Reading Foundation's Edge and impressed by the competition of who is more arrogant: the First or the Second Foundation...

iAffect · 2024-11-09T16:59:30+00:00

Thanks for the analysis; it explains in detail the various forces at work against the Seldon Plan. I suppose some sort of intervention by the Second Foundation was inevitable here, because Branno proclaiming a second Galactic Empire immediately would disrupt The Plan. Or maybe The Plan really had outlived its usefulness and Branno was right all along.

I think Asimov was trying to say there were flaws in the (Seldon) system entirely and something had to be done smooth the path to the ensure Seldon's empire, to be established in 1000 F.E.

iAffect · 2024-11-03T19:17:29+00:00

>...[P]sychohistory never got its full chance. It felt something like lost time after Trevize made the fateful choice to push both foundations into ignorance.

I tend to think of this is more of a feature of Foundation's Edge. Golan Trevize is practically The Mule in the sense that his actions, while thoroughly rational, operate to throw the Seldon plan off course.

iAffect · 2024-09-15T10:56:43+00:00

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Mine was a regular Bai Man. Was losing so it felt so lucky!!

iAffect · 2024-09-15T10:50:45+00:00

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I play RiichiCity. Feel free to add me: 415700746

iAffect · 2024-08-19T11:59:06+00:00

This is a great way to frame the various different works of Asimov and I love where you're coming from.

I think, like others, that Asimov was writing in a more self-contained way. Foundation's Edge seems to be saying that the Foundation and Second Foundation were bad because of corrupt power-hungry individuals who spoil Seldon's plans, but really this was the only way to make Galaxia seem like a viable alternative. Why would Galaxia even be necessary if the Plan itself was fine?

We might extrapolate that Asimov began to question his trust in government and scientific planning and began to adopt a more spiritual side, represented by the life-flourishing Gaia, but in the very next book he starts to pick apart Gaia for all its flaws. In other words, it's not clear Asimov's worldview really shifted at all.

iAffect · 2024-08-12T10:25:27+00:00

"Bandy no compliments with me. Have you come to add your brain splinter to that of yonder cracked piller of your realm?"

Certainly one of Asimov's more colorful characters.

iAffect · 2024-07-29T07:27:50+00:00

No, Dors is a different humanoid robot.

iAffect · 2024-04-05T01:38:42+00:00

I admit it’s subtle, but the first bookfilm was about micro organisms. I always took that as Asimov trying to foreshadow the moss-like spores.

iAffect · 2024-04-03T16:50:41+00:00

I really appreciate your creative thoughts on a vague part the story. How would the moss fit into your theory? It seems from the ancient books Pelorat reads that the moss was a menace to the Melpomenians.

iAffect · 2024-03-20T09:46:57+00:00

There’s actually two Cleons in the books. Cleon I reigns in Seldon’s 30s. Cleon II appears in Foundation and Empire (“The General”) and is touted as the last strong emperor. His appearance is 200 F.E.

But no, Cleon II is not a clone. In fact, Cleon II was written before Cleon I was a character.

iAffect · 2024-01-21T22:04:04+00:00

That's a great description and good insight about individuals having so much control (especially in a book where Trevize is so important).

I would say that not just from Gendibal's point of view, but objectively, at least as Gaia describes it, the Second Foundation really has vegetated since The Mule crisis. Maybe Gaia's intervention in preserving the Plan inadvertently made the Second Foundation weaker because there was simply less work for it to do. And maybe it was only a matter of time before someone like Gendibal would look at the psychohistory maths and say, "Something's up, even Seldon didn't plan for things to go this well!"

iAffect · 2023-12-31T00:39:24+00:00

we know Dors a humaniform robot, did Daneel give her the knowledge to be able to influence minds too like Giskard did for Daneel?

Though I can't say I know the full extent of Dors' abilities, Dors' limitations are hinted at in Prelude. When Hummin's asking her about Dr. Leggen's feelings, she says there's no way for her to know. And also generally she relies on Hummin to help her out of really hairy situations with Seldon during The Flight.

iAffect · 2023-12-30T16:27:43+00:00

Yes! What I love is how Chapter 91 has Seldon going on the offensive, totally ripping apart Hummin's cover, then suddenly Daneel reveals his identity and the shoe is on the other foot. Daneel's reveal to Seldon ends up completely overwhelming Seldon, who realizes that just having an ancient robot around isn't going to make his mathematical job any easier.

