Foundation and Earth by Isaac Asimov

Foundation and Earth Book Cover

Background:
This is the final novel in the Foundation Universe chronologically speaking. There are a couple short stories completed by other authors, but Foundation and Earth describes (in 494 pages) where Asimov saw his epic saga moving toward. It is a shame that he couldn’t have lived longer to continue on writing. For those that don’t know, Isaac Asimov contracted HIV from a blood transfusion during a heart operation in 1983. It later developed into AIDS, causing heart and kidney failure which led to his death in 1992. For more information on his life and death, visit Asimov Online. I wish I could remember the source, but I know I read that Asimov was not sure exactly how he would continue the series when a fan suggested he go back and write some prequels. Before his death he did fill in some gaps with the Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation.

Review:
Almost no time has passed since Golan Trevize made his decision in favor of Galaxia over a Second Galactic Empire controlled by either the First or Second Foundation. Trevize is still on Gaia along with Janov Pelorat and Bliss. Golan intends to find Earth so that he can find out why he chose felt that Galaxia was best for not only mankind, but for every living thing in the Galaxy. He will not rest until he finds Earth. Bliss insists on going on his search to act as protection through her role as part of Gaia, and Janov has his own research on Earth that he wishes to complete.

The one thing that Asimov succeeds accomplishing in this novel, as he does with the others books in this series, is creating and describing different cultures. These cultures vary from the extremes of conservatism to tribal utopias. Each new world has its own customs, mythology, and history which is described through the interactions between the protagonists and the natives encountered throughout their complex journey.

Shortly after it is agreed that all three must go together, they all depart in a gravatic ship, the Far Star. This journey hits plenty of snags along the way. Bliss maintains a connection to Gaia through hyperspace, but this effort drains her and she can only call upon the support of Gaia in extreme emergencies. Golan’s cautious nature, which at times can be somewhat annoying and repetitive, manages to save the group as much as when Bliss uses her Gaian powers. Janov acts as the guide, in that he can piece together the clues to find Earth from that various myths and legends he has been studying throughout his career as a mythologist.

As with most of the Foundation Novels, a large chunk of the content is primarily dialogue between the main characters. Asimov makes a point to speak through the characters, and in most cases he succeeds in getting his point across. Golan, Janov, and Bliss make a nice little group, but some of the conversations that go back and forth over the course of almost 500 paperback pages get a bit redundant at times.

First, there is the constant reminder that Bliss/Gaia cannot possibly tamper with Golan Trevize’s mind, because that would negate the decision he made. Gaia insists that if Trevize ever changes his mind about Galaxia, that they will support his decision and not interfere with the Second Galactic Empire. Still, Golan constantly asks Bliss if she is tampering with his mind, and she denies it. She does tamper with his mind though, but with words rather than her mental powers.
Second is the constant argument over which is better to live as, Isolates (those not part of Gaia) or Gaians. After each encounter that shows the advantages of individualism or disadvantage of participation in Gaia, Golan gloats to Bliss. She also takes every opportunity to point out why Gaia is superior, especially in instances she is able to call upon the power of Gaia to save them from whatever sort of trouble they managed to get into.

The third and most annoying repetitive conversation is when Golan knows that he should just trust the computer on the Far Star to make a calculation for a Jump, but decides to just “wait a few days more” just to be sure. They still need to travel away from the major sources of gravity to make a Jump, but the new advances in computing make calculating that jump an order of magnitude faster than before. The conversation has 3 steps: First Golan sits looking disturbed, Janov asks what is wrong, then Golan explains that he wants to put off the Jump because he doesn’t want to make (insert decision here) yet.

A subtle plot line revolves around one of the reasons behind Golan’s doubts about his decision in favor of Galaxia. To Golan, for his decision to be correct there must be some type of flaw in psychohistory. The two variables which must be true for psychohistory to work are: 1) The population must be sufficiently large as to make statistical treatment valid; and 2) The population must not be aware of psychohistory. Janov convinces Golan that the First Foundation only knows the bare minimum of the workings of psychohistory, not enough to throw it off. Golan is still disturbed, because if there is no flaw in psychohistory, why did he choose Galaxia? Only the answer to this question and the search for Earth can satisfy him.

Among the other Foundation Novels, this is by far my least favorite volume. The one saving grace is the last 200 pages or so, because Asimov really picks up the pace and makes a nice end to the series. He asks quite a few thought provoking questions about what our place is in the vast expanse of the Universe. I’ll leave that vision out of my review, because it is a rather large spoiler. All I can say is that it would have been very interesting to see how Asimov would have continued the series had he lived a while longer.

