INTERVIEW WITH ISAAC ASIMOV

[@1king4all]

Asimov would have been the perfect speaker for humanity. He certainly still to this day has my vote.

[@danielshevlin4159]

Him and Sagan as a duo

[@paulm6081]

If aliens come and I had to choose a speaker for humanity I'd choose a living guy but that's just me

[@captainpharaoh]

@@danielshevlin4159 Throw in Neil deGrasse Tyson and Bill Nye and you've got a team of geniuses.

[@ANT96-x8d]

5:03 my response to those who criticize Y The Last Man

[@colig54]

His short stories are the best i've ever read. I read them when i was 15. Totally amazing. His range of imagination was unsurpassed. My favourite writer. This man is my hero. An absolutely indisputable legend. And for me, the greatest ever.

[@ValseInstrumentalist]

"I'm not very brave." Glad to hear an intelligent person admit this.

[@SamuelDaram]

Love the bit around 12 mins where Asimov says "I'm only happy when I'm writing." I could listen and watch him talk all day and night. Men like Asimov must live forever. Thanks to people like you who posted this video, he can be with us.

[@Tonithenightowl]

That was his gift, he could relate to ppl that were not scientists or academics. He could explain so that the average person would understand. What an imagination despite his science background. I admire his intelligence tempered with humility.

[@hola25251212]

All asimov interviews should be protected as human patrimony, thank you for uploading it

[@dautonmolko]

This is awesome. He was a genius. Brazil says hello master!

[@ozzell]

Asimov's Foundation series' really opened my eyes to science fiction. I LOVE his scientific and excellently phased stroytelling. The story becomes so grand scale when you read of the Foundation growing trough time and the Empire and civilization slowly crumbling. It's so inspiring and epic!

[@reinforcedpenisstem]

It's breathtaking.

[@Scienceorc]

Indeed. Isaac Asimov descended from his throne on mount Olympus and stood among us mere mortals for one human life span. One day, he will return as an android. The world is waiting impatiently.

[@haylo2000]

I love him!

[@rockedthecrapout]

Dr. Asimov's legacy is great!

[@K.D.Fischer_HEPHY]

Gee.. this man is beautiful.

[@BakeToRise]

Asimov's intellect never ceases to amaze.

[@Ekryton]

Thank you guys for making this little gem available! It's curious to see Asimov so humble about his own work (which he usually wasn't). I just wish he could have left us more of those wondrous robot stories! Oh, and let's forgive him about the year 2000 thing...

[@TheGrapplingMonkey]

Wow... i like the distinction he makes between Fantasy and Sci-Fi. "You can depart from science, but you have to have an excuse. Otherwise you are insulting the intellegent writer" Brilliant!

[@TheCrossroads533]

Aside from the fact that Sy Bourgin (no doubt a nice chap and family man) is the dullest interview host since an NBC-TV camera was turned on an empty studio chair after Jack Paar walked off the Tonight Show set, it's still always fun to relive Asimov again and again. During this interview, it looked like Asimov was so surprised, well, flabbergasted, that the interviewer didn't prepare enough to even have the title of the novel "Fantastic Voyage" on hand, it caught him off guard. What a pregnant pause! Asimov's comments on coal and gas reserves: even at current rates of consumption, they will last many millennia. I don't think many experts (won't even include the peak oil kooks) worry about running out of the stuff so much today, but rather what affect burning fossil fuels has on the atmosphere. However, Asimov addressed the greenhouse effect in several other interviews on You Tube. My parting shot: Was the late Newsweek journalist Sy Bourgin really named Cybourgin?

[@pendulumdistinction2494]

You are hilarious and partially correct. Ultimately, people are who they are and we only know what we know. The beauty is that because of this one individual, our message lands in the way that it does. Otherwise, this interview may of not happened. Sometimes we have to work with what we got. The magical thing is that we are here to discuss this online and share with others. The same things he was mentioning beforehand, so things have to take shape before they can materialize. But you're absolutely right!

[@OhManTFE]

My left ear loved this.