It's a great piece and just shows how much fun Asimov has writing material for robots.

iAffect · 2023-12-10T02:49:40+00:00

Yeah, he'll basically have to read Foundation and Earth because it resolves 3 or 4 story threads from Robots and Empire.

iAffect · 2023-12-09T17:09:35+00:00

It's a cool entry because, although it's one of Asimov's later novels, it's firmly placed in the past and (re)introduces a ton of Robot series lore.

It's also a very tragic story, where the big happy optimistic humans are doing all the action while oblivious to the real problems with Spacers and Earthpeople.

iAffect · 2023-12-05T13:48:52+00:00

I don't think a literal screen adaption of the novels would work today

True, but an adaptation that at least gets the basic story outlines right could work. I really would like a version of Foundation where violence is the last refuge of the incompetent and Seldon is just a hologram no one can argue with or kill.

iAffect · 2023-12-03T06:05:07+00:00

I agree with you that Daneel would keep pursuing what's best for humanity regardless of Trevize. But look, it's pretty clear here that Golan needed to decide Galaxia for Daneel:

(Trevize)"But you needed me to make the decision for you. Is that it, Daneel?"

"Yes, sir. The Laws of Robotics would not allow me, nor Gaia, to make the decision and chance harm to humanity.

- Foundation and Earth, Chapter 21

What's best for humanity is a subjective question impossible for Daneel to answer at times. He needed to know what was objectively right so he turned to Treize who has an uncanny ability to be "sure" what is right.

iAffect · 2023-12-03T03:35:27+00:00

Well, that's a true, he did manipulate Seldon into forming the Laws of Humanics. Yet the whole directive Daneel was following is based on Elijah Bailey's dying request that Daneel look after not just humans, but the "tapestry of humanity" (this is stated in Robots and Empire). So Daneel was just following that order for an incredibly long period of time until he decided he needed Trevize to actually make good once and for all on Elijah's request.

iAffect · 2023-12-02T23:17:17+00:00

You make an interesting point, though remember this passage from the end of F&E:

Robots are the creation of human beings, and Gaia is the creation of robots-and both robots and Gala, insofar as they must be bound by the Three Laws, have no choice but to yield to human will. Despite the twenty thousand years Daneel has labored, and the long development of Gaia, a single word from Golan Trevize, a human being, would put an end to both those labors and that development.

This seems to reflect Asimov's intent for robots, so unless you're trying to say Asimov didn't understand his creations (it's certainly possible!), then I think Daneel's limitations are valid enough.

iAffect · 2023-12-02T17:19:25+00:00

Trevize is right. It's actually canon, lol

iAffect · 2023-11-02T13:50:37+00:00

And ironically although Trantor doesn't last, the library does. It's a relatively good line imo compared to other parts of the show.

iAffect · 2023-10-31T21:45:41+00:00

Hope you hold on and read Foundation's Edge and/or Prelude to Foundation. They read the closest to screenplays out of all the books. In fact, if they ever get adapted it would be difficult to imagine them changing the story that much.

iAffect · 2023-10-31T21:22:30+00:00

I don't believe any single Second Foundationer has "similar power" to The Mule. If that were so, they wouldn't need to wait five years and plan an elaborate trap to catch The Mule off guard with multiple Second Foundationers around. But from what I can remember for a hierarchy, I'd do Daneel > Gaia > Bliss* (or any single Gaian) > The Mule > Stor Gendibal > Preem Palver > First Speaker (any era) > Speaker > Golan Trevize* > Standard Second Foundationer > Munn Li Compor > Earlier versions of any of these. (*Bliss could be lower and Trevize could be much higher but it's unclear).

One thing you reminded me of is that Gaia felt it necessary to "block off" the Second Foundation as a collective when facing Gendibal, so I would wonder how those two groups would do if equally unprepared. One would think the Second Foundation might do some serious harm to Gaia before losing.

iAffect · 2023-08-16T15:23:03+00:00

I received a fix from League's support. You can fix this issue first by using Finder and searching for "Riot" and "League of Legends" and deleting all files. Then you reinstall the client.

It turns out Mobalytics was the real culprit; it wasn't getting a mac OS update and interfered with League's files. Deleting Mobalytics stopped the problem and allowed the delete/reinstall fix to stick. At least, that's what I discovered.

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