Aliens in the Foundation Universe
John Bicketts
One always hears that one of the conspicious things about Isaac
Asimov's Foundation universe is that it only has humans in it.
This is not entirely true- although there aren't any aliens in any
of the Foundation, Empire, or Robot books, there is a little 1945
short story called "Blind Alley" (found in "the Early Asimov") which
does have aliens.
It' set in the early Galactic Empire. Anyway, they find this alien
race which is dying out and..
SPOILER ALERT!! AWOOGa AWOOGA!!
... the aliens feel like they don't have a chance to develop with all
the planets taken by humans, so eventually this Imperial bureaucrat lets
them steal a fleet of Imperial ships and they go off
and settle the Magellanic Clouds.
Sorry I'm a trivia freak
Martin Soederstroem
John Bicketts wrote:
>
> One always hears that one of the conspicious things about Isaac
> Asimov's Foundation universe is that it only has humans in it.
> This is not entirely true- although there aren't any aliens in any
> of the Foundation, Empire, or Robot books, there is a little 1945
> short story called "Blind Alley" (found in "the Early Asimov") which
> does have aliens.
there are none in his universe.
--
Martin
Junsok Yang
In article <3318DE...@swipnet.se>, Martin.S...@swipnet.se says...
"End of Eternity" which is alluded to in "Foundation's Edge" (I think)
though I'm not completely convinced it ties in to the Foundation universe.
Of course, his non-Foundation stuff sometimes feature aliens (e.g. "The
Gods Themselves" and the short story (name escapes me at the moment) where
aliens kidnap a man and a woman to study sexual behavior...)
--
****************************************************************
"We tend to love in dark corners and hate in a large
crowd."...Kim Huber CNN Sports (CNN HN 7/28/96)
Junsok Yang (yan...@yalevm.cis.yale.edu)
John Moreno
John Bicketts <sfei...@mach3ww.com> wrote:
] One always hears that one of the conspicious things about Isaac
] Asimov's Foundation universe is that it only has humans in it.
] This is not entirely true- although there aren't any aliens in any
] of the Foundation, Empire, or Robot books, there is a little 1945
] short story called "Blind Alley" (found in "the Early Asimov") which
] does have aliens.
] It' set in the early Galactic Empire. Anyway, they find this alien
] race which is dying out and..
]
] SPOILER ALERT!! AWOOGa AWOOGA!!
-snip spoiler space-
] ... the aliens feel like they don't have a chance to develop with all
] the planets taken by humans, so eventually this Imperial bureaucrat
] lets them steal a fleet of Imperial ships and they go off and settle
] the Magellanic Clouds.
]
] Sorry I'm a trivia freak
And it's explained in some of the later books that there WERE aliens -
the robots used time travel to wipe out ALL non-terrestrial that
were/would/could be a threat to human life, which certainly included all
intelligent species.
--
John Moreno
Nyrath the nearly wise
Junsok Yang (yan...@minerva.cis.yale.edu) wrote:
: Of course, his non-Foundation stuff sometimes feature aliens (e.g. "The
: aliens kidnap a man and a woman to study sexual behavior...)
As I recall, that was "PLAYBOY AND THE SLIME GODS"
(the story was written in reaction to a "skiffy" story
in Playboy, with Horrible Creatures from Outer Space
who Want Our Women. Asimov's story is a satircal reply)
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Niall McAuley
rp...@stilling.ftech.co.uk (Roy Stilling) writes:
>John Bicketts <sfei...@mach3ww.com> wrote:
>Wasn't the general lack of aliens in Asimov's early fiction due to a
>prejudice of John W. Campbell's against them?
I seem to remember from the auto-biographical notes in the collection
_The Early Asimov_ that Cambpell liked "spunky humans win out against
alien odds" sort of stories. These are the ones in which the humans
win a conflict against aliens who are superior in most ways, by being
brave, or curious, or clever, or having a sense of humour or some such
unique attribute.
This is a very popular subgenre, but Asimov disliked the format, and
so avoided conflicts with Campbell by writing alien free stories.
It's a long time since I read this (and I probably would be unable to
re-read the collection if I tried), so I could be wrong about where
Asimov states this.
-----
Niall
Joachim Verhagen
phe...@interpath.com (John Moreno) writes:
>John Bicketts <sfei...@mach3ww.com> wrote:
>] One always hears that one of the conspicious things about Isaac
>] Asimov's Foundation universe is that it only has humans in it.
>] This is not entirely true- although there aren't any aliens in any
>] of the Foundation, Empire, or Robot books, there is a little 1945
>] short story called "Blind Alley" (found in "the Early Asimov") which
>] does have aliens.
>] It' set in the early Galactic Empire. Anyway, they find this alien
>] race which is dying out and..
>And it's explained in some of the later books that there WERE aliens -
>the robots used time travel to wipe out ALL non-terrestrial that
>were/would/could be a threat to human life, which certainly included all
>intelligent species.
Not so. It is speculated in "Edge" I believe, that the robots used
alternate worlds, as in "The end of eternity" to select the universe which
had no dangerous life. No exterminating and just speculating.
