How much do you know about science fiction? Where do you go to know more? The usefulness of Google is in decline, and that’s disappointing. Wikipedia is a great resource for researching science fiction, probably our single best resource, but it’s far from perfect. The ISFDB.org has the essential details, but not the understanding. There is a lot of academic content to be found on Google Scholar, but the sources it cites are often behind paywalls.

Artificial intelligence (AI) might be the answer. Wouldn’t training an LLM on all the published works about science fiction produce a resource that could answer any question? The ultimate Sci-Fi AI would have read every science fiction story and every book and journal about science fiction. We’re not there yet. I thought we might be close since I assume some LLMs have read all the internet.

Ever since I was a kid, I often fantasized about having a superintelligent robot for a sidekick. That dream could come true in a few years. I recently installed Ollama on my computer and downloaded several LLMs (large language models) to see how much they knew about science fiction. I don’t have a Nvidia GPU, so I’m limited to the smaller models that will run on a CPU. I do have 64GB of memory, so that helps.

I first asked Llama 3.2 3B:

What are the ten funniest science fiction short stories published before 1975?

This is Llama 3.2 3B’s reply:

1. “The Last Question” by Isaac Asimov (1956) – This story follows a mathematician who tries to solve an ancient problem that has puzzled humanity for centuries, with hilarious results.
2. “A Fishbone Detached” by Theodore Sturgeon (1949) – A fish’s perspective on life is the perfect comedy of errors in this witty and absurd tale.
3. “The Minority Report” by Philip K. Dick (1956) – This classic dystopian story features a group of police officers who are having trouble predicting crimes, leading to some hilarious misunderstandings.
4. “The Long Wait” by Robert A. Heinlein (1947) – In this humorous tale, a man is stuck on an asteroid for 300 years, and his attempts to deal with the isolation provide plenty of laughs.
5. “Rogue Moon” by Algis Budrys

Llama 3.2 can neither count nor does it know about comic science fiction.

I then asked Phi 3 3B the same question. The 3B in both models means three billion parameters, so they are about the same size. With large language models (LLMs) size matters. Phi 3 is from Microsoft. Here’s its reply:

1. “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury – A chilling tale about a high tech home that turns against its family in South Africa during World War II.
2. “I Had to Have Sex with this Girl” by Robert Sheckley (originally published under the pseudonym Rex Baker) – An absurdly comical story of an alien race’s attempt at human sexuality, reflecting on 1960s cultural shifts and satire regarding social norms.
3. “The Roads” by Robert Silverberg – A humorous exploration of gender roles in a future where the sexes can switch personalities using special devices during road trips across America’s futuristic landscapes, originally published posthumously after his death but reprinted before 1975.
4. “The Immortal Cloud” by Isaac Asimov – A light-hearted tale about a cloud made entirely of immortal beings that accidentally disrupts the world’s population and environment while trying to expand their horizondating back from around 1968 when it was first published in “Amazing Stories”.
5. “Bread” by Philip K. Dick – A comical narrative about a man who creates an android with no understanding of food, reflecting on the absurdities and potential moral dilemmas of artificial intelligence without losing its humor during the early days of sci-fi exploration into technology’s impact on society in 1954.
6. “The Roommate” by Robert A. Heinlein – While primarily a serious story, this work includes humorous elements as it portrays two people living together under strange and absurd circumstances reflective of the era’s counterculture movements around 1948-50 when first published in Galaxy Science Fiction magazine.
7. “The Cosmetic Surgeon from Mars” by Henry Kuttner – A humorous take on a robot that undergoes cosmetic surgery, revealing societal perceptions of beauty and technology around 1940 when it was first published in Astounding Science Fiction magazine as part of the “The Iron Pair.”
8. “Snow Crash” by Neal Stephenson – This cyberpunk-inspired story, although notorious for being a bit controversial with its satirical take on corporate America and capitalism in contemporary society (published originally 1992), has often been cited as one of the funniest sci-fi stories when read retrospectively.
9. “The Veldt” by Ray Bradbury – While it was also listed first, this story is known for its darker elements and could be argued against here; however, some find humor in its ironic undertones relating to technology’s impact on family dynamics during the war era (1950 when originally published).
10. “The Cold Equations” by Joe A. Kamil – This 1954 piece from “Astounding Science Fiction” offers a humorous take through its moral quandary, wherein an emotionally-driven pilot must make a difficult and morbid decision
    under the pressure of scientific laws regarding space travel’s limited resources; however, it can also be interpreted as having comedic elements in how dire circumstances lead to unexpected actions.

