Isaac Asimov's Foundation Explained In FIVE Minutes! (Some Spoilers) 

Good evening mister. I am In the early twenties, I almost finished most of the foundation saga. Very thankful toward Asimov for giving me back the joy of reading, finish a book and all the cerebral work around this amazing activity. This story taking place in a far far future learns me a lot about how our curent human work works. I can’t stop to read more of this writer or anyone who could learn me interesting things. I’m sure now I want to get as much knowledge as I can. (P.s. : Sorry for my grammar / syntax mistakes , I’m absolutely not English)

@@vivelegostarswars Et une très bonne soirée pour vous aussi. Your message seems to be directed at me, but I am not sure if you expect an answer from me. Cheers, Jan

Maybe credit him with inventing analytics, too. 🙂

I was introduced to it by a kid in my year at school in the mid 80s after I had just finished reading Dune for the first time.

i want to start this book bcoz elon musk suggested this in his one of his interviews,but i really don’t know how these sci fi novels shape our perspective towards world that’s why i lack motivation to read this,can anyone please tell me more about these kinds of novels so that i also enjoy the dopamine it provides.

He literally invented the "shared universe" idea. Amazing.

@@locutusdborg126 When these stories were published, they were originally in magazine short story format and Asimov was cranking them out month after month. When novel-size books became more popular in sci-fi, they packaged them all together. But Asimov was already seemingly aware that the trend would go that way, so his stories were already interlocked and flowed seamlessly as novels. I’m betting a lot of the magazine fans at the time didn’t even realize it as the mags were being published.

btw Asimov started writing Foundation when he was 21 years old! as he says in an interview

I seen other writers do that - it much easier then just writing huge books especially if you are starting out to be a writer without reputation. Shame that we don’t have more magazines around now that allow this these days

@@locutusdborg126It was actually a technique he developed in order to save time... Not having to create a complete lore for every new story has a tremendous impact on productivity...

Don't forget to bring a towel

Hahahaha I didn’t expect that - very clever

that book is just a good joke, but it is not science fiction.

👍

This comment would be cool if it wasn't copy/pasted on pretty much every video related to Foundation.

With adequate application of psychohistory you could have predicted that.

🤣

Not only couldn't I beat Wade West to the 'foundation" pun, I couldn't even beat Justanotherconsumer to the inevitable "predictive computing" comeback. This is a dark day indeed.

Wow! *5784* commenters! With 232 comments (at last count), that's a metric buttload of shared authorship!

@@mattlivingston2192 And when I first posted that the video was hours old with a few dozen comments... I'm playing the long game here. Sweet vindication will be mine in the Summer of 2023!!

Totally agree. Isaac Asimov was thinking about the consequences of any action and not the profit in real time. Plotting carefully the path and not walking in the dark till you fall. And when you are a leader of any kind, that fall is for every follower. He also understood very well the meaning of a chaotic system and how it would affect the universe. If only world governments were taking him really seriously...

But in the end his first solution was technically establishing a micro crontrolled society via second foundation without the knowledge of what is driving people. In his defence he did address it with sequels with Golan's dialogues as he is didn't find any solution to be the actual best, the man just wanted the freedom to choose for yourself.

Tell that to an empire that's lasted 10,000 years up until DOOM! We see from the future with 20/20 vision, THEY SAW Idiocy and The Boss kept saying "If it ain't broken you don't fix it!!!"

Big government, big corporations become big complacent, inefficient structures undermined by their lack of agility....... I'm also drunk

No... not at all... In any way...

hehe apple tv series ? on allreaady

Must be way easier now, instead of on the original papyrus.

My impression is the Apple+ Foundation doesn't follow anything as it relates to the original series other than it's Name but without creativity. True to the depressing age we live in the end product reflects a Woke feminist centric dystopian hollowed out shell of an existence full of violence which ruined the original authors vision. You know just like Star Trek but with better graphics. It's a shame, because I've wished for this epic tale to make it to the screen for decades. Its not enough to destroy our stability by propaganda indoctrinated education and give job production to foreign entities, our art literature and escapism must be systematically destroyed like Star Trek, Star Wars, MCU, Doctor Who and even comics/graphic novels. I'm now thankful that Disney choose not to pursue the completion of the Edgar Rice Burroughs of John Carter on Mars Series, because that would have been too heartbreaking.

@@dilbertjunkmail I completely agree. I watched 3 first chapters of the series and abandoned. Very good graphics, special effects, but is not Foundation, is something else. The good thing is, I took on the 3 novels and enjoyed them again like in my 20s. Now, I´m going for the pre and post sequels. About the feminism in the TV version, well, I´m a woman and I fully support women rights, but please, don´t turn the Fundation´s story upside down on the name of the "me-too". Besides, when finally feminin roles show up in the books, they are definitive: Bayta Darrell and her grand daughter Arcadia. Yes, it´s a shame, because the series could be something crazily followed for many seasons. As it is, I have big doubts. Will see.

