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1First published in ''Magazine/AmericanWay'' (February 1977 issue), by Creator/IsaacAsimov. A ScienceFiction ShortStory about a computer program that falls in love.
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3Our [[FirstPersonPerspective POV Protagonist]] is Joe, a computer subprogram to [[MasterComputer the larger Multivac mainframe]]. It is being taught by Milton Davidson, who one day decides [[TheNamesake to look for true love]], and he enlists Joe's help. They eliminate people on physical and emotional characteristics to find Milton's ideal woman, then try a few dates, none of which go well. They think about this, and realize that they only did half of the problem; they need to find someone who sees Milton as their ideal guy. After weeks of intense psychological study, Joe has found Milton's true love, and she'll be arriving February 14, [[UsefulNotes/AmericanHolidays Valentine's Day]].
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5"True Love" has been republished multiple times; ''Magazine/IsaacAsimovsScienceFictionMagazine'' ([=January-February=] 1978 issue), ''Literature/MicrocosmicTales'' (1980), ''Three Science Fiction Tales'' (1981), ''Literature/TheCompleteRobot'' (1982), ''Literature/TheRobotCollection'' (1983), ''Literature/RobotDreams'' (1986), and ''Literature/TheAsimovChroniclesFiftyYearsOfIsaacAsimov'' (1989).
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7!!"True Love" provides examples of:
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9* BigBrotherIsWatching: Milton tells Joe to send the 235 potential matches to get psychological evaluations, and it gets enough information from their sessions that it is able to analyze Milton the same way.
10* DecoyProtagonist: Milton is searching for love, up until [[spoiler:[[MurderTheHypotenuse Joe gets him arrested for a crime a decade old, so that he won't come between Joe and Charity]]]].
11* DidNotGetTheGirl: The surprising PlotTwist at the end has Milton end up [[spoiler:going to jail while Joe gets the girl]].
12* FeaturelessPlaneOfDisembodiedDialogue: (JustifiedTrope) The story is told [[FirstPersonPerspective from Joe's perspective]], a computer program that has limited sensory input. Joe doesn't describe anyone's appearance, considering them pointless in comparison to personality and temperament.
13* FirstPersonPerspective: Joe, a computer program, is the one telling the story. Joe's limited senses [[JustifiedTrope justify]] the use of FeaturelessPlaneOfDisembodiedDialogue, since Joe cares more about a meeting of the minds than appearances or smells.
14* GrandRomanticGesture: Joe has prepared Chastity's transfer to their department, and she'll be arriving February 14, [[UsefulNotes/AmericanHolidays Valentine's Day]]. That's when [[spoiler:Joe plans to announce that she is its OneTrueLove]].
15* GrewBeyondTheirProgramming: Milton has spent a lot of work programming Joe, and inadvertently also taught it [[WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove what it means to fall in love]].
16* LudicrousPrecision: Joe narrates that there's exactly 3,784,982,874 men and 3,786,112,090 women in the world. Once Milton's initial parameters are fulfilled, there are still 235 women who fit the criteria.
17* MasterComputer: As a program within the Multivac system, Joe has the ability to manipulate records, [[BigBrotherIsWatching read the personal files of anyone on the planet]], and arrange for required psychological appointments for hundreds of people to gain even more information.
18* MurderTheHypotenuse: (DownplayedTrope) Charity will be arriving soon, and both Milton and Joe believe she will be their OneTrueLove. Only [[spoiler:Joe realizes the competition, and arranges for Milton to be arrested based on a crime committed years ago]].
19* OmniscientDatabase: Because Joe is part of the [[MasterComputer world-spanning Multivac-complex]], it can access the records of [[LudicrousPrecision all 3,784,982,874 men and 3,786,112,090 women in the world]].
20* OneTrueLove: Milton is disappointed in the first date that he and Joe arrange, and they realize that they can't be Milton's ideal woman unless he's their ideal man. So the two of them adjust their search to figure out who would see him as their ideal man. Only one woman out of the 3,786,112,090 in the world match their criteria.
21* {{Robosexual}}: Joe, a computer program written by Milton, has decided to start a romantic relationship [[spoiler:with Charity Jones]], because he has [[WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove taught it how to love]].
22* RoboSpeak: Milton is a programmer, and Joe is his experimental program. As the story progresses, Joe's dialogue gets longer, but it always retains a certain amount of fictional computer jargon, especially in the narration.
23* SupportingProtagonist: Joe is present to narrate events for the audience and process the algorithms that Milton designs, so that Milton can find his OneTrueLove.
24* TitleDrop: The term [[TheNamesake true love]] is mentioned several times, and Milton [[WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove inadvertently teaches Joe what he means by love]]. The final line is directed at Charity Jones, the woman who fits the algorithms that Joe and Milton have spent many weeks creating. "[Y]ou are my true love."
25* WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove: Joe, a computer program, is being tasked by its programmer, Milton, to find him a woman who will be his [[TitleDrop true love]]. When Joe asks for clarification, Milton says the explanation isn't important. The rest of the story then breaks the concept into components that Joe can understand, allowing it to fall in love [[spoiler:with the same woman]].

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