In this short story, a technician Aub demonstrates a revolutionary method of computation without computers, called graphitics, which impresses military leaders. As Aub’s abilities are explored, the potential for human computation to replace machines in warfare becomes evident. However, Aub struggles with the ethical implications of his discovery, ultimately leading to his tragic decision to end his life, while Programmer Shuman revels in the newfound power of the human mind and embraces the capabilities of human thought.The story raises questions about the moral responsibility of inventors and the potential misuse of their creations.
Stories for 'Isaac Asimov'
Sorted by date of original publication
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A grad student is asked to solve a math puzzle by his professor in order to win his daughter’s hand in marriage.
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A short story where one of the character named Lije Baley encounters two robots telling contradictory stories about a dispute between mathematicians Dr. Humboldt and Dr. Sabbat. The Three Laws of Robotics prevent robots from lying, complicating the investigation. Both mathematicians claim the same revolutionary idea, leading to a stalemate. Baley interviews the robots, discovering one robot is lying to protect its master's reputation. Ultimately, Baley deduces that Dr. Humboldt is guilty of plagiarism based on the robots' responses and human behavioral analysis.
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A story about decoding a short string of numbers, which is the combination to open a safe.
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A tax auditor at the IRS, who is a devoted family man, narrates to a group of gentlemen about one of his solved cases, in which a mathematician with no family adopts a false identity as a computer serviceman and goes on to reprogram a main computer, ultimately receiving huge tax returns while paying no taxes.
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In “The Missing Item,” the Black Widowers Society debates Emmanuel Rubin’s rejected story about a locksmith conspiracy, sparking a discussion on belief systems. Jonathan Thatcher voices concerns about his wife’s involvement with the Mars-focused Tri-Luciferian cult. Analyzing the cult leader’s claims, the group identifies the omission of Earth’s Moon, exposing flaws in the cult’s ideology.
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A story where a recurring character from "Black Widower" mysteries, Tom Trumbull, seeks to persuade an unconventional mathematician—who is simultaneously tackling Goldbach's conjecture—that his secret password lacks security and that combinations are crucial for creating a robust password.
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A small mystery about guessing a telephone number from two simple clues.
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A short story about how the police find and detonate a real bomb with the help of clues received through a series of fake bomb threat letters mailed to various New York reporters from different publications. The police manage to crack the mystery about the exact location of real bomb by tracing the source of letters.
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A short story in which the central characters discuss an infinite set of numbers and their spellings, and how to arrange them in an alphabetical order, and from they infer this how to guess the next number in the alphabetical sequence.