The Thinking Car

Sally by Isaac Asimov — a review

The time-keeper husband who wakes up at 6 am every single day — Did you sleep at 2 am or 3 am?

Me, the perpetual late-nighter — What? No I slept on time last night…. I will be up in 15 minutes please.

This is usually our first conversation in the morning, because I am always the last one to get up in my house. Think of it as a tragedy/luxury that only late-night readers can relate to.

I actually slept at 2:30 am cause I read Sally last night. This was my second Isaac Asimov story and it makes me so sad to think I am 38 and it’s only now that I am reading his stories, because frankly, I have a lot of catching up to do now.

Before I discovered his writing, science fiction was a genre I was petrified of, specially after my failed attempts at two books by Cixin Liu. Liu’s books made me feel like I was swimming in a sea of I-don’t-know-what’s-happening-here kind of dumbness. But not Asimov. His short an sweet stories are crisp and at the same time, not too technical. Each of his story is unique and has a cute twist. Like, you actually start feeling bad for the AI/machine/computer you know…

Anyways about Sally — it’s your worst nightmare if you are planning to get a self-driven car. Don’t read anymore if you already got one cause you might get scared. Sally is just one of the intelligent self-controlled automobiles at a farm for retired vehicles but its not really retired, just like the other 50 cars on the farm. All the cars are in good shape, modified and they all have senses that help them see and hear so they act and react when you speak to them or talk about them. So far so good, right? But what if they feel threatened? And what will you do if they actually start communicating with cars outside their home? Can they become really mean and kill you? Imagine what’s next before you go for that smart device next.