a bit of music--Tycho: See

Tycho's Awake was the album that set me to finding other similar artists, like the one's I've posted music for the past few weeks. The pieces on this album were very different from the often monotonously repetitive nature of a lot of electronic music I'd heard up to that point. I've found other albums that I like, but certainly Awake is not forgotten.

book review--Asimov's Foundation

Salvation in Lies and Manipulation?

In Isaac Asimov’s Foundation, Hari Seldon has seen the future, and it’s ugly. The galaxy-spanning Empire will fall apart in the near future, and what will follow will be a thousand generations of chaos. 

But Hari Seldon also has a plan, one that will keep the chaos to a mere 1,000 years, if it all goes right. He’s gathers a large group of scientists, and has them set up to live on a middle-of-nowhere planet called Terminus, where they will create the most extensive and comprehensive encyclopedia in human history.

But there’s more going on then any of them know, because Hari Seldon has not told them everything.

This book is actually a collection of 5 short stories or novellas, and the events in each of the stories happen many years after the previous story. The first is about Seldon and how the plan for The Foundation gets set in motion. The second and third share a common protagonist, Salvor Hardin, though they take place about 30 years apart. The fourth and fifth are about traders and merchants.

Characters

Maybe the short story aspect of this book explains why the characters come off as very shallow, though I’ve read short stories before that had decent character development in them. Maybe it’s just simply that, when it came right down to it, I did not like any of the characters, especially the good guys.

There are essentially two types of characters in these stories, the hyper-competent good guys and the hyper-incompetent bad guys. The first type is able to find some kind of clever and unusual way out of any problem and crisis. The second type may not necessarily be villainous but they are portrayed as short-sighted, greedy, and violent. Little is made of the normal folk, expect that they are little more then sheeple.

But the thing I mostly noticed was that there was no great difference between the good guys and bad guys. The good guys of The Foundation are just as determined to conquer and control and maintain their own power as the bad guys are. The Foundation may use different methods, but I’m not prepared to say that different methods mean they are any better.

One thing I really noticed in these five stories was that women may as well have been almost non-existent. The only woman that made anything like a serious contribution to the story was in the fifth story, and about all she does is get into a couple of nasty verbal exchanges with her husband, the ruler of a planet called Corell. That may change in Asimov’s later stories.

Religion

I suppose it’s well-known that Asimov was an atheist. There is a place in The Foundation for religion, but it is a very cynical place.

As things fall apart all around Terminus and the neighboring societies degrade, Terminus is the last remaining beacon of nuclear power. They set up a religion around nuclear power, complete with a deity called The Galactic Spirit, a holy land called Terminus, and a priesthood who are trained in taking care of nuclear power plants without really being taught much of anything. Religion becomes simply a means by which The Foundation expands its power and influence, or as some characters put in the later stories, “conquest by missionary.”

And conquest it is. In the third story, when the Kingdom of Anacreon wants to attack Terminus, Hardin uses this priesthood and the beliefs they have instilled in the people as a weapon of his own. Hardin has no belief in a Galactic Spirit and the Foundation leaders of the religion do not believe any of the religious aspects of what they teach. but they are quite happy to make use of it, as well as the gullible nature of the people, for their own ends.

So let’s understand what they are and are not doing. When other planets and kingdoms send people to Terminus to learn about nuclear power, that knowledge is dressed up in the trappings of a fake religion that The Foundation made for it, or as Hardin put it at one point, “I started that way at first because the barbarians looked upon our science as a sort of magical sorcery, and it was easiest to get them to accept it on that basis” (page 92).

He puts a more plainly a few paragraphs later:

“The best men on the planets of the kingdoms are sent here to the Foundation each year and educated into the priesthood. And the best of these remain here as research students. If you think that those who are left, with practically no knowledge of the elements of science, or worse still, with the distorted knowledge the priests receive, can penetrate at a bound to nuclear power, to electronics, to the theory of the hyperwarp— you have a very romantic and very foolish idea of science. It takes lifetimes of training and an excellent brain to get that far.” (page 92)

In fact, in that same story a few chapter’s later, a priest who seems to be a true believer sums up the religious views in this way: “In the name of the Galactic Spirit and of his prophet, Hari Seldon, and of his interpreters, the holy men of the Foundation …” (pages 130-131).