- Joachim
--
Joachim Verhagen E-mail:J.C.D.V...@fys.ruu.nl
Department of molecular biofysics, University of Utrecht
Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Home-page: http://www.fys.ruu.nl/~verhagen (Science Jokes & SF)
Chad Michael Parish
In _Robots and Empire_ (part of the 'Foundation Universe'), two
characters discuss why the human race has never encountered alien
intelligence, despite encountering alien flora and fauna.
Asimov's explination is that Earth's moon, about 1/4 the size of Earth
itself, is much larger (in proportion) to its mother planet than other
moons. It is so unusual that it is probably the only such system in the
galaxy.
He furter postulates that the tidal pull of the Moon keeps the
radioactive Uranium, Thorium, etc. near the surface of the Earth so that
it puts our DNA in a sort of mutation overdrive. Thus, we evolved
faster than anybody else could, makeing us the first intellegent
species.
Chad
Andrew Crisp
Niall McAuley wrote:
> >prejudice of John W. Campbell's against them?
>
> I seem to remember from the auto-biographical notes in the collection
> _The Early Asimov_ that Cambpell liked "spunky humans win out against
> alien odds" sort of stories. These are the ones in which the humans
> win a conflict against aliens who are superior in most ways, by being
> brave, or curious, or clever, or having a sense of humour or some such
> unique attribute.
>
> This is a very popular subgenre, but Asimov disliked the format, and
> so avoided conflicts with Campbell by writing alien free stories.
>
> It's a long time since I read this (and I probably would be unable to
> re-read the collection if I tried), so I could be wrong about where
> Asimov states this.
> -----
> Niall
the note; there was also an introduction in the front of one of the
"Robot City: Robots and Aliens" (which really has no bearing on the
Robot/Empire/Foundation universe) which discussed this. Asimov was
Eastern European by birth and at the time he started writing, the Nazis
were busily chewing up (or trying to) his nation of birth. That, and a
few other factors, made Asimov less sympathetic to the "Earthman
Superior" attitude of John Campbell and E.E. Doc Smith, et al.
A pity, but then, most 1930/40s aliens were little more than "humans in
funny suits"...
--
Andrew B. Crisp
JET 2
NBCC Moncton
Part-Time Science Fiction writer
William Burns
John Bicketts <sfei...@mach3ww.com> wrote:
>"Blind Alley" (found in "the Early Asimov") which
>does have aliens.
> It' set in the early Galactic Empire. Anyway, they find this alien
>race which is dying out and..
>SPOILER ALERT!! AWOOGa AWOOGA!!
>... the aliens feel like they don't have a chance to develop with all
>the planets taken by humans, so eventually this Imperial bureaucrat lets
>them steal a fleet of Imperial ships and they go off
>and settle the Magellanic Clouds.
Could these be the alien menace R. Daneel is waiting for?
--William
A man said to the universe,
"Sir, I exist!"
"However," replied the universe,
"The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation." (Stephen Crane)
William Burns
rp...@stilling.ftech.co.uk (Roy Stilling) wrote:
>Wasn't the general lack of aliens in Asimov's early fiction due to a
>prejudice of John W. Campbell's against them?
Asimov tells the reason in one of his essays (which one - ??). As I
recall, Campbell wanted all aliens to be evil and be defeated by the
brave, heroic humans. The Good Doctor got tired of arguing with him
and never wrote about aliens again. At least not in those stories he
submitted to John W.
Steve Sloan
John Bicketts wrote:
>
> One always hears that one of the conspicious things about Isaac
> Asimov's Foundation universe is that it only has humans in it.
> This is not entirely true- although there aren't any aliens in any
> of the Foundation, Empire, or Robot books, there is a little 1945
> does have aliens.
> It' set in the early Galactic Empire. Anyway, they find this alien
> race which is dying out and..
>
> SPOILER ALERT!! AWOOGa AWOOGA!!
>
> ... the aliens feel like they don't have a chance to develop with all
> the planets taken by humans, so eventually this Imperial bureaucrat lets
> them steal a fleet of Imperial ships and they go off
> and settle the Magellanic Clouds.
>
Not to mention the other obscure but important story set in the
Foundation/Robot universe, "Mother Earth." It tells the story of
how the Spacers and Earth first became enemies.
_____________________________________________________________________
Steve Sloan E-mail: sl...@geosim.msfc.nasa.gov
Senior in Computer Science at the University of Alabama in Huntsville
Check out Kithrup.JPG on MY NEW WEB SITE (I'm so excited):
http://www.cs.uah.edu/cs/students/ssloan/
Matt Austern
Steve Sloan <sl...@geosim.msfc.nasa.gov> writes:
> Not to mention the other obscure but important story set in the
> Foundation/Robot universe, "Mother Earth." It tells the story of
> how the Spacers and Earth first became enemies.
