BlackOxford's Reviews > Foundation
Foundation (Foundation, #1)
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Life in the Garden of Letters
Foundation is a technological society which believes it can avoid its likely demise through the application of more technology. Even its ‘thought leaders’ believe their job is to preserve technological knowledge in anticipation of the impending dark ages.
But everything they think they know about the past and their projected future and their role in both is false. The question they face is: can a new purpose into which they have been manipulated by their ancestors as well as by current events be accepted as their own?
What does it mean to accept such a purpose which appears to be already determined? To fake participation in an inevitable fate? To promote technology as a sort of religious cult? Is anyone really in charge? Democracy, to which Foundation is ostensibly committed, is a fickle and unpredictable form. What is approved today may be cast aside tomorrow.
Asimov’s understanding of science and imaginative story-telling makes him a credible writer. His ability to incorporate perennial questions of human import - including the moral and political - into this understanding makes him a great writer. Dealing with our inheritance of what is usually called culture, or tradition, or simply the past is a difficult subject to think about. Does it matter? Can anything be done to overcome an historical trajectory? Or do we have some sort of cosmic duty to conform to its demands?
Perhaps there is a Plan after all. If not God’s then one very astute scientist’s. And perhaps it involves keeping as many of us alive as possible to carry it out. The essence of this Plan is not taking action until the only action to take becomes clear. The only decision in such a strategy is the refusal to take a decision. Who knows. Could be. The result could hardly be worse than the rationalised missteps of arrogant political leaders or the volatile preferences of the democratic mob.
Foundation is a technological society which believes it can avoid its likely demise through the application of more technology. Even its ‘thought leaders’ believe their job is to preserve technological knowledge in anticipation of the impending dark ages.
But everything they think they know about the past and their projected future and their role in both is false. The question they face is: can a new purpose into which they have been manipulated by their ancestors as well as by current events be accepted as their own?
What does it mean to accept such a purpose which appears to be already determined? To fake participation in an inevitable fate? To promote technology as a sort of religious cult? Is anyone really in charge? Democracy, to which Foundation is ostensibly committed, is a fickle and unpredictable form. What is approved today may be cast aside tomorrow.
Asimov’s understanding of science and imaginative story-telling makes him a credible writer. His ability to incorporate perennial questions of human import - including the moral and political - into this understanding makes him a great writer. Dealing with our inheritance of what is usually called culture, or tradition, or simply the past is a difficult subject to think about. Does it matter? Can anything be done to overcome an historical trajectory? Or do we have some sort of cosmic duty to conform to its demands?
Perhaps there is a Plan after all. If not God’s then one very astute scientist’s. And perhaps it involves keeping as many of us alive as possible to carry it out. The essence of this Plan is not taking action until the only action to take becomes clear. The only decision in such a strategy is the refusal to take a decision. Who knows. Could be. The result could hardly be worse than the rationalised missteps of arrogant political leaders or the volatile preferences of the democratic mob.
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Mike
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Feb 23, 2020 07:08AM
![Mike](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1548615999p1/7272380.jpg)
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![Cris](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1500918746p1/18607352.jpg)
![BlackOxford](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1484863606p1/17744555.jpg)
The grand-daddy of modern sci-fi. Must read.
![BlackOxford](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1484863606p1/17744555.jpg)
Don’t we all. Thanks for your reminder as well.
![BlackOxford](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1484863606p1/17744555.jpg)
Part of my miseducation is that I never read Foundation before. I’m trying to correct the situation.
![Greg](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1711989121p1/26552534.jpg)
![BlackOxford](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1484863606p1/17744555.jpg)
Spooky. Of course there are no coincidences. The future is calling... 🤓
![BlackOxford](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1484863606p1/17744555.jpg)
Thanks, Jay. It is indeed.
![Kamakana](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1640032990p1/3403278.jpg)
![BlackOxford](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1484863606p1/17744555.jpg)
Star Wars wrecked Asimov’s oeuvre.
![BlackOxford](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1484863606p1/17744555.jpg)
I’m a newbie but am catching up.
![fourtriplezed](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1449978271p1/6852430.jpg)
![BlackOxford](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1484863606p1/17744555.jpg)
I tired to read Dune in my youth but couldn’t get through it. I should try it again to see how much the book has improved.
![Stephen Robert Collins](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1721737340p1/47521763.jpg)
![BlackOxford](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1484863606p1/17744555.jpg)
She was right of course. The first Foundation was written in 1951 but doesn’t feel at all dated.
![BlackOxford](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1484863606p1/17744555.jpg)
I think I’ll give it a rest for the moment. I don’t know if the irony is his or mine, but it is trying.
![HBalikov](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1271764879p1/929238.jpg)
I think I’ll give it a rest for the moment. I don’t know if the irony is his or mine, but it is t..."
I'll note that we had similar reactions. I am not up for a re-read yet.
![Piotr](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1680696535p1/18654418.jpg)
![BlackOxford](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1484863606p1/17744555.jpg)
The power of literate fiction! One reason that sociologists should learn to write better.
![Randy](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1394138132p1/29208502.jpg)
![BlackOxford](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1484863606p1/17744555.jpg)
Yes, it’s wonderful.
![B Sarv](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1597165188p1/56111782.jpg)
![BlackOxford](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1484863606p1/17744555.jpg)
An amazing writer who clearly remains memorable throughout life. Well said.
![Jim](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1668721790p1/1237540.jpg)
I was ten when I first saw Kubrick's "2001" - and impressed that a film-maker really knew the soundlessness of a strong vacuum.
I was 17 when I saw star wars.
In between, I read millions of words of "hard SF". Thus innoculated I was far more impressed by Carrie Fisher's lovliness and Harrison Ford's rougishness than by any "SF" aspect of it.
(of course, it was a damn good Virtue vs. Evil tale that ended right)
With a year or so Ben Bova, editor of Analog magazine, put a useful label on it - "space western" - or perhaps "space opera" - which let me know I was in good company.
![Jim](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1668721790p1/1237540.jpg)
Dune was my first "difficult novel" - but I solderied through the first 25% and it "got better".
On reread, it was quite rewarding - worth picking up again.
![Michael Perkins](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1454487234p1/13298726.jpg)
Dune was published in 1965 and the format reflects this: long, endless blocks of text and marathon chapters. Proust might be able to get away with this, but not Frank Herbert.
Meanwhile, note how much George Lucas ripped off Dune...
http://www.moongadget.com/origins/dun...
![BlackOxford](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1484863606p1/17744555.jpg)
Dune was published in 1965 and the format reflect..."
I read Dune indeterminate decades ago. It didn’t grab me then, probably because I was too young. Perhaps I should revisit.
![Michael Perkins](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1454487234p1/13298726.jpg)
![Nocturnalux](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1708076932p1/18314688.jpg)
![BlackOxford](https://images.gr-assets.com/users/1484863606p1/17744555.jpg)
The Bechdel Test. Learned something new again.🤓