But religion is merely a weapon, and when that weapon ceases to give the desired results, then it is discarded, as it begins to be in the last story, when the Kingdom of Corell wants nothing to do with missionaries and the religion of the Foundation. The protagonist in that story, the trader Hober Mallow, says this the ruler of Korell, “…I’m a Master Trader. Money is my religion. All this mysticism and hocus-pocus of the missionaries annoy me, and I’m glad you refuse to countenance it. It makes you more my type of man” (page 190).

Pithy sayings

A couple of sayings are repeated a few times, which I thought were of more then passing interest. One is “Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent” (page 90). My problems with this saying are several, but one of the main would be in how narrowly they treat the idea of “violence.”

To my mind, “conquest by missionary” is as much an act of violence as conquest by invading army. It is much the same thing as saying that being robbed by identity theft is just as much an act of theft as being robbed at gunpoint. Interestingly, someone like Hardin may not want to use violence in the most literal sense, he’s quite happy to make use of the threat of violence in the events that concluded the third story.

The other saying is one attributed to Hardin, “Never let your sense of morals prevent you from doing what is right!” (p. 143). That might be the most pithy summation of relativism that I’ve come across. As if one can determine right and wrong without morality, or that what is right might possibly be immoral.

Conclusion

Maybe the Foundation stories get better in later books, but taking simply this first book in the series by itself, I’m rather disappointed. It’s filled with shallow and undeveloped characters and buffoonish bad guys being outsmarted by clever good guys. Over it all is the almost god-like presence of Hari Seldon, the man who seems to have predicted almost everything, and the messianic idea of The Seldon Plan, which has to be kept going no matter what though no one really understands it or how to go about keeping it going. And if lies and manipulations are needed to keep the plan on track, so be it.

If mankind’s only hope is some kind of group of elites leading it to the promised land, then I’d like to get off the train, please, because that version of the promised land will only be another disaster. Asimov may have discarded God, but what he uses to replaces Him is hardly anything I want to be a part of.

Shifters: Manipulations excerpt

This is the first part of the story, though not the entire first chapter. Enjoy.



"I do not like this, princess." Abrex said.

"You never like it, Abrex," the girl walking beside him replied. "And nothing ever happens, and nothing will now."

Abrex grimaced, then said, "You do not know that. Things in the city are restless."

Princess Lirianin smiled up at him. "Nothing will happen, Abrex, and if it does, you'll be there to protect us, won't he, Tivna?"

Tivna said nothing, but Abrex saw that she kept her eyes busy, too, trying to note anything that seemed wrong.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're finally well again and can come with us!" The princess took the other girl's arm. "Don't let Abrex worry you. He has to see imps in every shadow, it's what he does."

Abrex sighed, but he did feel his lips twitch. Sometimes he wished that the Princess Lirianin were like those demure princesses in the stories, but she wasn't, and that was the end of it. And truth to tell, there was some good to be said for having a princess with such spirit. Still, it didn't make his job as her guard easy, especially at times like this.

The sun had descended behind the high walls of the city of Akbarra. Abrex welcomed the cooling of the oppressive heat of the day, though the desert air was still as dry as always. His eyes scanned the narrow street, trying to see if anyone was paying him and his two companions undue attention, trying to see if any threats were hiding in the shadows of doorways or alleyways in this impoverished area of the city.

"Oh, it's already so late. Let's hurry, it's not far to where Olia lives." the princess said as they turned into an alley. "She's been doing better, so I've heard, but it's been weeks since I've been able to visit her."

And this was one reason Abrex felt such fondness for this headstrong, troublesome princess. Olia was an old woman who used to help care for the princess child, but her age was catching up with her, and she had become frail and sickly. Abrex knew of nobles who would completely forget about a servant who was no longer of any use, but the princess insisted on trying to look after her old nurse. Which was the reason she had set aside her royal gowns for a few hours, and she, her personal servant, and her guard were dressed in common robes and walking these poor streets.

They came to a narrow stairway, then walked up it to a doorway, and entered a small room which was barely lit by a small oil lamp. A couple of women sat on either side of a low bed, on which an old woman lay. The one in the bed looked up as they entered, and weakly held up a bony hand to them. The princess went over to her, took her hand, and began talking with her. Tivna quietly spoke with the other women, and worked with them on getting the room cleaned, and some food prepared.

