Isaac Asimov (1920-1992) left a legacy of influence that many more literary writers might envy… The impact of his best-known writings has, however, been almost entirely opposite to their intentions. He has become something of a hero to a range of scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs who see his writing, which Asimov himself described as social science fiction, as exemplifying the rule-governed nature of social life. A formal code of ethics can be hard-wired into robots to prevent them harming humans. Autonomous vehicles can deliver safe and reliable personal mobility. The future can be wholly predicted by statistical means. On closer inspection, though, Asimov sets up these scenarios only to subvert them. Rules always depend upon what the sociologist Harold Garfinkel called the ‘etcetera clause’, that their application is shaped by the context in which they are used…
…Algorithms are not useless and humans have an inescapable need to try to predict futures in order to select investments in the present. Asimov’s lesson, however, is that both need to be used with humility. Confident declarations about the inevitable consequences of rule-governed actions and the futures they create are poor bases for public policies that need sufficient flexibility to deal with chance, contingency and uncertainty..
A Social Science Space blog