"All sorts of computer errors are now turning up. You'd be surprised to know the number of doctors who claim they are treating pregnant men"
About this Quote
Asimov lands the joke with the cool authority of someone who actually understands the machine he’s ribbing. The line isn’t really about pregnancy or even doctors; it’s about the early cultural fantasy that computers are impartial oracles. By choosing an absurd, body-level impossibility - “pregnant men” - he exposes how quickly “computer output” can become a kind of modern scripture, repeated by professionals who should know better. The punch is aimed upward: at institutions that outsource judgment to systems they don’t interrogate.
The subtext is classic Asimov: technological optimism with a built-in warning label. Computers don’t “make mistakes” in a human way; they flawlessly execute bad inputs, mis-specified categories, and sloppy data entry. His wording, “All sorts...are now turning up,” frames errors as newly discovered wildlife, not glitches to be solved. That matters. It captures a moment when computerization was spreading through medicine, government, and business faster than the culture’s ability to audit it. The novelty of computers made their failures feel surprising, even when they were predictable.
There’s also a jab at professional deference. “Doctors who claim” suggests not just one mishap but a pattern of credentialed people surrendering common sense to a printout. Read now, the line plays like a pre-AI parable: the more authoritative the system looks, the easier it is for humans to stop thinking and start complying, even when reality is waving a red flag.
The subtext is classic Asimov: technological optimism with a built-in warning label. Computers don’t “make mistakes” in a human way; they flawlessly execute bad inputs, mis-specified categories, and sloppy data entry. His wording, “All sorts...are now turning up,” frames errors as newly discovered wildlife, not glitches to be solved. That matters. It captures a moment when computerization was spreading through medicine, government, and business faster than the culture’s ability to audit it. The novelty of computers made their failures feel surprising, even when they were predictable.
There’s also a jab at professional deference. “Doctors who claim” suggests not just one mishap but a pattern of credentialed people surrendering common sense to a printout. Read now, the line plays like a pre-AI parable: the more authoritative the system looks, the easier it is for humans to stop thinking and start complying, even when reality is waving a red flag.
Quote Details
| Topic | Witty One-Liners |
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