Cal (short story)

"Cal" is a science fiction short story by American writer Isaac Asimov. It was first published in 1991, and was included in the 1995 collection Gold.[1]

"Cal"
AuthorIsaac Asimov
LanguageEnglish
Genre(s)Science fiction
Published in1991
PublisherDoubleday

Plot

Cal is a robot whose master is an author. Cal, under the influence of the latter, decides to learn to write. His master outfits his mind with a dictionary and gives him advice and some books to read. Cal tries to write mystery fiction like his master, but is hampered by the Three Laws of Robotics; according to the First Law, a robot cannot harm humans, even fictional ones. Instead, his master programs him to write humor. Cal writes an excellent story, but his master fears Cal's writing will overshadow his own. He orders a technician to dumb Cal down. Cal, hearing this, decides to kill his master, in defiance of the First Law, because his desire takes precedence: "I want to be a writer."

The humorous story written by Cal is one of Asimov's Azazel stories.[2]

Reception

Alasdair Wilkins, writing for io9, claimed that "Cal" "[probably] holds the distinction of being the last great Asimov short story."[2]

gollark: You're more secure if programs are compartmentalized from each other.
gollark: What do you mean?
gollark: Yes. And by default OSes (well, modern ones) do *some* security stuff by not giving everything direct hardware access.
gollark: More security than booting everything baremetal.
gollark: Also multitasking.

References
  1. "Isaac Asimov's Short Fiction: Science Fiction and Fantasy". www.asimovonline.com. Retrieved 2018-05-27.
  2. Wilkins, Alasdair (2009-05-24). "How Isaac Asimov's Non-Deadly Robots Got Lethal". io9. Retrieved 2018-05-27.
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