[@kristiandoon8976]

Brilliant man

[@jamieshelley6079]

i just loved the bit where he states that books that he writes then will have no relevance today, just finished reading caves of steel written 1965 i believe, more relevant now than then :D

[@1interesting2]

Great upload. I really got a lot out of this

[@PP-PIG]

my right ear is lonly

[@WingedSoda]

Lol I totally know how you feel xD

[@wifimonkey]

ah I figured it was just my headset... I was getting pissed... however I read the comments...

[@freeyourmindtc]

Yes, I agree the foundation was awesome, The vast Galactic Empire, composed of 25 million worlds and quadrillions of human beings. Thanks for freeing my mind Isaac. Peace

[@thegarden5798]

A genius born in Russia with New York accent ... one of a kind!

[@pendulumdistinction2494]

Awesome right? Life is beautiful like that. It cannot be explained. It is what it is. Definitely one of a kind! Gift!

[@SamuelDaram]

Thank you to 'PublicResourceOrg' for uploading this interview with Asimov. The great man starts to talk after 3:25 mins.

[@twinboost]

he's is a sci fi genius with the look of Graham from the goodies

[@hemmerlind]

Who ever made the set design and graphic design for this show, should have a hug

[@quidnick]

I've started reading the Foundation series, and the Robot series... they're awesome!

[@cojaysea]

He eventually finished with 500 books more or less.

[@KSATica]

Most of what Isaac Asimov speaks is true based on his work.

[@ChristIllusion024]

not a big fan of sci fi but this man is a genius history writer i highly recomend The Greeks and The Roman Empire.... Rip Isaac Asimov!

[@ratonsito2836]

Good to hear that Asimov knew about Stanislaw Lem. Although Asimov was probably the most productive and successful writer, Lem was the better, intellectually more challenging, more literate writer IMO.

[@pendulumdistinction2494]

Two different temperatures.

[@KethamBodds]

Hearing the man speak is music.

[@pendulumdistinction2494]

100%!

[@darrenporter4240]

The three laws of robotics. Exactly the movie irobot.

[@Mashuga31]

those problems back in the 70s he so briefly spoke about were never solved by 2000. and theyve only grown worse since. dystopia here we come.

[@captainsman]

That must've been the longest introduction in Television history.

[@HighfireX]

Its past year 2000. We haven't yet met the expectations of the Dr. We must correct this.

[@pendulumdistinction2494]

Who did the music at the beginning and end of the program?

[@sebastian20000001]

The vision of the future came to his mind in a so clearly manner that it is difficult to ignore that time travel do exists, but not physically, instead are the signals which contains such information which constantly arrived to the brain of this man. And not only him, numerous evidences of the same pattern happen constantly.

[@Scienceorc]

I agree. Mass effect is excellent science fiction. We need more like it.

[@Zelomeisterdude]

There was something about the interviewer that seemed vaguely familiar to me and then at one point he laughed and it was then it occurred to me that it felt as though Asimov was being interviewed by a much older Sheldon Cooper from Big Bang Theory!

[@markaaron9957]

I'm shocked, I'd never heard him speak but I'd seen photos for decades and expected a much deeper voice.

[@mangamasterman]

The chap conducting the interview kept interrupting our dear Asimov's answers.

[@pendulumdistinction2494]

Poor guy couldn't help himself.

[@MisterSplendy]

Never will we have a treasure like Asimov again.

[@leemcmeekin3868]

I have quite a number of Dr. A's books on my shelves. I note he pronounces the 'o' differently in 'robotics' than in 'robot.'

[@valhala56]

Outcome 1, extinction. He pretty much nailed it.

[@elchafa337]

22:43 - until the end is a very brilliant perspective.

[@mr.g673]

A great man...

[@BankruptMonopoly]

I started reading foundation today. Planning to read part 2 tomorrow.

[@ritesh193]

I' m scared to think what Dr. Asimov said of the "Solving the problems we face today by the year 2000 " We now know we have still not solved the problems(Global Warming,Nuclear Proliferation etc ..) In fact we made everything worse than ever before ....Even what he said of NYC lying in ruins seemed somewhat true after seeing the SEPTEMBER 11 attacks ...I just pray not all what he says come to be true and we put aside petty differences and prosper in become a truely galactic civilization.

