Re: Asimov's New Guide To Science 1993 Pdf Free Download
Ethelyn Mullice
The premise of the stories is that in the waning days of a future Galactic Empire, the mathematician Hari Seldon spends his life developing a theory of psychohistory, a new and effective mathematics of sociology. Using statistical laws of mass action, it can predict the future of large populations. Seldon foresees the imminent fall of the Empire, which encompasses the entire Milky Way, and a Dark Age lasting 30,000 years before a second empire arises. Although the momentum of the Empire's fall is too great to stop, Seldon devises a plan by which "the onrushing mass of events must be deflected just a little" to eventually limit this interregnum to just one thousand years.
The original trilogy of novels collected a series of eight short stories and novellas published in Astounding Science-Fiction magazine between May 1942 and January 1950. According to Asimov, the premise was based on ideas in Edward Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, and was invented spontaneously on his way to meet with editor John W. Campbell, with whom he developed the concepts of the collapse of the Galactic Empire, the civilization-preserving Foundations, and psychohistory.[3] Asimov wrote these early stories in his West Philadelphia apartment when he worked at the Philadelphia Naval Yard.[4]
Four years later, Asimov followed up with another sequel, Foundation and Earth (1986),[6] which was followed by the prequels Prelude to Foundation (1988) and Forward the Foundation (1993), published after his 1992 death. During the two-year lapse between writing the sequels and prequels, Asimov had tied in his Foundation series with his various other series, creating a single unified universe. The basic link is mentioned in Foundation's Edge: an obscure myth about a first wave of space settlements with robots and then a second without. The idea is the one developed in Robots of Dawn, which, in addition to showing the way that the second wave of settlements was to be allowed, illustrates the benefits and shortcomings of the first wave of settlements and their so-called C/Fe (carbon/iron, signifying humans and robots together) culture. In this same book, the word psychohistory is used to describe the nascent idea of Seldon's work. Some of the drawbacks to this style of colonization, also called Spacer culture, are also exemplified by the events described all the way back in 1957's The Naked Sun.
The Mayor of Terminus City, Salvor Hardin, proposes to play the planets against each other. His plan is a success; the Foundation remains untouched, and he becomes its ruler. The minds of the Foundation continue to develop newer and greater technologies which are more compact and powerful than the Empire's equivalents. Using its scientific advantages, Terminus develops trade routes with nearby planets, eventually taking them over when its technology becomes a coveted commodity. The interplanetary traders become diplomats to other planets. One such trader, Hober Mallow, becomes powerful enough to challenge and win the office of Mayor and, by cutting off supplies to a nearby region, also succeeds in adding more planets to the Foundation's control.
As the Mule comes closer to finding it, the mysterious Second Foundation emerges briefly out of hiding to face the threat. While the first Foundation has developed the physical sciences, the Second Foundation has been developing Seldon's mathematics and the Seldon Plan, along with their use of mental abilities. The Second Foundation launches an operation to deceive and eventually mind control the Mule, whom they return to rule over his kingdom peacefully for the rest of his life, without further thought of conquering the Second Foundation.
As a result, the first Foundation learns something of the Second Foundation beyond the fact that it exists, and comes to have some understanding of its role. This means that their behavior will now be influenced by that knowledge, invalidating the mathematics of the Seldon Plan and placing the Plan itself at great risk. The First Foundation starts resentfully to consider the other a rival, and a small group secretly begins to develop equipment to detect and block the Second Foundation's mental influence. After many attempts to infer the Second Foundation's whereabouts from the few clues, the Foundation is led to believe the Second Foundation is located on Terminus (the "opposite end of the galaxy" for a galaxy with a circular shape). The Foundation uncovers and eliminates a group of 50 members of the Second Foundation, believing they have destroyed it.
The 50 were volunteers who sacrificed themselves so that humanity's collective behavior would once again be predictable and follow the mathematics of the Seldon Plan. The Second Foundation is revealed to be on Trantor, the former Imperial homeworld. The clue "at Star's End" was not a physical clue but based on an old saying, "All roads lead to Trantor, and that is where all stars end".
