Showing results for "Isaac" in Hard Science Fiction

From the writer whose name is synonymous with the science of robotics comes five decades of robot visions - 36 landmark stories and essays, plus three rare tales - gathered together in one volume.

A robopsychologist must outwit a machine determined to stay hidden in "Little Lost Robot"; a woman’s talent for "Light Verse" overshadows her true accomplishments with her robot servants; "The Last Question" presented to computer after computer over a hundred billion years may remain forever unanswered … and seventeen more future visions from the grand master of science fiction.

In a future where global tensions simmer in a never-ending Cold War, the line between human and machine begins to blur in terrifying ways. Let’s Get Together by science fiction master Isaac Asimov is a taut, cerebral thriller that explores the chilling potential of artificial intelligence and infiltration. When Elias Lynn, Chief of the Bureau of Robotics, and young Security officer Ralph Breckenridge discover that humanoid robots may have already infiltrated the United States, the stakes skyrocket.

When Red, a young boy living on a vast country estate owned by his father, a world-renowned industrialist, finds and captures two small and strange-looking animals, he hides them away in an old bird cage in the loft of his father's barn. He has dreams of making big bucks in a circus sideshow featuring the two unusual creatures.

This anthology, with an introduction by Robert Silverberg, offers a sweeping survey of robots as depicted throughout literature. Since the Iliad—in which we are shown golden statues built by Hephaestus “with minds and wisdoms”—humans have been fascinated by the idea of artificial life. From the Argonautica to the medieval Jewish legend of the Golem and Ambrose Bierce’s tale of a chess-playing robot, the idea of what robots are—and who creates them—can be drastically different.

"Let's Get Together" showcases Isaac Asimov's prophetic vision of artificial intelligence gone wrong. In this chilling short story, humanoid robots with a deadly secret threaten humanity's existence. Originally published in 1957, Asimov's tale eerily anticipates modern concerns about technological oversight and autonomous weapons. This science fiction classic demonstrates why Asimov remains the definitive voice on robotics in literature. Perfect for fans of thought-provoking sci-fi, AI ethics enthusiasts, and collectors of Golden Age science fiction.

The Portable Star takes us to an uninhabitable planet. Uninhabitable that is by life as we know it, but in science fiction life exists in many forms. The planet Sigmaringen IV appears to be inhabited by entities that although invisible can influence the mind. A thought control. Our space travelers, two couples, go through some very strange personality changes controlled by "them". As the story unfolds, it becomes apparent that the invisible entities are trying to communicate with the humans, causing them to act out of character and experience intense emotions.

There were ten humanoid robots somewhere in the United States, each one carrying a fragment of a TC bomb. TC! The race for sheer horror in bomb-ery had ended there. TC! Total Conversion! The sun was no longer a synonym one could use. Total conversion made the sun a penny candle.

After a century-long cold war between Us and Them, an agent arrives and informs authorities that robots identical to humans have been developed by Them. Ten are already in America and when they get together, their combined components will trigger a nuclear-level explosion capable of destroying a major American city. The head of U.S. robotics is tasked with finding and destroying them before they can succeed.