Someday (short story)

Infobox Short story
name = Someday
author = Isaac Asimov
country = United States
language = English
series = Multivac
genre = Science fiction short story
publication_type = Periodical
published_in = "Infinity"
publisher = Royal Publications
media_type = Print (magazine)
pub_date = May 1956
english_pub_date =
preceded_by = The Dead Past
followed_by = The Last Question

"Someday" is a science fiction short story by Isaac Asimov. It was first published in the May 1956 issue of "Infinity Science Fiction" and reprinted in the collections "Earth Is Room Enough" (1957) and "The Complete Robot" (1982).

Plot summary

The story is set in a future where computers play a central role in organising society. Humans are employed as computer operators, but they leave most of the thinking to machines. Indeed, whilst binary programming is taught at school, reading and writing have become obsolete.

The story concerns a pair of boys who dismantle and upgrade an old "Bard", a child's computer whose sole function is to generate random fairy tales. The boys download a book about computers into the Bard's memory in an attempt to expand its vocabulary, but the Bard simply incorporates computers into its standard fairy tale repertoire. The story ends with the boys excitedly leaving the room after deciding to go to the library to learn "squiggles" (writing). As they leave, one of the boys accidentally kicks the Bard's on switch. The Bard begins reciting a new story, ending with the words: "the little computer knew then that computers would always grow wiser and more powerful until someday-- someday-- someday-- nowrap|. . . "