A reader writes:
All the
Byerley, though, refuses. At first, this looks like a pointless, Quixotic stand for his dignity or the “real issues” or something. So the robot issue takes over the campaign and eclipses the issues-oriented campaign Byerley is trying to run. Until, finally, after his poll numbers have hit single digits, a heckler at a rally challenges Byerley to punch him – and Byerley does, right on stage. Now that robot issue is completely disproved, Byerley’s opponent looks like a dirty campaigner and also an idiot and loses horribly.
That’s the smartest motive I can imagine for what Romney’s doing. Maybe he actually has been squeaky clean. Maybe he got paid $100,001 from Bain during those three mystery years for a reasonable amount of commitment, at least by the standards of big business, and not a penny more. Maybe he’s giving MORE than a tithe to the church. If he actually has nothing to be ashamed of, then the bigger an issue it becomes, the more it might help him when it finally comes out. You never know, it could work.
Here’s what Asimov did with the human-robot character:
Asimov’s later story “The Evitable Conflict” reveals that Byerley prospers in politics, eventually becoming head of the planetary government.
Another reader adds:
I’m certain that I won’t be the only Asimov fan to point out what the reader who brought up “Evidence” omitted from their summary of the story: the strong likelihood that the heckler was a robot as well, planted so that Byerley could appear to break the First Law of Robotics without actually doing so.
It’s fairly implicit in Asimov’s writing that, in the context of his utopian fictional universe, the benign rule of a covert robot actually represents a step forward for humanity (however great the insult to human dignity might be if it were discovered). I’m not at all sure that we could say the same about the administration of the walking, talking corporation that is Mitt Romney; nor can I honestly impute to Willard what your reader suggests would be the smartest possible motive for his actions.
Thinking far enough ahead to plan all of this in advance, plus the perfect dénouement, would require a level of mastery in three-dimensional chess that has so far only been attained by robots, Vulcans, and certain roadrunners.
The Dish 