Psychohistory Rocks! (Foundation Series - Isaac Asimov in general)

Member Name: Mauri

Product:	Foundation Series - Isaac Asimov in general
Date:	02/12/03 (79 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great concepts

Disadvantages: Weak fifth book

Science fiction more than other types of fiction is punctuated by innovative ideas that give rise to entire sub-genres. One measure of a great Sci-Fi author is how many of these innovative ideas they can claim to have introduced to the genre.

Asimov does well by these criteria. Early in his writing career when he still specialised in short stories written in sci-fi pulp fiction magazines he came up the 'I Robot' stories, which included the now famous Laws of Robotics (previously reviewed), which have changed the face of modern science fiction. One other such idea possibly with less overall impact but nonetheless elegant in its conception is Psychohistory. Psychohistory underpins the Foundation Trilogy later to become the Foundation Series.

The series comprises of the original trilogy 'Foundation', 'Foundation and Empire' and 'Second Foundation'. Decades later Asimov added 'Foundations Edge', 'Foundation and Earth', 'Prelude to Foundation' and 'Forward the Foundation'.

A review of the whole series is a difficult task and can only be done with scant reference to the plots as each book builds on the events in previous novels and a detailed account of the story would spoil the experience for new readers.


AN OUTLINE OF THE STORY -THE TRILOGY

A long time in the future humanity has stretched out over the known universe and a vast galactic empire has been formed. No alien races have been encountered and humanity has had a free reign over all the planetary systems it has reached. Using the advanced technology of Terraforming the inhospitable planets have been converted to Earth type environments and colonised.

The Empire is all-powerful, a huge economic and military power that has provided security and wealth for all its citizens for millennia. But this is far from Utopia, corruption has reached the very highest layers in society and The Emperor himse
lf has been seen to be part of a debauched tyrannical hierarchy at odds with early principles of the Empire. The early signs of trouble are there but it is difficult for anyone to imagine that such as strong political regime can be threatened.

On Trantor the capital planet of the empire one man an enlightened thinker and mathematician Hari Seldon has developed a new science called Psychohistory. Seldon has worked out that despite individual humans action being difficult to predict and thus essentially random, history and thus the future does not depend on the actions of individuals but in the collective action of population masses. By using complicated mathematical models Seldon has worked out a system to predict the actions and reactions of mass populations to the extent that within a high level of probability the future of man can be mapped out.

Using this new predictive science Seldon has made an horrific discovery. The Empire will fall and a dark age will follow. Centuries of moral and technological decline and destructive wars will plague the galaxy. Seldon in possession of such knowledge feels he has to act and ward off the worst effects of the coming catastrophe. He realises that although he can predict the future to try and change it directly would be a disaster. He decided that the best he can do is save the collective knowledge that humanity has gathered and wait over the coming centuries for a time when it can be re-introduced to the next stable political collective.

With this in mind he sets up a colony of scientists 'The Foundation' on the planet Terminus on the very edge of the known Empire. Their official task is to compile the Encyclopedia Galactica a vast database of all known human knowledge but the colony has also been created to keep an eye on events and act appropriately to save it's own position in order to survive the turmoil to come.

Seldon does not want the empire to know of his knowledge i
n order to safeguard his plan and also realises that even his own colleagues must not know of the precise details of what is to happen. By way of a series of recorded messages sealed in a time vault on Terminus programmed to open at specific times in the future long after his own death, Seldon provides the colonist with a number of hints and specific predictions of probable events that will both reassure them the plan is still on course and provide them with some limited help to cope with the serious crisis that Seldon has foreseen.

This is the basic premise behind the story and only really takes us to the beginning of the first book.

In the original trilogy we discover how Seldon's plans unfolds and as each of the predicted events comes to pass how the foundation copes and manages to survive. However we have a few surprises in store and eventually a rogue element largely unforeseen comes close to wrecking the plan.

We also learn about the mysterious Second Foundation. Does the Second Foundation exist? Is it to be found on the now long forgotten maybe mythical planet known as Earth? Is it a force for good or evil? And what is their role in the future of Civilization?

AFTER THE TRILOGY

The trilogy ends with a conclusion (satisfactory or not) to the first part of the plan but Asimov later in his life decided that he would add yet more layers to his epic story.

In the fourth book 'Foundation's Edge' we learn that there is much, much more to Seldon's plan and far more sinister forces than the Second Foundation exist in the universe. This eventually leads to a quest to discover the location of Earth now considered a mythical planet that was rumoured to be the origin of the human race and might yet yield the secrets behind the foundation.

Eventually in the later books including the 'non-foundation' book 'Robots and Foundation' Asimov tries to bring together several elem
ents from his other great work the Robot stories in to the Foundation Series.