I don't believe that "Mother Earth" and _The Caves of Steel_ are
consistent with each other. It's probably best to think of "Mother
Earth" as an early exploration of an idea that Asimov later decided
to develop differently.
rrh...@aol.com
>Asimov's explination is that Earth's moon, about 1/4 the size of Earth
>itself, is much larger (in proportion) to its mother planet than other
>moons. It is so unusual that it is probably the only such system in the
>galaxy.
>
>He furter postulates that the tidal pull of the Moon keeps the
>radioactive Uranium, Thorium, etc. near the surface of the Earth so that
>it puts our DNA in a sort of mutation overdrive. Thus, we evolved
>faster than anybody else could, makeing us the first intellegent
>species.
>
Asimov wrote a science fact essay (in F&SF) about the possible
importance of the moon on the development of life and intelligence on
Earth. It may have been "The Tragedy of the Moon" which is the title
essay of one of his Doubleday collections of F&SF essays (now OP, I'm
sure). IIRC, one of his points was that a large moon is required for
significant tidal effects, hence tidal pools, which are significant loci for
evolution of many important life forms, perhaps especially transition-to-land
forms. Also, I think, he suggested that the fact that the Moon is sized
perfectly (at its current orbital distance) to eclipse the Sun almost exactly
was important, though I can't thin how. (To be sure, the Moon was
probably not always the same distance from the Earth, IIRC.)
Rich Horton
-----------------------------------
I have a web page at www.sff.net/people/richard.horton.
New Reviews: Blue Mars and The Sweetheart Season.
Steve Sloan
rrh...@aol.com wrote:
> Asimov wrote a science fact essay (in F&SF) about the possible
> importance of the moon on the development of life and intelligence on
> Earth. It may have been "The Tragedy of the Moon" which is the title
> essay of one of his Doubleday collections of F&SF essays (now OP, I'm
> sure). IIRC, one of his points was that a large moon is required for
> significant tidal effects, hence tidal pools, which are significant
> loci for evolution of many important life forms, perhaps especially
> transition-to-land forms. Also, I think, he suggested that the fact
> that the Moon is sized perfectly (at its current orbital distance)
> to eclipse the Sun almost exactly was important, though I can't thin
> how. (To be sure, the Moon was probably not always the same distance
> from the Earth, IIRC.)
I think it had something to do with a need for regular patterns in
the sky, so intelligent beings could create science, and trust it
enough to keep working at it.
Simon van Dongen
On or about Sat, 1 Mar 1997 23:29:17 -0500, John Moreno wrote:
>John Bicketts <sfei...@mach3ww.com> wrote:
>] One always hears that one of the conspicious things about Isaac
>] Asimov's Foundation universe is that it only has humans in it.
>] This is not entirely true- although there aren't any aliens in any
>] of the Foundation, Empire, or Robot books, there is a little 1945
>] short story called "Blind Alley" (found in "the Early Asimov") which
>] does have aliens.
>] It' set in the early Galactic Empire. Anyway, they find this alien
>] race which is dying out and..
>]
>] SPOILER ALERT!! AWOOGa AWOOGA!!
>-snip spoiler space-
>] ... the aliens feel like they don't have a chance to develop with all
>] the planets taken by humans, so eventually this Imperial bureaucrat
>] lets them steal a fleet of Imperial ships and they go off and settle
>] the Magellanic Clouds.
>]
>] Sorry I'm a trivia freak
>And it's explained in some of the later books that there WERE aliens -
>the robots used time travel to wipe out ALL non-terrestrial that
>were/would/could be a threat to human life, which certainly included all
>intelligent species.
>--
>John Moreno
Wasn't that more a matter of selecting a timeline in which no aliens
would appear?
OTOH, if we get involved in the distinction between not letting
potential aliens exist and killing actual aliens, we might as well
move over to the abortion-thread.
Simon van Dongen
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=++=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
Simon van Dongen <sg...@pi.net> Rotterdam, The Netherlands
'My doctor says I have a malformed public duty gland and a
natural deficiency in moral fibre,' he muttered to himself,
'and that I am therefore excused from saving Universes.'
Life, the universe and everything
+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=++=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
Jeff Suzuki
Simon van Dongen (sg...@pi.net) wrote:
: On or about Sat, 1 Mar 1997 23:29:17 -0500, John Moreno wrote:
:
: >And it's explained in some of the later books that there WERE aliens -
: >the robots used time travel to wipe out ALL non-terrestrial that
: >were/would/could be a threat to human life, which certainly included all
: >intelligent species.
No, no, no.
: Wasn't that more a matter of selecting a timeline in which no aliens
: would appear?
Arguable. The statement appears as a piece of legendary history.
The "true" history (so to speak!) as related in _The End of Eternity_,
is that research into atomic power was stimulated in the 20th century
so that human beings would be the _first_ intelligent species in the
galaxy, and preempt all others. Roughly speaking, in the "original"
history, humanity didn't break the hyperspace barrier until about
10,000,000 A.D., and other intelligent aliens had time to evolve. In
the changed/Foundation/robot history, the hyperspace barrier was
broken about 2000 A.D.
Jeffs