Chapter 2 Zhang Xiguo on Asimov
Asimov is the science fiction writer with the richest imagination and the most ideas in the twentieth century.It is not easy to introduce Asimov's work, because he was extremely prolific and 'had never stopped writing in his life.Many other writers, especially science fiction writers, face the plight of exhaustion and exhaustion of talent and imagination in their later years, but the asimo dog is a special case.He never seemed to be out of ideas, always had another story to tell, another idea to develop, and he's rightly called the master of twentieth-century science fiction.As for such an outstanding science fiction writer, we can't help wondering, how could he have such a rich imagination?Even if many writers keep writing, they will inevitably repeat their old works. Why is it that Asimov seldom has this problem?Is it a genius, or does he have a special way of stimulating inspiration?
To understand Asimov, one has to start with his life experience.Asimov was a Jewish businessman American, born in Russia, immigrated to the United States with his parents when he was three years old.So the United States is actually a foreign land for him, not his hometown.There is a famous Broadway musical "Fiddler on the Roof", which describes the wandering experience of Russian Jews.Those who have watched "Fiddler on the Roof" will not only be intoxicated by the beautiful songs, but also sympathize with the discrimination and persecution of the Jews everywhere.Despite living in Russia for generations, they were still considered aliens and had to immigrate to the United States.
"Experience of a foreigner" is not only an important part of Jewish consciousness, but also an important reason for cultivating a science fiction writer, Song Fan, because what is described in science fiction is the experience of a foreigner in a foreign land.It is no accident that the title of the famous work of another science fiction novelist, Heyline, who is almost as famous as Asimov, is called "The Stranger in a Strange Land".We can imagine that the young Asimov worked in the candy store opened by his father, and he knew that he was a foreigner who could not enter the mainstream American society. His world would always be different from that of others.The young Asimov could only find his own inner world.At this time, he came into contact with science fiction magazines, and the people in them were all foreigners like him!He understands that the sci-fi world is different from the normal world. It is a system of its own, with its own laws and even its own language.Asimov discovered science fiction, as if he had discovered a new world, and he became obsessed with science fiction from then on, and remained forever.His experience also explains why many science fiction writers and fans of science fiction were lonely children who were out of gregariousness when they were young.Many important science fiction writers in the United States are Jewish, so it is completely understandable.
The world of science fiction is a foreign world of foreigners, which brings readers a unique aesthetic experience—the so-called aesthetic feeling of alienation.This kind of aesthetic experience must rely on the reader's imagination to complete.For example, Asimov's most popular short story "Night Return" tells the story of the Taining world, which has a real night only once in two thousand years. The crazy world is of course a world created by novelists with ingenuity: but when we imagine how the people in this world face the stars in the first dark night of our life experience, we have to be in harmony with the people in the Taining world. All trembling, this kind of aesthetic experience is the realm of poetry, so the most outstanding science fiction novels, whether they are novels or short stories, ultimately bring people a poetic transcendence realm.In this sense, science fiction and martial arts novels are completely different.Although both allow readers to temporarily escape from reality, the world of martial arts novels is still the human world (Jin Yong’s most popular martial arts novels are still full of references and metaphors to the human world), while the world of science fiction novels is no longer the human world.
Since the sci-fi world is carefully created by novelists, there are many sci-fi props in it.That's why people tend to think that only those who understand science can write or appreciate science fiction. In fact, there are many scientists with no creativity in the world, and it is really difficult for these people to use their imagination.Perhaps it is a great misfortune that science fiction is hindered by the word "science", which makes people who have a sense of fear of science daunted.What I want to emphasize is that if we can appreciate poetry, we can also appreciate science fiction.When we read the sentence "white hair three thousand feet", we don't ask whether the poet's hair really grows to three thousand feet.The same can be done for sci-fi props that often appear in science fiction novels, such as spaceships, time travel, etc.
Good science fiction writers give readers an aesthetic sense of alienation, and what they admire is the fantasy factor.If we want to distinguish between science fiction and general novels, we can say that science fiction must have fantasy factors to stimulate readers' imagination.But once this fantasy factor is exhausted and becomes a cliché, the effect will be greatly reduced if it is continued to be used in later science fiction novels.Just like our evaluation of poets, the first one who wrote "Spring Breeze Greens the South Bank of the River" is a genius, the second one who wrote "Spring Breeze Greens the South Bank of the River" is Changcai, and the third one is a mediocrity!So the best science fiction writers are poets at heart.The poet twists off several stems in order to recite a word. Of course, what science fiction writers care about is not to recite a word, but to find new fantasy because Song Fan is also looking for new ideas.
