Legacy of Isaac Asimov
By: Dane Hall and Madison Smith
Isaac Asimov was a great writer and a true visionary in the science-fiction genre. Not only was he a writer, but he was also a futurist, a scholar, and a teacher through his writings. In his lifetime Asimov wrote over 500 works in many categories, “including nonfiction essays on scientific and philosophical topics, general history, and annotated works on the Bible and other literary classics (CSI),” along with his science fiction stories. He believed that two things that science fiction needed was, one, a warning about how our world could actually turn out if we are not careful, and two, to provide readers with a good foundation to be cautious about the line between too little technology and too much. His greatest strength as a teacher was that he was able to fully explain to his students what exactly he was talking about in each of his stories. The legacy of Asimov is that he educated many people on the dangers of technology and the future, cautioning them that progressing too fast is bad, but not progressing can be destructive as well.
Asimov has an entire magazine dedicated to up and coming writers called “Asimov’s Science Fiction.” It was started by a man who wanted to honor Asimov and to give science fiction writers a place to begin. At first, Asimov did not want any part of it and refused to allow his name to be used; eventually he gave in and the magazine was started. This magazine has helped writers like, Ursula LeGuin, Orson Scott Card, and many others get their start in the science fiction world. Asimov has three distinct awards named after him. The first one being The Isaac Asimov Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Short Story Writing, which was later renamed the Dell Magazines Award. The award was started by “Asimov's Science Fiction” and the International Association for the Fantastic in the Arts. It is an annual award open to undergraduate college students and is awarded to the author of the best science fiction or fantasy short story. The next award is the Isaac Asimov award created by CSICOP in 1994 to “to honor Asimov for his extraordinary contributions to science and humanity". The first recipient of this award was Carl Sagan, a friend of Isaac Asimov. The last award is the Isaac Asimov Award created by the American Humanist Association in 1988. Many of Asimov’s works influenced the public in general. Such as through changing the way the sci-fi genre was viewed, making it more popular, changing the way people thought about technology and much more.
One work of literature can have a large impact on the world. A dozen can completely transform it. Isaac Asimov wrote or edited over 500 books and an estimated 90,000 postcards or letters. In addition, these works were not limited to a single genre, but instead ranged from humor to sci-fi, popular science to mystery or even romance. With such a volume of published material in so many different fields, Asimov has had a very tangible impact on many aspects of the modern world- particularly its literature, view of science, and culture in general.
Asimov was well known as a writer of both science fiction and popular science, and it is in these genres that he left the largest impact- stylistically and content-wise. John Jenkins, who reviewed almost all of Asimov’s writings, once said that “It has been pointed out that most science fiction writers since the 1950s have been affected by Asimov, either modeling their style on his or deliberately avoiding anything like his style.” (Jenkins 1) Simply by virtue of having published so many widely-read science fiction works, Asimov defined the style of the genre of science fiction. Furthermore, his broad readership also allowed him to make important changes to the genre in terms of content. For example, before Asimov, robots were almost always portrayed in science fiction as metal versions of the monster in Frankenstein, always turning on their creators. Asimov decided that he would buck the trend, and invented Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics- a moral code that is implemented into the “positronic” robot brains that governs their behavior in Asimov’s universe (he also invented the term ‘robotics’). He humanized them, and this can be seen in many influential depictions of robots since then- C3PO, Optimus Prime, etc. In addition, he shifted the entire genre away from a focus on gadgets and more towards “social sci-fi,” in which a sociological perspective is taken in the writing process. In popular science writing, Asimov was a genius, explaining difficult and complex concepts in a way that anyone could understand. He was the widely agreed-upon best science writer of his time, and his status as an elite allowed him to greatly influence other writers on the subject. Almost all aspects of modern science writing can be traced in some way back to Asimov- his influence was that extensive.
His science works were so widely read that they actually managed to sway public opinion on science in general. For one, his new view of robotics- which he also wrote about in his science works- gave rise to an intense American fascination with the field, and this has led to the modern availability of all kinds of robots. He also had an impact on broader scientific subjects, writing several popular and influential wide-ranging scientific reference books.
Finally, the works of Isaac Asimov have left their mark on modern culture. There’s hardly a single household in the United States that doesn’t know what “Star Wars” is, and the impact of Asimov can be seen even in the design of its robots! Science fiction and popular science books have a definite impact on contemporary scientific and public thought, and these genres were shaped severely by Asimov- meaning that he is still influencing scientific and public thought today, shaping the world of the future from the grave.