The last two entries in the saga 'Prelude to Foundation' and 'Forward the Foundation' completed shortly before his death are prequels to main story and show us how Seldon first came to discover the theory of psychohistory and really serve to set up the original Foundation trilogy although they should not be read before it! A further instalment 'Robots and Empire' although not strictly part of the foundation series follows on form some of Asimov's earlier robot stories and especially the Elijah Blake futuristic detective novels and bridges the gap between the 'Robot universe and the Foundation Universe. You feel that toward s the end on his life Asimov attempted to tie up the tow major strands of his life's work to from a consistent unified legacy.

MY OPINION

This is without doubt one of the most important series in Science Fiction and in 1965 won the prestigious Hugo Award for best series.

As you might be aware having read my preamble there are several familiar components to the Foundation story especially if you have any knowledge of ancient history. Asimov has retold the fall of the Roman Empire on an intergalactic stage. In the story he parallels the decline of the unified Roman Empire it's division into smaller eastern and western entities, the final collapse of the western empire followed by a dark age, the eastern empire acting as a repository of culture and knowledge up until the fall of Constantinople and the dissemination of that knowledge across Europe spark the European Renaissance.

Transferring real history in this way to a fictional setting was a brilliant idea and in the telling of the story Asimov include realistic political machinations and some intriguing plot twists that any reader will find difficult see coming. The later books deal with event not paralleled in history and are not qu
ite of the same standards the original trilogy but still make a welcome addition to the overall story.

Asimov's stroke of genius that makes the foundation series stand out from its contemporaries is of course the creation of psychohistory. Prediction of the future by mathematical models is not so far fetched and modern quantum physics has given us examples of this. The predicted movement of a drop of water in an ocean is difficult just as the action of an individual can be but the movement of a larger body of water such as a wave is easier predict if your mathematical model is complex enough in the same way crowds are easier to deal with than individuals. So the Asimov's ideas are based on reasonable scientific theory.

Asimov also addresses the idea that human history is not dependant on the actions of individuals but relies more on external influences and the behaviour of populations. Seldon plan is based on this assumption and this is an excepted theory today. Another branch of science in the form of Chaos theory would seen to also suggest that any predictive model is vulnerable to random events.

The final aspect of the story that only makes an appearance in the later book is the notion of artificial intelligence and at what point does a machine however complicated it's workings become a living organism. Is the onset of consciousness the decisive event and can programming ever be broken of are infact humans to an extent programmed.

Asimov never disappoints when it comes to the concept he introduced in to his stories, he always manages to be imaginative and thought provoking. The plots are always very well crafted and even in the later Foundation novels where it is obvious that some of the plot lines have been unnaturally massaged in order to fit into elements present in other previously unrelated Asimov books they still are more cohesive than many other sci-fi series

One thing that even the most ardent A
simov fan could not claim is that Asimov's writing style qualifies him as great literature. That is not to say that he can't tell a great story it is only that in his books the prose is a tool for conveying an idea rather than an aspect of the book that can be appreciated in its own right. The characterisations are slightly two dimensional often to fit in to the fast pace of the storyline. Having said this over the course of the whole series many of the principal characters are examined in much more detail and this greatly adds to our understanding of their motivations.

OVERALL

The Foundation books don't quite come together as neatly as one would like the original trilogy is rightly considered one of the major works of the genre the keenly awaited fourth instalment is a wonderful sequel of the same high standards as the first three and a worthy addition. Perhaps the weakness in the series is the fifth book 'Foundation and Earth' that although in itself a fine story doesn't quite succeed in tying together all the different strands as Asimov had intended. It is therefore a relief that the series is ended with 'Prelude to Foundation' and 'Forward the Foundation' which although being set in the past and thus doesn't take the story any further it does at least explain the origins of the story and provides what all fans have wanted since the publication of the very first book, more information about Hari Seldon the key character in Asimov's galactic universe.

Overall Asimov comes across, as a great storyteller rather than a great writer but I don't think he would have minded being described in this way and no one can deny the Foundation series is a great story!

*The Foundation Series (all prices are for paperback edition from Amazon.co.uk)

I have rated these separately out of 5.

FOUNDATION- 234 pages Publisher: Collins- ISBN: 0586010807 £4.79 (5/5)
FOUNDATION AND

EMPIRE- 240 pages Publisher: Collins- ISBN: 0586013555 £4.79 (5/5)
SECOND FOUNDATION- 240 pages Publisher: Collins-ISBN: 0586017135 £4.79 (5/5)
FOUNDATION'S EDGE- 432 pages Publisher: Collins- ISBN: 0586058397 £5.59 (5/5)
FOUNDATION AND EARTH-512 pages Publisher: Collins- ISBN: 0586071105 £5.59 (3.5/5)
PRELUDE TO FOUNDATION-464 pages Publisher: Collins-ISBN: 0586071113 £5.59 (4/5)
FORWARD THE FOUNDATION-480 pages Publisher: Bantam-ISBN: 0553404881 £5.59 (4/5)

Thanks for reading and rating this opinion

© Mauri 2003

Summary: Classic old style sci-fi at its best