[@rauld9738]

How did they make him look so tall in the princess bride?

[@Bachvent]

left audio output >

[@Sarusource]

This is a superb!

[@liberispuritatem]

23:14 "I am Simon Bourgin...*highly uncomfortable pause and stare*"

[@chugg159]

For the love of god, someone convert this to mono and repost it.

[@BenjamminClark]

"Robit"

[@watchmanschannelofdespair]

It's a damn shame Asimov caught HIV through a blood transfusion during heart surgery, he had more books to write, if not for dying prematurely.

[@rachendrapyakurel9143]

Victor Caught?

[@tabibnialawfirm]

Agreed. Asimov died at only 72. But he seemed like the type who would have been sharp well into his 90s.

[@Ou8y2k2]

The video sounds like it only has a left channel audio signal.

[@Kamfrenchie]

Honestly bioware droped the ball on ME3, and they pretty much ignored their own lore. With such an... unsatisfying ending I don't see how they can expand on it, since everyone will know how it ends

[@TimofAwsome]

True, Edge set up the "give hero 3 choices to determine the future of humanity: destroy (foundation) control (second foundation) and synthesis (Gaia)". Although the magic intution that made him always right was a little silly as well.

[@method1024]

Brilliant

[@paumux]

2:30 min for introduction and Asimov is falling asleep

[@seanmchugh298]

I don't think Asimov likes the interviewer and won't give too much away, indeed Bourgin doesn't seem to look him in the eye as he speaks. But why are Asimov's hands and feet so tense?

[@Peralisc]

he had a great burden on his shoulders, as he was to some extent considered an example to follow, he really had to be careful with what he says as many people had their eyes on him ...

[@Christianlvm22]

I would like to see a book of him writer by help an IA in this year

[@RiotforPeacePlz]

Pretty sure I know which future we are heading towards...

[@aaqilian]

Asimov Rules! miss ya god!

[@melshorse]

Dr. Asimov said over and over again, time travel was not possible.

[@WarVideo]

@MrDeppness “Don’t set out to raze all shrines-you’ll frighten men. Enshrine mediocrity, and the shrines are razed”- Quote from Ellsworth Toohey from Ayn Rands novel The Fountainhead

[@ViviLiberoOMuori]

Nobody could have ever known, in the history of mankind, that we could have gone from the first flight of man, by the wright bros, to moon travel in 66 yrs. Progress varies throughout history, but this is the first time in mankind, where we went from man-made flight to space travel in such a short time. Humanity caused that, intelligence caused that. Gov't helped fund it at the end of it, but shouldn't be credited for creating it as a whole. It would have happened regardless no matter the source

[@centy64]

@MrAdvancedAtheist The first part that jumped out at me was on about page 2 where the character is paying for things with coins..

[@Scienceorc]

I didn't. The fact that it's story (except for ME3 ending) is fundamentally influenced by player choice makes it non predictable.

[@granddad2002]

Asimov taught me how to read. The only thing I find 'incorrect' is that the Year 2000 has any significance in human development. Each of us live and die according to our resources and resolve. Isaac came from an age where the educated were self-made, as opposed to our current generation where the culture doesn't want any challenges, just results that are forgettable in a month!

[@sonjaholmes7163]

re shrinking: not enough atoms to have a complex enough brain... what if you folded the atoms into higher dimensions, so only a portion of them exist in this dimension, just enough to interact with surrounding objects, but most of the computing power happens "elsewhere". the shrunken body becomes an avatar of sorts - merely an interface to this dimension. then you're not actually shrinking the atoms of the brain, just changing the way they interact with the body. and then you also don't have all that pesky mass clunking around in someone's arteries. is dimensional folding possible if shrinking atoms is not? If only he were here to answer...

[@alo754]

May I ask why? Just curious.

[@OrchestrationOnline]

Look at poor Dr. A sitting through the long, somewhat monotonously-delivered intro - by 2:40, he's starting to fade. But he makes a quick recovery once the interviewer actually lets him say something. Asimov hated long intros, btw. He preferred that the interviewer or MC simply announce him and welcome him (which this guy inexplicably DOESN'T), and then let the talk or interview begin.