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1984 by George Orwell1984 by George Orwell

Book Cover
I’m not sure why, but I have just got around to reading 1984. For some reason it was never required reading for me in high school. I was familiar with the “Big Brother” concept as it is a very common reference. Recently, the Patriot Act of 2001 and subsequent reauthorization in 2005 has been criticized by many. For me, 1984 was a very interesting read, because a lot of George Orwell’s concepts seem very plausible today.

I can’t really emphasize enough how important it is to read the Appendix of 1984 first. It covers the official government language of Oceana. This is called “Newspeak,” and is designed to simplify the English language and control human thought. As a quick example, there is no word for bad, just ungood. Excellent would be replaced by something like doubleplusgood. Another important word central to the plot is doublethink, or the ability to hold two contradicting ideas in one’s mind and truly believe both.

The story takes place in Oceana, one of three superpowers that is always at war with either Eastasia or Eurasia. The Party controls all information and feeds political propaganda to the public and keeps the public under constant surveillance through telescreens which act as both televisions and video cameras. The main character, Winston Smith, works for the Party in the Ministry of Truth.

The description of the Ministry of Truth was very scary. Essentially it is responsible for storing all information and knowledge, and subsequently can modify any of it to suit its own purpose. For example, Oceana can swith alliances with one of the other two superpowers, and all of historical information would be changed. Winston’s job is to modify records to match Party policy whenever changes or errors are made. He secretly despises Big Brother and the Party, and is eventually approached by a woman named Julia who shares his feelings. They eventually become lovers, but Winston is a bit concerned. She does not seem to be as aware of the political brainwashing as he is.

It was rather more of a shock to him when he discovered from some chance remark that she did not remember that Oceania, four years ago, had been at war with Eastasia and at peace with Eurasia. It was true that she regarded the whole war as a sham: but apparently she had not even noticed that the name of the enemy had changed. ‘I thought we’d always been at war with Eurasia,’ she said vaguely. It frightened him a little.

They eventually make contact with O’Brien, a secret member of an underground resistance. He warns them that they will get caught eventually, and they will confess (under torture), and for that reason their knowledge of who are members will be kept to the absolute minimum. They are given “THE BOOK” which contains the musings of Goldstein, the leader of the resistance. The excerpts that Winston reads describe some very morbid ideas about war, which are very interesting. There are quite a few other tidbits in there as well.

Orwell’s 1984 is very deep and thought provoking. If anything, it is more relevant today, than when it was published in 1949. Technology is advancing at an alarming rate. Within the last few years, the FBI obtained warrants to wiretap cell phones of mobsters under investigation. This might seem innocuous, but the technique they used was able to activate the microphone on the phones remotely without a call being placed, and might have been possible to record conversations near the phone while it was turned off! Just recently, in The Dark Knight, Bruce Wayne develops a technology that ties into cell phones to create a much more elaborate surveillance system. How long it will be until something like that is possible?

I’m partial to reading physical books, but if you like to read ebooks, 1984 is available at Project Gutenberg.

Daneel Olivaw, Guardian of HumanityDaneel Olivaw, Guardian of Humanity

R. Daneel Olivaw is my favorite character from the Robot and Foundation Universe created by Isaac Asimov. The R stands for “Robot,” but he became much more than that over the course of the Robot and Foundation series. Hari Seldon from the Foundation Novels ranks a close second, but my heart goes to Daneel and the Three Laws of Robotics. I’m amazed at how many twists can be made based on three relatively simple rules of behavior. Daneel starts as one of the first humaniform robots, but eventually evolves into much more complex being.

The following discussion is filled with spoilers for the entire Robot and Foundation series, so read it with that in mind. (more…)

Isaac Asimov’s Robots and Aliens Book 1: Changeling by Stephen LeighIsaac Asimov’s Robots and Aliens Book 1: Changeling by Stephen Leigh

Robots and Aliens Volume 1 book cover

One thing I like about this book is there is a nice eight page synopsis of the whole Robot City series. Even after just reading the series, it was a nice refresher for the events leading up to Robots and Aliens. This new series involves Asimov’s challenge to the authors to describe what might happen if robots encountered an alien species. How would they treat them? How would the Three Laws apply?

I particularly enjoyed this first book because it addresses one of the main questions I had regarding the Three Laws of Robotics. What does the key phrase “human being” actually mean? Throughout Asimov’s books and it is explained that the laws aren’t as simple as the English translation. They are complicated sets of positronic potentials that govern every action of a robot.

In Changeling, Stephen Leigh describes a robot model that is given a very simple definition of “intelligent life form” as an equivalent. This idea seems to work very well in this book and after several chapters we see how this experiment intersects with the Robot City plotlines. Also, we get to see Derec use the powers he was given to control Robot City. One thing that did bug me a little bit was how little of the main plotlines was advanced.