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Daily Recco, September 28: Foundation - from the past, into the future

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Rajeshwari Ganesan
Rajeshwari GanesanSep 29, 2020 | 19:16

Daily Recco, September 28: Foundation - from the past, into the future

Isaac Asimov laid the foundation and set the standard for the science fiction genre back in 1951 with his novel Foundation.

In the world of science-fiction, there are very few novels that earn the title of being truly timeless. Foundation, by Isaac Asimov, is one such novel that goes beyond the realms of time. Asimov aces the story-telling, that it feels like watching a fast-paced movie rather than reading the book that was first published in 1951, with four of its five interconnected short stories were published between 1942 and 1944.

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Don’t be fooled by the date of publishing though. As we said, the novel is timeless. The intricacies of the politics of the narrative are relevant even today. The novel is set in a distant future when humanity has forgotten its origin planet. The novel revolves around Hari Seldon, the mathematics professor at Streeling University on the planet Trantor, who develops “psychohistory”, an algorithmic science that allows him to predict the future in probabilistic terms. Psychohistory is a science which combines sociology, statistics, and psychology to predict the future of large groups of people.

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Planet Trantor is ruled by the Galactic Empire, Seldon predicts the imminent downfall of the empire by psychohistory, and develops means to shorten the 30,000 years of eventual suffering and barbarism that will follow for the inhabitants.

Seldon shapes the future as he knows what would happen. Through this, he knows exactly when and how the people of the future should act to salvage humanity, before the new empire rises from the ashes of the old one. He creates pre-recorded holograms that allow him to appear before the people in moments of crisis and nudge them away from the calamity. Seldon does not trust humanity to save itself, so he does it for them. The lines between black and white, agency and control and good and evil blur as we are left with varying shades of grey.

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Asimov eventually develops the novel into a series. However, this first book is the crowning jewel. We would even go to the extent of saying that this book forms the basis for series like Star Wars and Star Trek, as they are clearly inspired by Foundation to establish their universes.

In the surreal times that we are living in, Foundation might just be what you need to get that hope of salvation.

Last updated: September 29, 2020 | 19:16
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