I, Asimov
“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.”
I grabbed a screen from this YouTube video and played with it in PSP for We’re Here!
Asimov wasn’t a Robot, but our group for the day is dedicated to him: I ROBOT.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGib6vIuVds
Fun facts:
- Isaac Asimov was the son of a Russian immigrant who owned a candy shop in Brooklyn.
- He wrote over 500 books, both scientific and in the science fiction genre. He is most famous for the “I, Robot” and “Foundation” series.
- Asimov won more than a dozen annual awards for particular works of science fiction and a half-dozen lifetime awards.
- Asimov was his own secretary, typist, indexer, proofreader, and literary agent.
- He received 14 honorary doctorate degrees from universities.
- Asimov coined the terms "robotics" and “positronic”.
- President of the American Humanist Association.
- Asimov was a claustrophile: he enjoyed small, enclosed spaces.
- He was afraid of flying and took only 2 flights in his life.
- Participated in The Wolfe Pack, a group of devotees of the Nero Wolfe mysteries
- Prominent member of The Baker Street Irregulars, the leading Sherlock Holmes society.
- Joined the Dutch Treat Club in 1971, a group that met for lunch every Tuesday at the Regency Hotel in New York.
- A P. G. Wodehouse fan, and a member of The Wodehouse Society. The club formed the basis for his Black Widower mystery short stories.
- Member of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society, and occasionally served as toastmaster at benefit shows.
- Member, and notable critic, of Mensa.
- Founding member of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, CSICOP (now the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry).
- In a 1971 satirical piece, The Sensuous Dirty Old Man, Asimov wrote: "The question then is not whether or not a girl should be touched. The question is merely where, when, and how she should be touched.” Unhappily, Asimov's actual behavior, as a leading science-fiction author and personality, contributed to an undesirable atmosphere for women in the male-dominated science fiction community.
- Asimov became a staunch supporter of the Democratic Party during the New Deal, and thereafter remained a political liberal.
- Died of HIV, Contracted from a blood transfusion in 1983. This was the early days of AIDS / HIV, and a time of great fear and stigma. His condition was kept secret until 10 years after his death in 1992.
www.britannica.com/biography/Isaac-Asimov
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov
www.themarginalian.org/2013/08/13/isaac-asimov-religion-s...
www.asimovonline.com/asimov_FAQ.html
I, Asimov
“The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.”
I grabbed a screen from this YouTube video and played with it in PSP for We’re Here!
Asimov wasn’t a Robot, but our group for the day is dedicated to him: I ROBOT.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGib6vIuVds
Fun facts:
- Isaac Asimov was the son of a Russian immigrant who owned a candy shop in Brooklyn.
- He wrote over 500 books, both scientific and in the science fiction genre. He is most famous for the “I, Robot” and “Foundation” series.
- Asimov won more than a dozen annual awards for particular works of science fiction and a half-dozen lifetime awards.
- Asimov was his own secretary, typist, indexer, proofreader, and literary agent.
- He received 14 honorary doctorate degrees from universities.
- Asimov coined the terms "robotics" and “positronic”.
- President of the American Humanist Association.
- Asimov was a claustrophile: he enjoyed small, enclosed spaces.
- He was afraid of flying and took only 2 flights in his life.
- Participated in The Wolfe Pack, a group of devotees of the Nero Wolfe mysteries
- Prominent member of The Baker Street Irregulars, the leading Sherlock Holmes society.
- Joined the Dutch Treat Club in 1971, a group that met for lunch every Tuesday at the Regency Hotel in New York.
- A P. G. Wodehouse fan, and a member of The Wodehouse Society. The club formed the basis for his Black Widower mystery short stories.
- Member of the Gilbert and Sullivan Society, and occasionally served as toastmaster at benefit shows.
- Member, and notable critic, of Mensa.
- Founding member of the Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal, CSICOP (now the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry).
- In a 1971 satirical piece, The Sensuous Dirty Old Man, Asimov wrote: "The question then is not whether or not a girl should be touched. The question is merely where, when, and how she should be touched.” Unhappily, Asimov's actual behavior, as a leading science-fiction author and personality, contributed to an undesirable atmosphere for women in the male-dominated science fiction community.
- Asimov became a staunch supporter of the Democratic Party during the New Deal, and thereafter remained a political liberal.
- Died of HIV, Contracted from a blood transfusion in 1983. This was the early days of AIDS / HIV, and a time of great fear and stigma. His condition was kept secret until 10 years after his death in 1992.
www.britannica.com/biography/Isaac-Asimov
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Asimov
www.themarginalian.org/2013/08/13/isaac-asimov-religion-s...
www.asimovonline.com/asimov_FAQ.html