On the first reading of Isaac Asimov's Foundation, the first book of the Foundation saga, I must say that I was quite encaptured by the underlying concepts and ideas that interlace its grand world building. Just to jot down a few pointers about the story line… the plot is filled with major chronological gaps of hundreds of years or so, dividing attention between the leading players of the different eras that greatly influenced the history of the Foundation.
The first sequence is initiated by the great psychohistorian, Hari Seldon, who, using almost mystical forms of mathematics, is able to accurately predict the downfall of the gargantuan human intergalactic Empire that spanned the universe and the millennia of barbarism that would follow. This future cannot be changed. However, the years of savagery could be shortened by the establishment of the Foundation, a propagation of science and arts that would maintain its civilizing force in the Periphery and gradually restore humankind to its former power.
Seldon, even after his death, is able to sustain his binding presence during the development of the Foundation, by appearing as a hologram every time that it faced a major crisis. According to his calculations, these crises have a very high probability of occurring, and with each successive crisis, the Foundation will be faced with fewer and fewer choices until it is left with a single choice. This choice, once made will irrevocably determine the future of humanity.
Successive characters led the Foundation through short spans of turbulent times, making changes that heavily influenced its future. Salvor Hardin, the young mayor of Terminus, the planet to which the Foundation had been exiled by the already crumbling Empire a hundred years before, was able to wrest the ultimate rule of authority from the Board of Encyclopedists. From this time onward, the government of Terminus held the highest power over its domestic and foreign policies; the latter under Hardin concentrated on the cultivation of peace, appeasement and trade with the four neighbouring Kingdoms. The Board, composed of brilliant scientists but poor administrators, retreated to perform its original task of compiling the Encyclopedia Galactica.
He led the Foundation through two major crises - each involving a clash of sovereignty between Terminus and one of the Four Kingdoms. As the Foundation was the only State that was still able to produce hi-tech goods and atomic power, it traded these goods to the Kingdoms with a price - that of control through the power of religion. A priesthood, directly ordered by the Foundation, was established. By imbuing these scientific goods with mystical qualities and the priests being in command of these qualities meant that they could wield enormous power over the masses of the Kingdoms, thereby subjecting even their rulers under the Foundation's indirect control.
This form of religious embodiment of science and technology served effectively to ensure Foundation's rule in the Periphery for the next hundred years or so. With the Foundation's economic power came vast riches. By that time, there arose a new rank of Traders who began to build their own commercial empires. Also by that time, hosts of provinces and nations had separated from the Four Kingdoms, their number swelled by splinter States that had broken away from other sovereignties further inward from the Periphery. Many of these were not so easily cowed by the relatively more advanced Foundation, they themselves being on the verge of becoming atomic powers. In this tense atmosphere of unstable political alignments and mutual distrust, was spawned the third crisis.
Threatened by hostile forces on all sides soon being able to acquire atomics and tip the balance of power against the Foundation, it took all the quick cunning of the first Merchant Prince, Hober Mallow, to secure a contract with an influential Commodore. Through this dealing, the Commodore inadvertently placed control of his system's energy sources into Mallow's hands which proved humiliatingly catastrophic when he later declared war on the Foundation. Mallow also had to work strategically in a Terminus government full of political enemies to finally gain the prize of mayorship.
The book ends with him intending to establish a plutocracy of Traders and Merchant Princes, as he said - “Power through money” would be the new controlling influence over the Periphery, as religion had become a dead force. The conclusion promises many more crises to come with similarly insightful and inspired leaders who would heroically defeat all odds to secure success for the Foundation.
Similarities Between Foundation, Star Wars and Dune
Whew, now that summary was quite long! The first thing I'd like to comment on are the similarities between this story and several others in the scifi genre, such as Star Wars, the movie trilogy and Dune. Many similar elements run throughout all of these, so much so that they represent futuristic archetypes, modeled to fit into the scifi tradition. In such a way, a person may think about a galactic fantasy, and immediately, archetypal images, contextual associations and words spring to mind.
