 | THE FOUNDATION TRILOGY by Isaac Asimov
(Foundation, Foundation and Empire, Second Foundation)
"Take an Empire that was Roman
and you'll find it is at home in
all the starry Milky Way."
Traders and merchant princes are the heroes in the first half of this classic science fiction work. A book and a half are dedicated to their exploits. Then, the plot twists -- as any good plot must -- and we follow a newly wed couple and a teenage girl who have that same pluck. On one level, this is an easy read. It is a classic space opera where people speak of things not being worth "electron dust" and where a villian is said to have sold his soul to the Galactic Fiend. Yet -- as with any good theme and its plot -- there is more.
Isaac Asimov can be difficult for Objectivist. He was a genius, but, like Albert Einstein, he was not a deep thinker about the issues that we value as fundamental. He never questioned the most common ideas on morality, ethics, government and economics that defined American culture in the mid-20th century. The first book in this series was originally titled, "The 1000 Year Plan." That was pretty bold in 1951, considering that the "1000 Year Reich" was stil an open wound. The basic premise of the trilogy is that a mathematician had charted the future, using the science of "psychohistory." You cannot predict what one gas molecule will do, but you can write general laws for trillions of them. So, too, with people. That idea is called "Asimov's Fallacy" by libertarian science fiction writer L. Neil Smith. If one person has free will, then so do a trillion people -- and you cannot predict their actions.
If mathematician Hari Seldon plotted out the history of the future, then what role does free will play in human affairs? "Seldon helps those who help themselves." Let the sweep of history move forward, you still need to choose you own course of action. Those who benefit -- and profit -- are those who see the situation objectively and in context -- and who act accordingly.
Salvor Hardin became the first mayor of Terminus. Terminus is a tiny outpost at the rim of the galaxy, short on resources. It was colonized as a foundation, a scientific colony to write The Encyclopedia Galactica. That idea was accepted by the moribund empire which considered the cataloguing of prior knowledge a worthy goal. Quickly left to its own meager resources, the first challenge that Terminus faces is from the nearest four breakaway kingdoms. ("Take an empire that was Roman...") Salvor Hardin loved epigrams. "Violence is the last resort of the incompetent." When Terminus is threatened with bombarbment, he takes action -- or rather inaction -- to save the planet.
"I don't scoot about space to save the Foundation or anything like that. But I'm out to make money and here's my chance," said Limmar Ponyets, a trader of the next generation, who also saves Terminus from the next threat.
Hober Mallow was the first of the merchant princes. Accused of profiting for its own sake as a manufacturer of useless baubles, he replies: "You think my convictions are for sale?" Why not? Isn't that your business, buying and selling? "Only at a profit." At this nexus, the expanding Foundation of planet Terminus has finally rediscovered the first tendrils of the old Empire. Hober Mallow sums up the situation: "To seize control of a world, they bribe with immense ships that can make war, but lack all economic significance. We, on the other hand, bribe with little things, useless in war, but vital to prosperity and profits." Mallow wins the war by not fighting it. Bomb their cities and people will make any sacrifice to resist, but no one will send their sons to die to replace an old refrigerator.
Lathan Devers is a hooligan capitalist, a 1950s comic book tough guy who speaks in a suburban idea of street slang. We learn later than he died in a penal colony for leading a tax revolt. By that time, the Foundation Mayor is a hereditary position. Like the other heroes, he takes direct action in the middle of a "Seldon Crisis" which solves itself. His role brings him at least immediate rewards. What is interesting in this episode is that the money that Devers uses comes from the corrupt Privy Councilor of the Empire, squares of intricate plastric, his own money, backed by his estates.
And then, the story shifts.
Unpredicted -- and unpredictable -- a mutant who can read minds and bend men to his will threatens the Foundation. The pre-planned "Seldon Crisis" is off track. The battle for salvation falls to a young married couple. That solved, the Plan may or may not be on track. There exists a "Second Foundation" placed at "the opposite end of the Galaxy." The nature of that Second Foundation says much about Asimov and his subjectivist philosophy.
Is the future unpredictable? I think not. We predict the sunrise and we predict our arrival at the next point in our lives. We went to college. We got jobs. We got married and raised families. That all seems predictable. Could the war in Iraq have turned out differently? Could Americans be hailed as liberators as in Paris 1945? Could the nascent westernism of the people blossom forth in parliamentary conflicts fought with editorials and maybe a few hits and a couple of bombings before they settled down to be a democracy like that of Egypt, or Lebanon or Syria, or Iran or Libya, or Morocco or Pakistan or Sudan or someplace? Are people constrained by predictive mathematics? Is that the same as asking if cause and effect really works?
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The FOUNDATION Trilogy by Isaac Asimov