This is truly bizarre. I think Robert Silverberg would be surprised he had died as well as written a short story entitled “The Roads.” The fact that the AI finds “The Veldt” so funny that it lists it twice, reveals that AIs have a weird sense of humor. “The Veldt” is a vicious story about two kids killing their parents. And who would think “The Cold Equations” was told for yuks? Several stories given are made up.

I decided to see if a larger model would be wiser, so I download Phi 3 14B and asked it the same question. It replied:

1. “The Velvet Touch” by Poul Anderson (published in 1 grove Press, 1948) – A story of a man’s peculiar encounter with an alien who offers him the touch of velvet as a form of communication. It explores themes of desire and longing through humorously surreal encounters.
2. “The Wish” by Robert Sheckley (published in Galaxy Science Fiction, November 1957) – This story revolves around an alien who wishes for a single human to become his bride but with unforeseen comedic consequences.
3. “The Long Wait” by Cory Doctorow (published in Asimov’s Science Fiction, September 2014) – An ex-government agent trying to retrieve stolen alien technology finds himself trapped in an amusingly absurd scenario involving
   time travel and mistaken identity.
4. “The Night” by Arthur C. Clarke (published in Playboy Magazine, May 1956) – An astronaut’s hilarious attempt to adapt Earth’s night cycle on the Moon leads him into a series of bizarre encounters with wildlife and unexpected
   predators.
5. “The Long Loud Silence” by Murray Leinster (published in Galaxy Science Fiction, April 1948) – A humorous exploration of miscommunication aboard a spaceship during an emergency results in comical misunderstandings and absurd consequences.
6. “Six Thirty-Seven to Nome” by Robert Silverberg (published in Galaxy Science Fiction, December 1958) – A humorous tale of human interaction with a telepathic alien named Jarmuth who finds Earth’s customs and technology hilariously confounding.
7. “The Big Time” by Fritz Leiber (published in Galaxy Science Fiction, April 1958) – A funny take on the butterfly effect as a small act of kindness leads to an uncontrollable chain reaction of events with humorous and unexpected outcomes.
8. “The Mask” by Philip José Farmer (published in Galaxy Science Fiction, May 1953) – A hilarious story where the protagonist can change his face at will but not without comedic misunderstandings and awkward situations.
9. “The Cure-All Menace” by Jack Vance (published in Galaxy Science Fiction, May 1954) – A humorous critique of overreliance on technology when a device that can cure all diseases creates ridiculous scenarios and misunderstandings.
10. “The Masks of God” by C.L. Moore (published in Thrilling Wonder Stories, February 1934) – A humorous tale where the protagonist discovers that his ancestors were alien gods who left behind masks with special powers, leading to a series of comedic mishaps and adventures.

This is just pitiful. Although, Phi 3 14B is great at faking it.

I then decided to ask a commerical LLM, CoPilot. Here’s what I got:

1. “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams (1978) – Although technically a radio series first, it was later adapted into a novel and short stories.
2. “Allamagoosa” by Eric Frank Russell (1955) – A humorous tale about a missing piece of equipment on a spaceship.
3. “The Ransom of Red Chief” by O. Henry (1907) – While not strictly science fiction, its humorous twist has inspired many sci-fi adaptations.
4. “The Trouble with Tribbles” by David Gerrold (1967) – Originally a “Star Trek” episode, it has been adapted into short story form.
5. “The Marching Morons” by C.M. Kornbluth (1951) – A satirical look at a future where the intelligent are outnumbered by the less intelligent.
6. “A Logic Named Joe” by Murray Leinster (1946) – A humorous story about a computer that becomes too smart for its own good.
7. “The Man Who Sold the Moon” by Robert A. Heinlein (1950) – A witty tale about a businessman who schemes to claim the moon.
8. “The Roads Must Roll” by Robert A. Heinlein (1940) – A humorous take on futuristic transportation systems.
9. “The Weapon Shop” by A.E. van Vogt (1942) – A story with a humorous twist about a mysterious weapon shop.
10. “The Little Black Bag” by C.M. Kornbluth (1950) – A darkly humorous story about a futuristic medical bag that falls into the wrong hands.

