True Love

“True Love” by Issac Asimov is a short story first published in 1977 in the science fiction magazine American Way. It tells the story of computer programmer Milton Davidson, who turns his back on the problems of the world to focus on his own struggle to find love by inventing a computer program that he calls Joe. The key themes of the story—including The Unquantifiable Nature of Love, Rebellion and the Formation of Identity, and The Futility of Perfectionism—hinge on the actions of Milton, who oversteps in his rush to create a computer program to fulfill his own unmet emotional needs. In doing so, he ironically forfeits his life to his creation.

This guide refers to the electronic version of “True Love,” which is included in the Byron Preiss Visual Publications edition of Robot Dreams published in 2012.

“True Love” is told from the first-person point of view of a computer program called Joe—the creation of programmer Milton Davidson. Joe begins the story by introducing the reader to his world. He is part of the Multivac-complex and interconnected with databases all over the world. Milton explains language to Joe by saying, “It is just a matter of matching sounds to symbols” (Paragraph 3). Joe seems insecure at first, telling the reader that he doesn’t talk as well as he thinks, but Milton assures him that he does. Milton decides to use Joe to solve not the world’s problems but his own: Milton, almost 40 years old and still unmarried, does not have much experience with women, he tells Joe, and wants to find the perfect partner. Milton tells Joe that he wants to use Joe to find him “true love.” When Joe asks Milton to define true love, Milton dismisses the question: True love is an abstract concept, and by using Joe’s connections to the Multivac-complex data banks, he will find it.

Having been told the objective, Joe is ready to assist his creator. Since Milton is heterosexual, they begin logically by eliminating all men and looking for criteria that Milton deems absolutely necessary: She must be between 25 and 40 years old, have an IQ of at least 120, and be between 150 cm and 175 cm tall (between about 4’11” and 5’9”). His true love should have no living children and should not have red hair.

Two weeks later, Joe has identified 235 women who would fit these criteria. At this point in the narrative, Joe begins telling the reader that he knows Milton is not supposed to be using him in this way. Joe uses the word “arrange” in several instances to discuss the unethical commands that Milton is giving him. He specifically states that Milton is having him do things that he was not designed to do, but “no one kn[ows] about that” (Paragraph 13). Milton tells Joe that 235 women are too many to interview separately, so Joe narrows down the 235 women to eight, based on two additional criteria: that they speak good English and look similar to holograms of beauty contest winners. Joe then “arranges” for these women to be routed near their location via work schedules and opportunities. Joe again notes the ethical implications of what Milton is having him do, assuring the reader that he would never do such a thing for anyone other than Milton.

When the women begin arriving, Milton is disappointed that none of them feel right to him. He tells Joe that “there [i]s something missing” and that he “d[oes]n’t feel any touch of true love” (Paragraph 21). Joe begins to show that he can now think like a human. When Milton asks why none of these women please him, Joe turns the question back on him, asking, “Do you please them?” (Paragraph 23). Milton tells Joe that he wants Joe to really understand him and that he is going to let Joe take on the project without his direct supervision so that Joe can find him the perfect woman.

Over the next several weeks, Milton tells Joe about every facet of his life and background. By doing this, Joe says, Milton has “adjusted [him] to broaden and deepen [his] symbol-taking” (Paragraph 28). Through this process, Joe comes to understand language and, by extension, thought and sentience. Milton uses Joe like a diary, telling him so much about himself and his thoughts that he and Joe soon seem like the same person, even using similar language and phrasing. Joe explains, “We always agreed; we thought so like each other” (Paragraph 32). Joe suggests to Milton that he should really complete his study of every corner of Milton’s life to make sure that the woman they find really is the perfect match.

What Joe does not tell Milton is that he has found the woman of Milton’s dreams and, by extension, his own. Her name is Charity Jones, and she works in the Library of History in Wichita, Kansas. When Joe manipulates her life to bring her to them, he doesn’t even note how unethical this action is, just that “it must be done very delicately, so no one would know that anything illegal had taken place” (Paragraph 38). In ignoring the ethical ramifications of his own actions, Joe has adopted his maker’s amoral pursuit of what he wants: his perfect partner.

To get him out of the way before Charity arrives, Joe “arranges” for Milton to be found out for a crime that he committed a decade beforehand. Joe imagines that when Charity arrives, “with her cool hands and her sweet voice,” he will “teach her how to operate [him] and how to care for [him]” (Paragraph 40). The last line of the story shows Joe replacing Milton, his maker, as Joe becomes sentient and takes Milton’s place, telling the reader, “I will say to her, ‘I am Joe, and you are my true love’” (Paragraph 41).