The beginning of Isaac Asimov's career as a writer of science fiction coincided closely with the beginning of the development of "social science fiction." (p. 13)

[Asimov defines "social science fiction"] as "that branch of literature which is concerned with the impact of scientific advance upon human beings." He recognizes the existence of the other types of science fiction—adventure and gadget—which do not fit this definition, but he feels that "social science fiction is the only branch of science fiction that is sociologically significant, and that those stories, which are generally accepted as science fiction … but do not fall within the definition I have given above, are not significant, however amusing they may be and however excellent as pieces of fiction." (p. 14)

Science fiction has often been accused of being escape literature. There is no doubt that many science fiction stories are primarily escapist in intent; however, Asimov sees a difference between science fiction and other forms of escape literature such as westerns, true romances, and mystery stories; much of science fiction encourages its readers to think about the future—an occupation that can hardly be described as "escaping"—and the possibilities that the future seems to hold…. For the first time in the world's history, mankind can no longer take the future for granted. Each individual's future may always have been uncertain, but mankind has never before been concerned about the future of the whole human race. (pp. 14-15)

One of the major functions of science fiction for Asimov is to accustom its readers to the idea of change. In contemplating the possible futures presented in science fiction, the reader is forced to recognize and accept the idea that things will change, and he is helped to surrender some of his traditional human passion for the status quo. Asimov sees this as a real benefit to our society, as we try to plan and implement the changes that will do the most good for humanity. He does not claim that science fiction writers set out deliberately to propagandize their readers and make them aware of the inevitability and value of change; they write interesting stories, usually based on scientific facts, and try to extrapolate from today's society the many different possible changes for man and his world in the future. Any benefits to the readers, or to society, are simply by-products of a job well done. (p. 15)

Asimov has written some adventure and gadget stories, and some that are just plain fun, but the greatest part of his work is clearly social science fiction…. [Even] his earliest stories, written when he was not yet twenty, show a real concern for people, and for social issues. As he matured as a writer, he continued to be disturbed over many of the same social problems; the main difference between his early works and his later ones may be the subtlety with which he presents his message. In some of the earlier stories, the urgency of the message weakens the effectiveness of the story. Two early stories, "Half-Breed" … and "Half-Breeds on Venus" …, were clearly motivated by Asimov's distress over the prevalence of racial prejudice…. He sees the diminishing of racial prejudice as a service that science fiction might help to perform for society, since science fiction writers, because they are dealing with larger areas of the universe, usually speak of all the people of Earth as simply "Earthmen," making no distinction among the races. Whether a man is black, brown, red, or white is not so important when he and his fellows are facing a green monster from Mars. (pp. 16-17)

["Trends"] dealt with a theme that had not previously been used in science fiction—the possibility that people might be opposed to the idea of space flight and try to stop it. (p. 17)

The specific threat from technological advances that man might lose the ability to control his own life is a recurrent theme in the science fiction of many writers, as are the problems of atomic energy and overpopulation. This threat is part of the problem Asimov presents in "Trends."…

The theme of man versus his own technology appears in many Asimov stories, from "Trends" to his science fiction novel The Gods Themselves. Resistance to science often takes the form, in Asimov's work, of an underground group, such as the Medievalists in The Caves of Steel, which works in some way to resist or subvert scientific and technological advances. This distrust of technology is a basic theme in all the robot stories. Indeed, Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics ended the Frankenstein-monster era of robot stories and brought in the more scientific story, in which mankind must make the decisions about the robots' capabilities and protect himself against any possibility that his creations might rise up and destroy him. The source of the difficulties that have to be solved in the robot stories is usually an apparent conflict between the ideal of the Three Laws, and the robots' application of the Laws. (p. 18)

Reading through Asimov's works, looking for evidence of his attitude toward man and technology, one is struck by his ambivalence. He clearly takes great delight in technological advances for their own sake—he just plain likes clever new gadgets, and new-and-better ways to do things—but he also recognizes that humanity cannot survive without allowing for individuality and uncontrollability, even "orneriness." No matter how advanced a technology may become, he feels, it will still have to be possible for people to escape the control of the machines in some way for life to have any meaning. (p. 19)

[Asimov] has great faith in man's ability to use technology for his own good, as in The Gods Themselves, but at the same time, he has repeatedly shown that he recognizes the danger of too much control over men's lives. Many of his stories revolve around a protagonist who insists on doing something human, whether it is simply going outdoors when it is no longer necessary or proper, or learning to do something that the computers can do for you, or working to defeat the technology that controls his life. Humanity remains triumphant, if not always victorious, in the battle against an overpowering technology.

