Asimov’s Sword of Achilles, John W. Campbell,
& science fiction’s bourgeois dichotomy

(Alec Nevala-Lee)

“If the Three Laws of Robotics and the Church of Scientology came from the same place, it only means that the sword of Achilles cuts both ways.”

SOURCE: Nevala-Lee, Alec. Astounding: John W. Campbell, Isaac Asimov, Robert A. Heinlein, L. Ron Hubbard, and the Golden Age of Science Fiction. New York: Dey St. [William Morrow], 2018.

Commentary:

The sentence quoted, from the penultimate paragraph of the book’s ‘Prologue: Asimov’s Sword’, encapsulates—probably unbeknownst to the author—the fundamental logic of bourgeois ideology: the inescapable fusion of rationalism and irrationalism. Science fiction, whether labeled as such, is larger and of longer duration than the Golden Age of American pulps, but the visionary banality from which the latter sprang inevitably gave rise to this duality. Campbell and Hubbard were barking mad, with Heinlein not far behind. The picture is of a morass of dysfunction. Discounting his penchant for sexual harrassment, Asimov is the least objectionable of the lot and stands out as a liberal and the most reasonable figure among these misfits.

Concerned with the cultivation of future scientists, Asimov conceived of a test for promising prospects in his 1963 contribution “The Sword of Achilles,” suggesting that an interest in ‘good science fiction’ would be such a test. That was then. Nevala-Lee asserts: “Half a century later, science fiction has conquered the world.” On this count he is correct. That journey through the 20th century, documented in this indispensable book, is an important slice of social history. It turns out not to be a pretty story, which is why it should be read.

— RD, 9 March 2025

Karel Čapek’s R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots), 1920-2021

Science Fiction & Utopia Research Resources: A Selective Work in Progress

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