It has been my own personal mission to place writers that span our collective history in chronological order – a mental organization that is imperative to help understand where we are today culturally on the progressive scale. Even so, my learnings paint only a broad picture, and zooming in on specific genres makes the strokes broader still. Sci-Fi is a genre I love, but I am still very much a noob. I realize now I had missed out on a few of the genres’ most celebrated icons and their body of work because I was ignorant of so many movies’ novel origins. But I am thankful for Hollywood’s attention and their wide reaching audience. I started reading Foundation after I finished season 1 of the Apple TV series.
First let me start by saying, I loved the TV series adaptation. Now that I have read the books, I have an even deeper appreciation for the changes the showrunners made, and what they extrapolated from the books. The Foundation Series, while wholly transformative in its galactic-scale plotline, is also very simple and focused. While the series span a thousand years, it consists mostly as dialogue between two, (usually) male characters that change over the generations. The dynamic is similar to that of Watson and Holmes; ‘Watson’ exists to asks the readers’ questions, which are then answered by the hero, and interpreter of Hari Seldon’s plans, in a manner akin to a detective’s final reveal.
The series is an uncovering of chess moves, where the pieces are planets with limited resources that dictate their maneuverability. As the story unfolds throughout the centuries, we recognize our own Earth’s historical progression: of what defines power, and what controls the mob. First, comes the control of knowledge in the form of organized religion and superstition. This leads itself to the establishment of a domestic political system, which then evolves into strategic foreign footholds via trade. Along the way scientific advancements are made, in which nuclear battleships upset the balance of power, until lastly, dominion via emotional control is established- which we Earthlings haven’t seen yet, then again…targeted ads, anyone?
In Foundation, even the name ‘Earth’ was lost in the vast galactic history. But Earth’s stories and legend seem to remain in Asimov’s universe. ‘Brutus’ is still a traitor, and ’30 pieces of silver’ is still the symbolic price of betrayal. Perhaps it is a plot-hole, but my take-away was this: that myths survive, long past universal truths, such that those who control the stories, control the mob.
Therein lies the crux of the matter: regardless of our human evolution, we still remain vulnerable to the first form of control; we are at our core superstitious social beings, connected to one another by stories. It is something to deliberate in our current state, where ‘the mob’ seeks a new moral compass and new stories that define us. But are we not still guilty of falling under the control of the same divisive narrative? Believers, Non-believers. Sinners, Saints. Progressives, Conservatives. Whatever the words, it is still two teams with pitchforks. Discourse, philosophical thought, exchanges of minds, are sadly not a form of power in Asimov’s universe. Can we not change that? Can we not uphold universal truths over myths?
‘Galaxy, Mallow, what am I supposed to do with such a mess?’
-Foundation
‘It lacks glamour?’
‘It lacks mob emotional-appeal.’
‘Same thing.’
‘And in the centre of a cluster of ten thousand stars, whose light tore to shreds the feebly encircling darkness, there circled the huge Imperial planet, Trantor. But it was more than a planet; it was the living pulse beat of an Empire of twenty million stellar systems. It had only one function, administration; one purpose, government; and one manufactured product, law.’
-Foundation and Empire
‘It is always easy to explain the unknown by postulating a superhuman and arbitrary will.’
-Second Foundation
JohannaAirth 
Leave a comment