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Conference noted::sf

Title:Arcana Caelestia
Notice:Directory listings are in topic 2
Moderator:NETRIX::thomas
Created:Thu Dec 08 1983
Last Modified:Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:1300
Total number of notes:18728

922.0. "Asimov's Victory Unintentional" by GUIDUK::WISE_ER (HHGTTG= 6 X 9 = 42 ?) Mon Oct 08 1990 20:15

    	 Well I have just looked through note 20.* and can't fine this
    topic listed anywhere. However I do remeber reading a note about this
    topic somewhere.... So Miss/Mrs/Ms/Mr moderator move this if you must.
    
     I am looking for a book that I read Years ago.
     It is about Jupiter and a life for that Humans are scared to death of
    as they can live on the surface of Jupiter, they evolved their. We,
    humanity, send a ship down with some robots onboard to look things over
    and they scare the natives.
    
    	It was a short story (I think)
    
    	 Thanks in advance.
    	Eric Wise
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922.1"Gee, this molten iron tastes good"MINAR::BISHOPMon Oct 08 1990 20:398
    Author is Isaac Asimov, title is something like "Solution
    Satisfactory", it's the second part of a two-parter/two related
    stories.
    
    Gimmick is that the robots never tell the Jupiter people that
    they are robots, and so make the natives scared of humans.
    
    			-John Bishop
922.2ZZ Two: "Our companion is often clumsy..."STARCH::JSLOVEJ. Spencer Love; 237-2751; SHR1-3/E29Tue Oct 09 1990 02:1025
The story is "Victory Unintentional", by Isaac Asimov, and appears in the
collection "The Rest of the Robots", the second of which the first
collection is "i, robot".  These two collections together with another
collection titled "The Bicentennial Man" and some other stories were
published as "The Complete Robot" by Doubleday & Company, inc., in 1982. 
This in turn was combined with the first two robot novels, "The Caves of
Steel" and "The Naked Sun" to form "The Robot Collection", also by
Doubleday.

The trick to this story is that the robots in question are not very bright,
and they know it, thus, they are very modest.  Their self-effacing manner
appears to go very well with the acute Jovian superiority complex, at least
at first...

If there is a story more specifically related to "Victory Unintentional", I
don't know what it might be.

There is another story in "The Complete Robot" called "Satisfaction
Guaranteed", but it has nothing to do with Jupiter.

I recall a story title "Solution Unsatisfactory", but I can't seem to find
it tonight.  I think that that one had a related story.  Anyone know this
one?

						-- Spencer
922.3RUBY::BOYAJIANDanger! Do Not Reverse Polarity!Tue Oct 09 1990 03:059
    re:.2
    
    There is another Jupiter story by Asimov that's directly related
    to "Victory Unintentional", but the title escapes me at the moment.
    
    "Solution Unsatisfactory" is a totally unrelated story, and was
    written by Heinlein.
    
    --- jerry
922.4"Not Final!" ??BRUMMY::HAZELEvery couple has its moment in a fieldTue Oct 09 1990 09:2013
    Re. the precursor to "Victory Unintentional":
    
    The precursor to this story was about humans on one of Jupiter's moons
    (Ganymede?), who are attempting to construct a force field which will
    prevent a spacecraft from being crushed by the planet's atmosphere. In
    this story, they had received communications from intelligent life on
    the surface of Jupiter, which cuts off communication as soon as it
    discovers that the humans are not from Jupiter.
    
    The title "Not Final!" comes to mind, but I am not certain if this is
    the correct one for this story.
    
    Dave Hazel
922.5RUBY::BOYAJIANDanger! Do Not Reverse Polarity!Tue Oct 09 1990 10:285
    re:.4
    
    Yes, "Not Final" is the title.
    
    --- jerry
922.6Never say.......HPSTEK::BOURGAULTSat Oct 13 1990 20:3925
    Yes, "Not Final!" is the title.  The chief humans on the scene
    are satisfied that the aliens can NOT use force fields to make
    space ship hulls, thus are not a threat....   and "that's final!"
    
    I once wrote to Asimov.... back in 1969, when I was attending 
    Boston University.  Asimov was still listed as a Chemistry
    professor at Boston U., but NOT as teaching any classes...
    I wrote a short letter, asking why this was so.  Almost as
    an afterthought, I asked about "Victory Unintentional" and
    "Not Final!".... why was "Not Final!" left out of story 
    collections carrying "Unintentional"??
    
    The reply covered most the postcard.  The stories were written
    in the logical order, but "Not Final", having no robots IN
    the story, was left out of "robot" story collections.  The
    Boston U. job, he said "I keep as a sinecure."  (I had to
    look it up... "a well-paying job involving little or no work".)
    
    I have forgotten (I have it somewhere in my card file...) what
    the story collection's title was, but I recall it was NOT by
    Asimov, and it was NOT a well-known collection.  It seems that
    (back then, at least) if it wasn't about robots, it wasn't
    wanted in most books...
    
    				- Ed B. -
922.7I wish I had a job like his...BRUMMY::HAZELEvery couple has its moment in a fieldMon Oct 15 1990 10:5810
    Re. .6:
    
    I seem to remember reading one of Asimov's little semi-biographical
    notes, in one of his collections of short stories, in which he
    recounted the story of how he came to leave his university post, while
    retaining his academic title and salary. I believe it was over a
    disagreement with one of his superiors there, who did not like his
    involvement with SF writing.
    
    Dave Hazel
922.8I remember differentlyMINAR::BISHOPMon Oct 15 1990 13:033
    I thought that he kept the position, but not the salary.
    
    			-John Bishop
922.9It appeared earlierHELIX::KALLISPumpkins -- Nature's greatest giftTue Feb 18 1992 19:094
_The Rest of the Robots_ was a collection.  It appears in earlier anthologies,
and I suspect (without checking) it first appeared in the old _Astounding_.

Steve Kallis, Jr.
922.10Well before 1969, I'm sure.CTHULU::YERAZUNISThe light that burns twice as bright burns half as longMon Mar 09 1992 18:0917
    There also was a paperback anthology of Asimov robot stories called
    _The Rest of the Robots_.  I remember it very well for one simple
    reason:
    
    
    		It was the first book _I_ ever bought.  
    
    
    
    I must have been seven years old or so at the time.  Sometimes I 
    believe it affected me later in life....
    
    	-Bill Yerazunis, Artificial Intelligence Technology Center.
    
	
    p.s.  The second book I ever bought was "Starship Troopers"... maybe
    that one affected me too?