[@zenokarlsbach4292]

What happened to my left ear!

[@patientzerobeat]

At 5:16 Sy Bourg has a little data flow interruption. Buffering.... Buffering....

[@technoserf_digital]

Why not Azimov?

[@JG-df7ve]

We haven't solved our problems in the year 2000...

[@TimofAwsome]

Well it's obviously not an exact copy, but the main similarity of a hero choosing between 3 futures for the galaxy, AND the fact that you can pick out similarities in each choice is funny. As in, there is still a snythesis, one of individual minds, the other of organic and mechanic life (how though?). The original trilogy was the best, but I thought Edge was a great book, I just hated Gaia at the end. Forward the Foundation was great too.

[@williamcove5219]

Who is Sy Bourgin??

[@MattShade64]

plausible gobbledegook :) luv it

[@ricois3]

I wish every futur great men were already alive...

[@patientzerobeat]

Sy Bourgin's name is very apt. I wonder if he obeys all 4 laws of robotics.

[@Kamfrenchie]

Alpha protocol was much more influenced by player choice than ME3, which forces everyone ito thesam bespoke and decisions

[@seanmchugh298]

Tremendous concluding comment. Of course we didn't solve our problems by 2000, we're heading for a fossil fuel abyss, and the future will be the first of his options.

[@Peralisc]

you forgot to mention the fact that most people still don't worry about burning up all fossil fuel lol

[@Peralisc]

those in power want the money and control obv :P so they'll keep exploiting and one they when people riot against pollution they will just put sanctions and restrictions on the smaller companies and smaller providers, while the big guys still sell pollution material but at a much higher price so the end result will be even more control and still lots of money gained

[@Belamoor]

Asimov is a honest dude, i like him ! Too bad he died though.

[@fashklash]

Its strange. I always expect super-intelligent people to talk terrifically fast

[@GregoryEvansRacing]

So, according to Asimov, since we "haven't solved our problems" now in 2012, we are going to be a scarce species in 460 years?

[@OhManTFE]

Lol I like how he mentions Tolkien in phasing whereas now it is basically a household name.

[@Kamfrenchie]

yes, but tbh the first 3 foundations were the best, it went a bit downhill after that. Still gaia isn't really synthesis, as it isn't forced on anyon and is basicly mass telepathy for everyone/ everything, not a new dna bs

[@centy64]

@MrGnarShredder But I thought you were the Robut.

[@vanram8310]

Reminds me of Frasier !

[@karstenschuhmann8334]

I like minute 11: To go from science to fantasy without realizing it is insulting for the intelligent reader. This means most published SiFi is insulting!

[@MattShade64]

and his protege was: Harlan Ellison..WOW imagine their conversations.. :)

[@Scienceorc]

The fraction of the universe that we have surveyed is remarkably tiny. Who knows how many Earth like planets we will discover?! It's like taking an 8 ounce glass to the beach, filling it up, and assuming that because there are no fish in it, the ocean has no fish. It's a truly idiotic way of looking at the universe.

[@nakedspaniard]

thoth speaks both slowly and quickly.

[@Scienceorc]

Also, in foundation the empire fell. When that happened, people lost scientific knowledge. Therefore, the medical tech got worse. Next time you read, actually think.

[@Ou8y2k2]

1. Take a shot every time the interviewer says Isaac Asimov in the first 3 minutes. 2. My right ear is lonely. 3. Asimov rules.

[@Rickkennett143]

"'Fantastic Voyage' based on his book ..." No no no. Asimov wrote the novel based on the film's screenplay. You have it wrong way around.

[@anaamee]

@MrAdvancedAtheist About exoplanets, Asimov thought of something called "terraformation" which means the new planet ain't good for living from the start. Humans should prepare the planet before being able to breath air on it. Wouldn't we be able nowadays to implant a lunar base ? The first colony of the "short living" in the robot series had to live under a dome, so Asimov ain't telling bullshit, you just ain't enough informed, I advice you to read all, and then think. Peace