The Feeling of Power

"The Feeling of Power" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. The story first appeared in the February 1958 issue of If: Worlds of Science Fiction, and was reprinted in the 1959 collection Nine Tomorrows, the 1969 retrospective Opus 100, and the 1986 collection Robot Dreams. In the introduction to Robot Visions, Asimov lists this story as one of the notable robot stories.

"The Feeling of Power"
AuthorIsaac Asimov
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s)Science fiction
Published inIf
PublisherQuinn Publishing
Media typeMagazine
Publication dateFebruary 1958

The story is representative of the genre of sci-fi that started at the 50s, as a reaction to computers around the theme of caution against human mental atrophy in the computer era. In a similar vein, is Arthur Clarke's "Into the Comet' of 1960.[1]

Plot summary

In the distant future, humans live in a computer-aided society and have forgotten the fundamentals of mathematics, including even the rudimentary skill of counting.

The Terrestrial Federation is at war with Deneb, and the war is conducted by long-range weapons controlled by computers which are expensive and hard to replace. Myron Aub, a low grade Technician, discovers how to reverse-engineer the principles of pencil-and-paper arithmetic by studying the workings of ancient computers which were programmed by human beings, before bootstrapping became the norm—a development which is later dubbed "Graphitics".

The discovery is demonstrated to senior programmer Shuman, who realises the value of it. But it is appropriated by the military establishment, who use it to re-invent their understanding of mathematics. They also plan to replace their computer-operated ships with lower cost, more expendable (in their opinion) manned ships to continue the war.

Aub is so upset by the appropriation of his discovery for military purposes that he commits suicide. As Aub's funeral proceeds, his supervisor realizes that even with Aub dead, the advancement of Graphitics is unstoppable. He executes simple multiplications in his mind without help from any machine, which gives him a great feeling of power.

Filmed version

The story was made into a short film by director/producer Robin North in 2001. But, unlike the story on which it is based, the film does not explain the meaning of 'the feeling of power'.

References
  1. "Into the Comet", Wikipedia, 2019-06-16, retrieved 2019-07-13
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