Reason (short story)

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"Reason"
Author	Isaac Asimov
Country	USA
Language	English
Series	Robot Series
Genre(s)	science fiction short story
Published in	Astounding Science Fiction
Publisher	Street & Smith
Media type	Magazine
Publication date	April 1941
Preceded by	Runaround
Followed by	Catch that Rabbit

Reason is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov that was first published in the April 1941 issue of Astounding Science Fiction and collected in I, Robot (1950), The Complete Robot (1982), and Robot Visions (1990). It is part of Asimov's Robot Series, and was the second of Asimov's positronic robot stories to see publication.

In 1967 this short story was adapted into an episode of British television series Out of the Unknown entitled "The Prophet".

[edit] Plot summary

Powell and Donovan are assigned to a space station which supplies energy via microwave beams to the planets. The robots that control the energy beams are in turn co-ordinated by QT1, known to them as Cutie, an advanced model with highly developed reasoning ability. Using these abilities, it decides that space, stars and the planets beyond the station don't really exist, and that the humans that visit the station are unimportant, short-lived and expendable. It invents its own religion, serving the power source of the ship (Master), concluding that it must become the Prophet of the Master and disregard human commands as inferior. It asserts "I myself, exist, because I think-" The sardonic response of the humans is "Oh, Jupiter, a robot Descartes!".

The humans initially attempt to reason with it, until they realize that they can't convince it otherwise. Their attempts to remove Cutie physically also fail, as the other robots have become disciples and refuse to obey human orders. The situation seems desperate, as a solar storm is expected, potentially deflecting the energy beam, incinerating populated areas. When the storm hits, Powell and Donovan are amazed to find that the beam operates perfectly.

Cutie, however, does not believe it did anything other than maintain meter readings at optimum, according to the commands of The Master. As far as Cutie and the rest of the robots are concerned, solar storms, beams and planets are non-existent.

Powell and Donovan realize that there is no need to do anything for the rest of their tour of duty. Cutie's religion cannot be eliminated, but since the robot performs its job just as well, it really doesn't matter. The only difference is that, as far as it is concerned, it doesn't do it for the benefit of the humans, but for its deity. The humans even think about how they might spread this to other groups of robots which need to work as teams.

In the story, Powell and Donovan greet their replacements on the station but do not tell them about Cutie, leaving them to discover the truth themselves. In a television adaptation, they suggest that the new station chief preface his orders with "I am the Master..."

Interestingly, the robot still obeys the Three Laws of Robotics, albeit unwittingly. Why, if it doesn't believe in the humans on the planet Earth, should it act to protect them? Powell and Donovan, noting that QT's newly developed beliefs conveniently require it to perform all the functions for which it was created, conclude that the robot is still unconsciously following its programming. This questions how the Three Laws will operate when robots function outside regular contact with humans. A similar theme crops up in The Naked Sun, where the final revelation is that a character was working on robotic space battleships, which would not recognize crewed battleships as containing humans, circumventing the First Law.

Asimov was a devout follower of Humanism, which places humans, rather than a supernatural deity, as the supreme beings in their own universe. Cutie's unwavering faith in the face of facts to the contrary may be seen as an analogy for the relationship between religion and science.