Okay, “Allamagoosa” is a funny SF story published before 1975.

Maybe the problem isn’t the LLMs, but the topic. At ISFDB they have three tags – comedy, humor, and humorous – that I checked. They are rarely used. Wikipedia has a short list at its entry List of Science Fiction Comic Works, but it fails to mention Robert Sheckley. The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction lacks a heading for comedy or humor, but I was able to stumble upon Humour (that British spelling almost made me miss the entry). The SFE does a good job giving an overview of comic science fiction. I wonder if LLMs were allowed to read it.

Goodreads takes a crack at Sci-Fi Humor but failed me when it listed Ender’s Game. A Reddit thread makes a lame attempt that does better than Goodreads. Maybe my LLMs had to make up shit because they just never read anything worthwhile on the subject.

Scholar.google.com wasn’t helpful either.

I assume I have stumble upon a theme in science fiction that’s mostly ignored. Just for grins, I thought I’d compose a list of funny science fiction stories. Please, if you’ve read some SF that’s tickled your funnybone that I haven’t listed, leave a comment. Anyone looking for a thesis or dissertation topic might consider SF humor, or even why SF humor hasn’t made much of an impact.

So I asked myself the original question:

What are the ten funniest science fiction short stories published before 1975?

Here’s my answer, mostly from memory.

1. 1942 – “The Star Mouse” by Fredric Brown (Astounding)
2. 1943 – “The Proud Robot” by Henry Kuttner (Astounding)
3. 1951 – “… And Then There Were None” by Eric Frank Russell (Astounding)
4. 1952 – “Sail On! Sail On!” by Philip Jose Farmer (Startling Stories)
5. 1954 – “Martians, Go Home!” by Fredric Brown (Astounding)
6. 1955 – “Allamagoosa” by Eric Frank Russell (Astounding)
7. 1957 – “Time Waits for Winthrop” by William Tenn (Galaxy)
8. 1957 – “The Language of Love” by Robert Sheckley (Galaxy)
9. 1958 – “Poor Little Warrior” by Brian W. Aldiss (Venture)
10. 1965 – “Mindswap” by Robert Sheckley (Galaxy)

By the way, here are some funny SF novels published before 1975 that I also remember.

• 1952 – The Rolling Stones – Robert A. Heinlein
• 1955 – Martians, Go Home by Fredric Brown
• 1957 – Earthman’s Burden by Poul Anderson and Gordon R. Dickson
• 1965 – Bill, The Galactic Hero by Harry Harrison
• 1966 – Mindswap by Robert Sheckley
• 1968 – Dimension of Miracles by Robert Sheckley
• 1968 – Space Chantey by R. A. Lafferty

My mind struggled to remember these stories. I had to use ISFDB.org to find the dates and publications of the short stories. And I cheated a couple of times by using the novella version that was later expanded into the novel I remember reading.

In other words, it’s hard to remember. It’s also hard to distinguish which stories were funny. After doing all this research I can see why the LLMs have trouble answering the question. LLMs are great at answering well-documented information, like listing all the American presidents in order. But they cannot provide answers that aren’t clearly and repeatedly documented in what they read in training.

Most science fiction magazines published before 1975 are available on the internet. Let’s suppose LLMs could read them. And let’s suppose they have read thousands of scholarly articles and books on literature so they theoretically would know what we mean by the word humor. If they read all the science fiction stories before 1975 could they tell which were meant to be funny? Unless humans catagorize SF stories in clear documentation that’s widely repeated, I’m not sure current AI technology can identify stories intended to be comic.

Right now large language models work by a method of predicting the next word based on the knowledge of reading billions (or trillions) of sentences. Data scientists are working on ways for LLMs to fact check what they generate but these AI programs don’t really understand anything.

But how much do we understand? The current presidential race reveals that people often believe in false information. I’m not sure we process data that differently from AI programs. GIGO (garbage in garbage out) applies to people as well as computers.

The stories and novels I listed as being funny might not be funny to everyone that reads them. They made me laugh. But some people will laugh at almost anything. For AI to recognize humor in a SF story, that story needs to have been described as being funny in many citations. And from what I can tell, that hasn’t happened.

James Wallace Harris, 10/17/24