Atomic weapons and atomic energy are a unique and over-whelming part of the technology that threatens us. Asimov has frequently used atomic devastation as one aspect of the background for his stories, instead of making it a major component of the plot. (p. 24)

One Asimov story that is about atomic weapons, rather than using them as one aspect of the setting, is the short-short story "Hell-Fire" …, found in Earth Is Room Enough. A group of scientists has gathered to view the first extremely slow-motion film of the explosion of an atomic bomb. To their shock and horror, the film clearly shows the face of Satan, complete with horns and demonic grin, formed in the mushroom cloud of the explosion. Although Asimov claims no religious affiliation himself, some of his most effective works have strong religious or theological elements because he recognizes the importance of religion in man's history, and because, as he says, he is interested in religion along with many other subjects. (p. 26)

It is obvious that Asimov's stories cannot be neatly divided into discrete categories—these stories are about atomic energy, and these are about overpopulation, and so on. There is a great deal of overlap, and most stories will contain references to many different sociological concerns. Population control might be effected by technological advances or, failing that, by atomic warfare. Population growth that is not controlled will, on the other hand, put great demands on technology to provide enough food and shelter for everyone. Asimov's concern about atomic energy tapered off as the world seemed to adapt to the existence of this threat, and the horror of atomic war became at least a little more remote and perhaps a little less certain. At the same time, the dangers of overpopulation began to come into prominence in his work. (p. 27)

One of Asimov's most extended and chilling looks at one possible future for Earth is provided in The Caves of Steel. This is one of Asimov's two novels which successfully combine the mystery story and science fiction. It is laid in the fifty-first century. The population of Earth has reached eight billion; almost the entire population is crowded into the huge cities, leaving the rest of the land free for agriculture; every aspect of life is controlled in an effort to make the overcrowded conditions as bearable as possible. (pp. 27-8)

Elijah Baley, a New York City detective, is one of the heroes of the book; the other is R. Daneel Olivaw, a robot detective from Spacetown, an Outer Worlds colony set up on Earth. Baley lives in a New York City with a population of twenty million. He sees the "first problem of living" in such an overcrowded world as being to minimize friction with all of the other people who have to live in such close proximity. The best way to do this is for people to be scrupulous in their observance of all the customs and regulations that encompass every part of daily life, so as not to offend or inconvenience their neighbors, from whom there is never any real escape. (p. 28)

The fifty Outer Worlds were settled a thousand years before the time of this story, by men from Earth. Now each world has its own civilization and resists any immigration from Earth, in order to keep its society just the way it wants it. Earth, therefore, is hemmed in with its enormous population and cannot find any real solution to its problems. Man has long since lost the urge to colonize any new unoccupied worlds, because of his closed-in existence. Robots are widely used on the Outer Worlds but are feared and distrusted on Earth, and efforts to use them are bitterly resented.

In The Naked Sun, the sequel to The Caves of Steel, we get a closeup picture of the "ideal" life on one of the Outer Worlds that figured in the earlier work. All of the Outer Worlds are thinly populated and have economies that make use of robots. Solaria, the planet to which Baley is sent to solve a murder, presents a picture of the most extreme dependence on robots. Each citizen of Solaria lives on a large estate of his own, attended by a great number of specialized robots…. In striking contrast to the crowded Earth, where privacy is almost impossible, Solaria has developed a society in which human contact is at an absolute minimum. Even married couples actually "see" each other (that is, are physically present in the same room) only at scheduled intervals, although they share the same estate. All social visits and business conferences are conducted by three-dimensional televiewing, rather than "seeing." (pp. 28-9)

The Naked Sun gives a picture of a society that might be regarded as ideal from the point of view of technological advancement, and yet it is clearly not ideal in the human sense. While Earth's overcrowding has led to a timid humanity, with little spirit of adventure or initiative, Solaria's artificial isolation has led to a people with little feeling for each other and no way to work together in an emergency. The advanced technology which permits easy communication with anyone on the planet has actually made real communication—communication of human understanding, empathy, and mutual helpfulness—much more difficult. (p. 29)

Many of Asimov's stories about overpopulation simply present the problem, not the solution. He appears to feel that no solution will be possible until people are thoroughly awakened to the nature of the threat posed by our growing population. (pp. 29-30)

Throughout his writing career Asimov has shown his concern for the problems that humanity has to face. By examining a few of his stories and novels we have seen the various ways in which he has expressed this concern. Some stories seem to have been written primarily to encourage the reader to recognize and think about some particular problem. Some stories present the problem but suggest no solution; other stories offer possible solutions. Occasionally, Asimov is pessimistic about man's chance of surviving and maintaining his human individuality; more often he has seemed to feel that man's determination to run his own life will somehow win out over any obstacles that science and technology might put in the way.

From 1945 on, Asimov was quite pessimistic about the prospects for avoiding atomic war, but he usually pictured humanity as surviving and rebuilding its civilization. Only an occasional story, such as "No Connection," presents the possibility of man's being completely destroyed and some other species rising to an intelligent, civilized society.

Asimov's major worry in the last twenty years, as far as the fate of humanity is concerned, has been overpopulation, and he has become increasingly pessimistic. He does not believe that humanity will be able to solve this problem soon enough—if ever. But if the problem is not solved intelligently, nature will work out a solution, or series of solutions—warfare, starvation, disease.

Asimov began to write science fiction because he was determined to be a writer, and science fiction was what he knew best and enjoyed the most. As he matured as a writer, science fiction itself was coming to maturity as a serious and responsible type of literature. Asimov and other science fiction authors wrote more and more works that sought to waken humanity to the dangers it faces. (pp. 30-1)

Marjorie Mithoff Miller, "The Social Science Fiction of Isaac Asimov," in Isaac Asimov, edited by Joseph D. Olander and Martin Harry Greenberg (copyright © 1977 by Joseph D. Olander and Martin Harry Greenberg; published by Taplinger Publishing Co., Inc., New York; reprinted by permission), Taplinger, 1977, pp. 13-31.