Asimov is undoubtedly a master in this way, and his important science fiction novels can present refreshing fantasy, which has become a model for later science fiction novels.The reason why the master is a master is because he can turn decay into magic with one shot.His three major series—robots, empires, and bases—each have their own "tricks and wonders". Even though we are very familiar with his works now, we still have to admire his originality.Now let's talk about why Asimov had such a rich imagination?The person who tied the bell is needed to untie the bell. Perhaps the best explanation comes from Asimov's self-report.He once said that the inspiration for writing the series came from the subway:
"In August 1941, the Second World War had broken out for two years. Two months ago, the German army invaded the Soviet Union. Four
In a month's time, Japan will raid Pearl Harbor... Europe is struggling in the flames of war, and the whole world is shrouded in the shadow of Hitler...
"However, on the first of August, on a subway train in New York, something else occupied my mind.
"I had just turned twenty-one, and I was a chemistry student at the Columbia Institute for Human Sciences, and I'd already written three-wife fantasy. That
Today I made an appointment to see the editor-in-chief of the magazine, Campbell, and discuss with him the outline of my next novel to see if he would like to adopt it.
The problem is, until then, I had no idea what to write.
"Once in the car, I decided to try a method that I do occasionally: pick a book at random, turn to a page, and look at the first
What I see inspires me.I happened to bring this anthology of musical dramas with me that day. I opened a page at random, and the
It is a picture of Ting Bing and his lover; Ting Bing reminds me of the Military Empire, and from the Military Empire to the Roman Empire,
The Roman Empire reminds me of the Galactic Empire again - aha!Why don't I write a story about the fall and fall of a galactic empire!after all,
Not only have I read Gibbon's "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", but I have read it three times!
This story is not only interesting, but also reveals Asimov's secret.The way he finds inspiration is actually to use random associations.In another article "Where did so much inspiration come from", Asimov further explained random association:
"If you want to remember event A, you will associate A with another more obvious event B; then next time you see B, you will immediately think of A in reverse. Ancient Chinese knotting records, that is, Apply this principle. However, the above-mentioned association is a deliberate combination of information. According to my personal observation, human beings will continue to randomly combine various information semi-consciously. Some people are good at analyzing useful parts from these messy combinations , which is where creativity and originality come from.”
Asimov, who liked to invent various laws the most, wrote this method into two laws:
Law 1: A person must have a lot of information in all aspects, that is, he must be erudite before he can invent unprecedented ideas.
Law 2: A person must be good at combining information and be able to analyze the meaning of various combinations, that is, he must be smart enough to invent unprecedented ideas.
In addition to erudition and intelligence, Asimov also proposed intuition, courage and luck as the five elements of originality.Using these five elements to analyze Asimov himself could not be more appropriate.Asimov is well-read, rich in association, and good at using intuition, so he always has fresh ideas.He gave up his tenure-track teaching job to write science fiction novels that most people thought were unrefined at the time, which is extremely courageous.Then again, he was also lucky. When he started writing at a young age, he ran into the editor-in-chief, Campbell, who was the most willing to promote and has many ideas.It is not bad at all that there is Bole and then there is Maxima in the world!Without Campbell's guidance, Asimov would not have written "Night Return" and became famous in one fell swoop.This is a good time in American science fiction literature.Asimov attributed this to luck. In fact, it would be better to add a sixth element in addition to the five elements: good teachers and good friends.But what is interesting is that when Asimov talked about originality, he only emphasized "bold assumptions" but ignored "careful verification", so he was a novelist rather than a scientist after all.
In this way, Asimoda is not only a genius, after all, he also has a set of methods to stimulate inspiration, so that creativity will flow endlessly.The ancients said that "traveling thousands of miles is better than reading thousands of books", which is also true.If a person has read thousands of volumes of books and traveled thousands of miles, and random external stimuli constantly trigger his associations, he will naturally write like a god!
But creativity is important. If you don't have a gritty personality and a real love of writing, you won't be able to write as many kinds of fiction and non-fiction as Asimov did.Asimov's works are too many and too complicated, which is certainly his shortcoming, but also his strength.Most creative people are curious by nature, and it is difficult to specialize in the same thing, because they are interested in everything, do this today, and do that tomorrow when they get bored.Therefore, some writers (such as Flaubert) spend their entire lives writing only one book, but enjoy eternal fame; some writers have to write hundreds of books in their lifetime to win the reputation of masters.This is different in nature and cannot be forced. It is hard to say who is superior and who is inferior.As far as Asimov is concerned, he can only be Asimov, not Flaubert.
