Literature and Your Life
What was your opinion of Multivac as you read the story?
From start to finish I was amazed that a machine like that could ever exist, despite its defects and all, it’s still amazing how a person back then could imagine something quite like the Multivac.
Name one way Asimov’s vision of the future matches what you know about the present.
Although a lot of technological advances have been made, we’re yet to reach a machine like the Multivac. We also haven’t been able to detect any extraterrestrial life despite the great efforts from specialists.
Check Your Comprehension
What is the reason for the celebration at the opening of the story? Why is Multivac seen as the hero?
They just won the war against Deneb and the machine Multivac was mainly thanked for it, given its advanced technologies.
What does each man reveal about his wartime?
Henderson confessed that when supplying data to Multivac, he relied mainly on his intuition, since the data he had been receiving had become meaningless.
Jablonski confessed almost the same as Henderson. There was a point where he realized Multivac wasn’t as great as everyone painted it to be and he decided to act on his intuition.
Swift revealed that he didn’t rely on Multivac, but on a much older computer, which was a coin he would flip whenever he had a hard decision to make.
What is the primitive computing device that Swift used?
A small, old-fashioned coin.
Critical Thinking
Why do the 3 men decide to make their confessions?
The war was already over and they would probably go on with another role. It was a perfect time to reflect on all those years of conflict and confess what at one point they thought would destroy them.
Compare and contrast the jobs of the 3 men.
Each of them works in a different field; however, they all have leadership positions in these. Henderson and Jablonsky look up to someone in their work, while Swift doesn’t. None of them was certain that they were doing their job right during the war.
Suppose that Henderson and Jablonsky had been able to do their jobs properly, Would the outcome of the war have been different?
I don’t think so, since even if the data was meaningless, at one point they would have realized that things weren’t working as they should and they would have looked for a reliable solution.
In what way was Multivac responsible for winning the war?
Multivac appears to be the major intelligence the human kind ever created, so its fascinating features were something that definitely contributed to the win.
How do the activities or humans, rather than machines, affect Henderson’s decision?
It wasn’t the machine’s job to look for the data, it was the humans’. If the majority of the information given to Henderson was collected by low-level officials, it wasn’t the most adequate for the situation. For this reason, he decided it would be better if he did it himself.
Computers can solve many-but not all- problems. Explain the difference in these types of problems.
Computers are programmed for specific situations and they cannot improvise or act out of intuition as humans do. Therefore, this reduces their accuracy at answering to the special problems that arise during conflict.
Reading Strategy
Asimov’s future world includes a vastly expanded space program in which computers play important roles. Find a detail that proves this.
“Because Multivac is the big hero of mankind in this war”
In Asimov’s future world, people have many of the same faults and failings that they have now. Identify 2 details that show this.
“….. During the last half of the war group leaders, both civilian and military, were intent on projecting their own improved image, so to speak, so they obscure the bad and magnified the good.” Manipulation.
“You should know. You supplied the data. Or is it just that you’re taking the credit?” Untrustworthiness.
What detail does Asimov use to show how the monetary system in his future world is different from the way it is now?
“He brought out a small change; old-fashioned coins dating to the first years before the metal shortage had brought into being a credit system tied to a computer-complex.”
Build Vocabulary
Circumnavigate: sail or travel all the way around.
Circumference: the distance around something.
Circumstance: a fact or condition connected with or around an event or action.
Circumscribe: restrict something around specific limits.
erratic: random
grisly: horrifying
imperturbable: unexcitable
oracle: wise person
surcease: an end
subsidiary: secondary
circumvent: avoid
