27 pages • 54 minutes read
Isaac AsimovThe Fun They Had
Fiction | Short Story | Adult | Published in 1951A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Authorial Context: Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov was born in Russia in 1920 and moved with his family to the United States at age three. He was raised in Brooklyn, New York, and attended Columbia University, ultimately earning a PhD in chemistry in 1948. During World War II, he worked as a civilian chemist at the Philadelphia Navy Yard’s Naval Air Experimental Station. His scientific background afforded him an expert’s perspective when writing hard science fiction, a subgenre of science fiction that, while still speculative, also prioritizes scientific accuracy and logic. This priority is evident in a story as brief and simple as “The Fun They Had.” In this story, Asimov extends a clear logical path to the potential consequences of machine learning. Individualized lessons for each child’s needs and abilities may sound ideal, for instance, but there is no functional way to do that within the current American model of education. Asimov’s scientific pragmatism leads him to depict a mechanical teacher in a schoolroom that has been shifted from the public context of a school building to the private setting of a home, a logical possibility that elucidates the themes of Isolation and Loneliness and Nostalgia for the Past. Margie’s internal conflict develops both themes as she tries to connect with Tommy and longs for a past that would have allowed her connection with other children.
Asimov’s priorities did not end with the impersonal, purely practical world of science and technology. As a member of the American Humanist Society, Asimov valued a secular humanist approach to protecting human rights. He promoted a paradigm shift from religion and deism to scientific awakening and both individual and social responsibility. Even with a rigorously scientific perspective, Asimov’s futuristic stories are, at their core, human stories. His science fiction is successful because his personal perspectives on the nature of individuality, connection, isolation, progress, and other quintessentially human themes are so universal. Asimov’s personal qualities uniquely empower him to deliver these fundamental themes in “The Fun They Had,” which poses this humanist question: What are the ethical implications of a society in which education has moved from the social sphere to the private sphere? Margie’s perspective depicts a naive loneliness that, while not condemning technology itself, indicates Asimov’s perspective that scientific advancement must also concern itself with human consequences.
Historical Context: Technological Advancements in the 20th Century
Asimov’s life and writing career coincided with an explosion of technological innovation and scientific advancement at a rate far exceeding anything in any other period of human history up to that point. Beginning in the 19th century and truly flourishing in the 20th century, technological developments such as the steam engine, internal combustion engine, lightbulb, and telephone revolutionized many key facets of Western society, from production and labor to war to social mobility. Industry and technology found a cycle with each incentivizing the other to drive productivity, leading to unprecedented advancements.
The development of science fiction as a genre during this period was inevitable, with such iconic science fiction authors as Mary Shelley, H. G. Wells, and Arthur C. Clarke all finding inspiration in the rapidly changing modern world and the implications of new technologies. It is no surprise that a keen scientific and logical mind such as Asimov’s would also seize upon the technological advancements of the day and conceptualize how they might extend even further into the future. World War II also fueled the development of one particular piece of technology that is fundamental to the story in “The Fun They Had”—the computer.
Before the war, English mathematician Alan Turing conceived of the modern principle of a computer for using algorithms to problem solve, and he would famously go on to save uncountable lives during World War II through the advancement of computer technology. By the time “The Fun They Had” was published in 1951, computers had continued to undergo advancements and improvements, and Asimov astutely foresaw how indelibly they could weave themselves into the fabric of mainstream society far beyond directing torpedoes for generals or solving math problems for academics. The mechanical teacher in “The Fun They Had” is Asimov’s prediction for how computer technology could fundamentally change the nature of education, eliminating the need for human teachers or school buildings by narrowing everything to an electronic screen. Given current developments in remote learning as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Asimov’s “The Fun They Had” seems more prescient than ever in drawing society’s attention to balance the potential of technology with a concern for social consequences such as the social isolation and lack of motivation for learning that Margie experiences in the story.
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