Abrex stood by the door, keeping his eyes and ears open, trying to keep his impatience at bay. As he had said to the princess, things were restless in the city. His position as the princess' guard did not allow him to often leave the palace grounds, but he heard enough talk from others who worked in the palace to know that rebellious talk and even demonstrations were becoming frequent.

The fact that the ruler of Akbarra, The Iron Face, was an absolute tyrant was reason enough for some people to rebel. But stories from outside the city, of villages being wiped out, or caravans not arriving when expected, were enough to cause people to feel even greater fear. That those story seemed tied to The Tainted Land, the blighted region mere days away from the city, caused added panic in those who heard them.

Whatever was happening, something had scared The Iron Face enough for him to seek for help, even from those he counted as enemies. Rumors in the palace said that he planned to send an emissary to The Talla Empire. Since Akbarra was no friend of the empire, and The Iron Face had often expressed his hatred for it, only something very serious would have made him ask them for any help.

The Princess Larianin was good-hearted, but not always the most aware of things around her, like now. She sat talking away with the old woman, oblivious that evening had turned to night. Abrex noticed it, and it made him anxious. If these troublesome factions knew the princess was out and about in the city, what would they do to get their hands on her?

Though if they thought The Iron Face cared for the girl, they might be disillusioned. She was the daughter of his deceased brother, true, but he had no great love for her. At best, she might be useful, if talks with The Talla Empire went well. She was of age, and it would be expected that any alliance with the empire would involve a marriage between the ruling houses, and the princess was the most likely pawn that The Iron Face would use in such an event. That would be the only real reason The Iron Face would respond to any threat against her.

Abrex shook his head, trying to get his thoughts to return to this moment. He looked from one girl to the other. At a glance, they were a fascinating study in contrasts. The princess was the taller of the two, with the sun-browned skin typical of the people of Akbarra and wavy black hair hidden at the moment by her head covering. The servant was smaller and slighter, her hair as black as the princess's but straight, and the folds at her eyes and her lighter skin confirmed that she was not completely Akbarran.

Abrex's position as a guard to a member of the royal family had required his undivided loyalty, which meant that so long as he held the position, marriage and family were denied to him. For eight years, he had served as the princess's guard, and Tivna had been with them for almost all of that time. Though he would never say it, the two had become like daughters to him, and his concern for the safety and well-being of the servant was no less than for that of the princess.

Watching them now, he wondered which of them did Olia the more good. It wasn't something that could be measured, and likely it didn't matter. The princess' bright presence and animated chatter brought life and even laughter to the previously listless woman, and the other girl's quiet labors prepared food for her and kept her rooms clean.

Tivna put away the kitchen tools, then looked over at Abrex and nodded. He grinned wryly. She had noticed that night had come, too. The girl was of about the same age as the princess, but more aware than most other people he knew, even among the guards. She had been ill for several days, and he had to admit that the princess was right, it was good to have her back and well.

"We need to go, princess." Abrex said firmly. "No argument. It is already dark. You can return another day, and hopefully earlier in the day, but now, we must go."

Larianin hesitated a moment, then nodded. She kissed the old woman's cheek, and they said a few quiet things to each other, then she stood and nodded to him. "I'm ready."

They left the room, and descended the steps. Night had fully set in, and Abrex strained to see in the darkness. The uneasiness he had been feeling during the evening became stronger. They walked a few yards, and he looked back to check on the girls. Behind them, he could see the outlines of two people.

Abrex looked the way they were going, and saw two other people approaching. His heart started pounding, and his hand went to the hilt of his sword.

There was movement, then some small explosions at his feet. Thick gas enveloped him. He coughed once, then his mind contorted before he lost consciousness.

Star Wars vs Star Trek humor

I thought this was very funny. Not much can beat Darth Vader and Jean-Luc Picard trying to diss each other.

a bit of music--Amethystium: Faraway

Todd Friel Holds Joel Osteen to the Bible, parts 1 and 2

Interesting thoughts. This is a two part video.

a bit of music--Huur Huur Tu

I saw this group in concert a few years ago, when they played at a nearby university, and enjoyed it a lot. This isn't that concert, but it's still very much like the one I attended.