Believing that the Second Foundation exists (despite the common belief that it has been extinguished), young politician Golan Trevize is sent into exile by the Mayor of the Foundation, Harla Branno, to uncover the Second Foundation; Trevize is accompanied by a scholar named Janov Pelorat. The reason for their belief is that, despite the unforeseeable impact of the Mule, the Seldon Plan still appears to be proceeding in accordance with the statements of Seldon's hologram, suggesting that the Second Foundation still exists and is secretly intervening to follow the plan. After a few conversations with Pelorat, Trevize comes to believe that a mythical planet called Earth may hold the secret to the location. No such planet exists in any database, yet myths and legends refer to it. Trevize believes that the planet is being kept hidden. Unknown to Trevize and Pelorat, Branno is tracking their ship so that if they find the Second Foundation, the first Foundation can take action.
Stor Gendibal, a prominent member of the Second Foundation, discovers a simple local on Trantor who has had a very subtle alteration made to her mind, far more delicate than anything the Second Foundation can do. He concludes that a greater force of Mentalics must be active in the Galaxy. Following the events on Terminus, Gendibal tries to follow Trevize, reasoning that by doing so, he may find out who has altered the mind of the Trantor native.
Using the few scraps of reliable information within the myths, Trevize and Pelorat discover a planet called Gaia on which every organism and inanimate object on the planet shares a common mind. Branno and Gendibal, who have followed Trevize, also reach Gaia. Gaia reveals that it has engineered this situation because it wishes to do what is best for humanity but cannot be sure what is best. Trevize's purpose, faced with the leaders of the First and Second Foundations and Gaia, is to be trusted to make the best decision among the three main alternatives for the future of the human race, the First Foundation's path, based on mastery of the physical world and its traditional political organization (i.e., Empire); the Second Foundation's path, based on mentalics and probable rule by an elite using mind control; or Gaia's path of absorption of the entire Galaxy into one shared, harmonious living entity in which all beings and the galaxy would be a part.
Still uncertain about his decision, Trevize continues the search for Earth along with Pelorat and a local of Gaia, advanced in Mentalics, known as Blissenobiarella (usually referred to simply as Bliss). Eventually, Trevize finds three sets of coordinates which are very old. Adjusting them for time, he realizes that his ship's computer does not list any planet in the vicinity of the coordinates. When he visits the locations, he rediscovers the forgotten Spacer worlds of Aurora, Solaria, and finally Melpomenia. After searching and facing dilemmas on each planet, Trevize still has not discovered any answers.
Once again, Trevize is put in the position of deciding if having Olivaw meld with the child's superior intellect would be in the best interests of the galaxy. The decision is left ambiguous (though likely a "yes") as it is implied that the melding of the minds may be to the child's benefit but that she may have sinister intentions.
Prelude to Foundation opens on the planet Trantor, the empire's capital planet, the day after Hari Seldon has given a speech at a mathematics conference. Several parties become aware of the content of his speech (that using mathematical formulas, it may be possible to predict the future course of human history). Seldon is hounded by the Emperor and various employed thugs who are working surreptitiously, which forces him into exile. Over the course of the book, Seldon and Dors Venabili, a female companion and professor of history, are taken from location to location by Chetter Hummin who, under the guise of a reporter, introduces them to various Trantorian walks of life in his attempts to keep Seldon hidden from the Emperor.Throughout their adventures all over Trantor, Seldon continuously denies that psychohistory is a realistic science. Even if feasible, it may take several decades to develop. Hummin, however, is convinced that Seldon knows something, so he continuously presses him to work out a starting point to develop psychohistory.Eventually, after much traveling and introductions to various, diverse cultures on Trantor, Seldon realizes that using the entire known galaxy as a starting point is too overwhelming; he then decides to use Trantor as a model to work out the science, with a goal of later using the applied knowledge on the rest of the galaxy.
Eight years after the events of Prelude, Seldon has worked out the science of psychohistory and has applied it on a galactic scale. His notability and fame increase, and he is eventually promoted to First Minister to the Emperor. As the book progresses, Seldon loses those closest to him, including his wife, Dors Venabili, as his own health deteriorates into old age. Having worked his entire adult life to understand psychohistory, Seldon instructs his granddaughter, Wanda, to set up the Second Foundation.
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