However, looking at Asimov's works, there is still a certain thread to be found—starting from the sigh of the rise and fall of human history, and then exploring the issue of historical determinism and the free will of human beings (including robots).
Although Asimov's random association has been mentioned above, Asimov put forward a bold idea during the creation process.This fantasy is called "psychohistory" by Song Fan himself, which is to use very obvious mathematical methods to conduct statistical research on various trends.Asimov predicted that psychohistory could, with a high degree of accuracy, foresee general trends in social movements that might occur in the future.
The conception is obviously based on the viewpoint of historic determinism, but if the direction of change of human beings as a whole can be predicted, does individual free will still exist?Asimov quoted the kinetic theory of gas and replied: the random motion of a single molecule cannot be predicted, but if the motion of all gas molecules is analyzed, the law of motion of the gas can be derived and an absolute conclusion can be drawn.
Such an answer may not be completely satisfactory (after all, gas molecules are different from people, and have no consciousness or will), but the stories of the trilogy are undoubtedly fascinating and have become extremely popular classics among Asimov's novels.
Coincidentally, the historian Toynbee was also inspired during his travels and created the theory of "challenge/response".Toynbee then spent decades writing "A Study in History" to prove his theory.Asimov came up with the story of the decline and fall of the Galactic Empire in the subway, and then added the theory of psychohistory, and even borrowed Toynbee's theory, based on which he wrote the fictional history of "Empire" and the series: these two The two stories are very interesting. One person starts from the real history, and the other enters the fictional history, but the original starting point of the two is the association inspired by the travel process.
Asimov's other well-known series "Robots", although the structure and boldness of the story is not as good as "Empire" and the series, it has a profound impact on the science fiction world and robotics engineering.Some critics believe that Asimov wrote robot novels and created good robots to replace the evil robots of the past.In fact, before Asimov, many sci-fi writers wrote that robots were not all evil robots, even the robots in "Molobo Listening Island" also had a kind side.I think Asimov's most important contribution was the creation of robots with consciousness but no free will, which was never imagined by past science fiction writers.
In the past, robots were either just machines, or human beings with mere machine shells.Asimov's robots are obviously not just machines, because they have consciousness, can think and make their own decisions.But these robots do not have free will, and all their actions are subject to the "Three Laws of Robotics".
The "Three Laws of Robotics" are safety measures for humans to control robots, but robots also lose their free will.Robots are not only not allowed to hurt people, they don’t even have the right to commit suicide (because suicide violates the third law)!But do robots really lose their free will because of this?Not really, Asimov himself wrote the robot novel "Liar", in which Herbie the robot misinterprets the meaning of "harm".In order to avoid (psychological) harm to human beings, Herbie kept lying to cater to human self-esteem and vanity, but did not realize that deception actually hurts more.
The more serious misinterpretation of the three laws is to emphasize the importance of the first law: in order to prevent human beings from harming each other, human beings have to be put under house arrest (locked in the underground world, locked in the greenhouse...), and everything is controlled by robots.Robots can not listen to human orders, because when the second law conflicts with the first law, the second law is invalid.In this way, human beings become pets raised by robots instead, losing their free will!
Sure enough, there are loopholes in these three laws, but it allows Asimov and thousands of science fiction writers in later generations to take advantage of the loopholes to create infinitely varied storylines.Until now, we still read from time to time in science fiction novels citing the Three Laws of Robotics, which shows the far-reaching influence of Asimov's idea.
Asimov's death marked the end of the post-war generation of science fiction writers.The post-war generation of science fiction writers such as Asimov and Clark is equivalent to the enlightenment masters of the Renaissance.These people are knowledgeable, imaginative, optimistic about science, concerned about the big problems of the future of mankind, and write science fiction with a rational attitude, mainly reflecting the worldview of Caucasians.Subsequent science fiction writers became more colorful, more able to reflect a diverse and multi-ethnic worldview, and their scope of concern also changed, and they even wrote science fiction with a perceptual attitude.But the master is gone, the master is still here.As with other types of literature, it is the works that stand the test of time that are truly handed down.Asimov's science fiction novels have attracted generations of readers. These classic works are now translated into Chinese by Ye Lihua and others, and the English Hansheng Publishing Co., Ltd. carefully produced and launched them. It is really an exciting event. I believe readers will like this A set of works, never tired of reading.
January 23, 1995