More "Foundation" other sci-fi

I’m just barely done with Asimov’s foundation series and moving on to the Robot series – strictly speaking they’re one long arc, and its Robots that comes first, but it was always Foundation that excited me.

As far as Foundation goes, though the core foundation series- dealing with the conflicts within the Foundation, between Foundation and its neighbors and the empire that birthed it and later became its enemy, Mule the unforeseen that conquered it, if only briefly and Second Foundation- that itself proved susceptible to corruption. The most interesting lesson was how technological advancement can overcome military might (in terms of sheer numbers) and catapult an underdog to the position of victor. It was seen over and over again, in the way Foundation overcame the four neighbors that sought to conquer it, even though it had no army, in the way Empire fell before it, the way Foundation itself capitulated to the Mule.

The most interesting books though were the first- “Prelude to foundation” and the last- “Foundation and Earth”- which is the one that really ties it up with the Robot novels. “Prelude to Foundation”, in which Hari Seldon first presents his thesis, and tries to apply it practically, is fascinating for its discussion about the interplay between the societies that make the planet of Trantor. Trantor, the capital of the empire, where ironically, the Empire’s strength is weakest. It dare not attack the University, where Hari stays to escape the Empire’s agents, because it depends on the intellectuals who come to the university to maintain its strength. Each of the states on Trantor, have their own hold on the Empire, one which caters to the wealthy, one that produces energy and one that dissipates it, each is required for the stability of the Empire, and they dance delicately to increase their influence while not daring to do anything that would topple the whole structure.

Equally interesting are the inequalities that exist in each society. One that discriminates against women, one with a caste system, even the University which is supposed to be blind to these things is not truly so. Though I was a little disappointed at (1) Each society seems to have only one major inequity. Though I understand that this could be for reasons of clarity, it seemed too much of an oversimplification. (2) IT was all too relatable... same old, same old basically - women, caste, class...And in the middle of it all is the Prime Mover, who has been manipulating things all along.

“Foundation and Earth” was equally interesting- while the first book brought out the rules with which Hari Seldon made his laws of Psychohistory, (which allows the prediction of the future of the human race, and its manipulation, provided the people being manipulated remain unaware of the fact.) the last book talks about the things that make Earth unique- its moon- a quarter the size of the planet itself, utterly unique (to the best of our knowledge)- the planets, like Saturn with its rings- legends that persisted even after earth itself was forgotten.

Equally interesting was the way the colonization of the galaxy was described- first the near worlds, then in another wave, the farther ones (the Robot novels bring out the reasons for this). It makes me interested also, in looking at the colonization of earth itself- whether the colonizing countries followed any such patterns- it would be hard to detect, I imagine, given that almost all of earth was occupied by humans in pre-history, but for example, you could look at the patterns of colonization of the Americas.

Finally, there is the denouement, the choice that must be made- whether the galaxy will be joined with Gaia or not, and the discovery of the hidden assumption that governs psychohistory, and that uneasy ending- that even after everything, there remain unpalatable choices, and perhaps a fifth column that cannot be understood by the laws of psychohistory.

So anyway, after obsessing over “Foundation” for a while, I went back and to re-read Robot. “I, robot” was excellent, as expected- and the final two stories especially, really bring out the choices we face even now, about what it means to be human (am currently also reading ray Kurzweil- which really brings this out). The rest of the Robot novels are to follow…

As part of my science fiction marathon, I also read Ray Bradbury’s "The Illustrated Man "And I realized that these are two very different authors (I know… duh!). Well, you don’t think of there being many types of science-fiction… but Bradbury tends to tread the line lightly between fantasy and science fiction. He stories are a little more supernatural, even when they’re science-fiction.