You might find it interesting to look up Elektro, a "talking" robot that was one of the attractions at the 1939 World's Fair in New York City. I don't remember whether Asimov attended, but it would probably be fairly easy to find out, since he wrote a two-volume doorstop of an autobiography - "In Memory Yet Green" (1979) and "In Joy Still Felt" (1980). While I agree that Asimov was more idea man than literary or humanistic writer, you might sometime want to try "The Ugly Little Boy" aka "Lastborn", first published in the Sept 1958 issue of "Galaxy" magazine. I thought it quite affecting.
Thanks, I am going to look for that story. I'll also try to look into that talking robot. How strange that they had one in 39, and he was pushing it into the future. That was a strange part of the story.
Its strange to hear Asimov criticized. He was such an icon. Some of my favorite books art the 100 short short stories of scifi that Asimov curated and wrote little introductory jokes for each one. But yeah, much of his stuff is more thought experiment than story. The talking robot and its mental capability is interesting. A chatgpt type function wouldn't have the ability to realize enough to blow circuits, its said they "hallucinate" wrong answers when their knowledge algorithm isn't complete enough. Limited sapience sounds more like what it had. If you speak to a person of limited education and world knowledge beyond their capability, their brain starts making new pathways. If you can't create new pathways, the brain prefers to simply not acknowledge conflicting information. It shuts down. Sapience would make conversation MORE difficult than a chapgpt that is simply regurgitating copypasta.
