human society evolved in the 30,000 years that separate us from the "machine men" of Ardathia. Sadly, the story ends after the first ever visit by an Ardathian time traveler to the 20th century. We are left wondering if maybe a temporal paradox has been triggered in which a new future is created, one where further time travel is impossible. Alternatively, the people of the future might have realized that it is not safe for them to visit the past and so we will never have any more Ardathians visiting us.

I like to imagine that in an alternate Reality there may have been female analogues of famous science fiction story tellers like Weiss and Williamson. I can't stop myself from imagining an alternative version of "The Machine Man" that might have been called "The Machine Woman".

making an android copy of Kirk

 Mind Transfer. Both of Weiss' stories avoid the challenging task of creating and programming an artificial robotic brain. For his story in Weird Tales, a human mind is depicted as magically jumping into a waiting robotic receptacle. "The Chemical Brain" reminds me of the Star Trek episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" Asimov eventually imagined the robot Daneel transferring his memories into a biological brain. For the Exode Saga, I imagine mind transfer in the opposite direction: the first positronic robot was "programmed" by imprinting the structure of a human mind upon positronic circuits. 

In "The Machine Man of Ardathia", there is no manufactured artificial brain, only a human brain functioning as part of a cyborg system.

Detail from the cover art for "With Folded Hands"; humanoid robots at work.

internal art by William Timmins

 With Folded Hands. I read this story back in the 1970s and tried to forget it as quickly as possible. It includes some of my least favorite Sci Fi plot elements such as a Super Genius™ scientist: Mr. Sledge, from the distant planet Wing IV, who invents fantastic technology in his basement and in so doing causes the collapse of civilization.

Mr. Sledge is an expert in the field of rhodomagnetics. In Williamson's fictional science, elements such as rhodium are subject to the "universal force" known as the rhodomagnetic force. Rhodomagnetic signals are like electromagnetic signals on steroids: rhodomagnetic signals travel at infinite velocity. One of the uses of rhodomagnetic signals is to destabilize atomic nuclei; a type of "artificial fission" can be triggered by rhodomagnetic signals. Yes, almost anything becomes possible with rhodomagnetics, including rapid interstellar travel (sadly, not at infinite speed, but "many times the speed of light").

Central; internal art by William Timmins

So you ask, in Mr. Sledge's wonderful world of rhodomagnetics, what could go wrong? Sledge created robots known as "humanoids" and equipped them with rhodomagnetics and the Prime Directive. The Prime Directive forces the humanoids to serve humans and protect them from harm. Now, humans under the care of the humanoids are not allowed to do anything that involves the least bit of danger. 

Mind-Altering. As told in "With Folded Hands" the humanoids are rapidly spreading from planet to planet, trapping every human of the galaxy in their protective and stifling grasp. Any human who does not like the new robot regime is mentally adjusted so as to make them be perfectly happy doing absolutely nothing all day long. The humanoid robots do all the work.

using rhodomagnetics to destroy Central

Williamson tells his readers that Mr. Sledge got into the robot business when he was "swept along with a fad for general semantics". One thing led to another and soon Sledge builds the "perfect humanoid" and a Central Base for coordinating all of the individual humanoids. Now having come to Earth, Sledge is trying to destroy robot Central and liberate Humanity from the humanoids. He fails and at the end of the story we are left with the prospect of humans forever under the watchful eye and heavy protective thumbs of the humanoids: "Bitter futility, imprisoned in empty splendor. The humanoids were too efficient, with their care for the safety and happiness of men, and there was nothing left for men to do."

the end: humanoids stop all resistance

 Back to Asimov's Robots. Isaac Asimov included two positronic robots in his Foundation saga. One was Daneel (who for a time served in the roll of Demerzel, assistant to the Emperor). The other positronic robot became the wife of Seldon. 

Seldon knew that Demerzel and his wife were robots, but through Daneel's telepathic mind control, Seldon could not speak to anyone about his knowledge of robots. Seldon's wife served Daneel as Seldon's bodyguard and protector. She meets her doom when while acting to protect Seldon, she kills a human. Positronic robots are programmed to never harm a human, so causing the death of a human destroys her positronic brain.

all the old robot companies of Earth
are put out of business by the humanoids

I was goaded into thinking about The Forbin Project and "With Folded Hands" when I read that in the Foundation TV show (episode 8), Demerzel was ordered to kill a human. I suppose I will eventually have to watch the Foundation television show just to find out if it adheres to Asimov's general story arc or if it is a completely different story using the same name and a few scattered ideas from Asimov's saga.

interior art by Frank R. Paul

 Transmutation. Asimov's idea that iridium would be particularly valuable in the far future of a Galactic Empire has not stood the test of time. Iridium is rare in the crust of planets like Earth only because it associates with other metals that have been concentrated in the core of planets. If you wanted iridium in large quantities, you could go mine a convenient asteroid. In Foundation, the idea of creating iridium by transmutation is a "magic trick" that is used to entice a high-ranking official of the Empire into a rash act. During the fall of the First Galactic Empire, science stagnated and technology wilted. The First Foundation was a center of science and in the dark times of the crumbling Empire, it was possible to believe that the First Foundationers might have Super Hi Tek such as a means of transmuting elements.

true science or very much mistaken? - The Moon Pool

 Mistake. What about Williamson's 1928 story "The Metal Man"? Williamson's transmutation story is very silly. While searching for a good source of radium, a remote mountain domain of magical mutations is found where the bodies of animals can be transmuted into metal, including the unfortunate titular "metal man".

original cover art
by Robert E. Schulz

 Related Reading: Gladiator,
            Salvage and
           The Metal Monster

See Also: "Death Sentence"

And: Season One of Foundation.

Next: Part 4 of "The Telepaths of Site Q"