@@mc2117ful Glad you agree but oddly enough we disagree in more. Art has provided an escape and positive image for distraction from reality since its inception. SciFy was always my preferred escape and the creativity employed in multitude of comics and books by authors was glorious. I'm seeing little creativity now but a lot of agenda in all video platforms. I had hope that someone (NOT Woke Disney) would respect an original authors hopeful vision for a future through the standard struggle through powers hungry corrupt leaders scenario (basic Foundation element). There is little legitimate escapism from the dystopian existence being forged by our socialist masters invading our lives through youthful indoctrination and universities. We watch our own history destroyed and purged in front of us daily. Most are too ignorant of classic history to understand the manipulation occurring in front of their lemming eyes. I've seen more future hope in Zombie series books and B rated movies then portrayed in modern drama. Every TV series is driven to elevate heroes or favorite characters then destroy them for maximum damage to audience psyche. Why wouldn't I expect the same roller coaster of misery to be portrayed in a beloved classic purchased by the money changers funding Apple TV foundation. The script writers are all now SJW Woke feminist that prefer heroine dominance over evil white male caricatures. I can predict the ending of Foundation because it's struggle portrayal has been fictionalized by feminism architects for decades now. Regarding your feminist roots, you have always been free, you still are and are beyond equal in any career you choose. Its sad that youth aren't even allowed the fictional hope from classic stories when portrayed on video because fewer are bothering to read these classics now. You do you, no man will interfere.

I loved the SSR series decades ago. Also the Commodore Grimes

Very true! I actually had a book by him, on "How to use your Slide Rule" - I still have one. Still don't know how to calculate Pi on it!

just watch the 1st episode that APple but and you will enjoy the book countless time more.

Dude why these old sci fi BBC are so hard to fin or even buy on some dvd.

lets hope they dont keep adding negress actors to this until no one wants to watch

Thank You!

Loved the bbc radio dramas adaptations they was often very well done and make good listening whilst in bed

Thats awesome. I miss that feeling of how special books were back then. We had to read to really blow our minds.

Sorry to say: the internet did exist, and so did mobile phones. The company I worked for used Proffs for email and our drivers had brick-sized mobile phones :-)

Yo me too. And it opened my mind to other sci fi.

This video just came up on my feed, I just paused at 0:35 to double check my facts before saying much the same thing. Personally I think the Lensman series is better, although perhaps hasn't aged as well.

Absolutely, reading the Robot series beforehand especially gives the experience such extra texture.

I would add the 2nd trilogy. Foundations Fear, Foundation and Chaos, Foundation's Triumph. Written in the early 90's authourized by Janet Asimov. It includes modern concepts like computers, the internet and wormholes. It explains the back story of the Robots. Their civil war. How and why the galaxy is empty of alien life. It also makes cannon End of Eternity. Stating that if Eternity exists, mankind will go extinct. Only be destroying it, can the Empires exist. They are spread throughout the life of Hari Seldon. Before his arrival on Grantor, his time in the University, his time as First Minister and after the trial. A must read by excellent authors Gregory Benford, Greg Bear and David Brin.

Which robots stories count as part of the series?

@@deucalion4451 The four R Daneel Olivaw novels are what you need [1. The Caves of Steel, 2. The Naked Sun, 3. The Robots of Dawn, 4. Robots and Empire]. There is no need for the earlier stand-alone novels. Robot series is a bit of a misnomer, because they actually deal with the early colonization of the galaxy. The way they are tied into Foundation is pretty interesting.

In summary, I would recommend this as a list of core titles, which weave a great tapestry: - Robot 1: The Caves of Steel - Robot 2: The Naked Sun E - Robot 3: The Robots of Dawn - Robot 4: Robots and Empire - Foundation 1: Foundation - Foundation 2: Foundation and Empire - Foundation 3: Second Foundation - Foundation 4: Foundation's Edge - Foundation 5: Foundation and Earth

This….just this.

Phil Dick is a god. I recommend you check out John Brunner. A sadly very underrated author who's on par with those guys.

@@Feersumenjinn Oh god, I love Banks, but reading that was hard work for me :)

They butchered his work

Exactly how I found Dune by Frank Herbert over 50:years ago Used book stores are treasure troves

yes. you may.

Clarke definitely had a hand in that too

He did not

Asimov is to Science Fiction as Tolkien is to Fantasy. Neither is the father of their genre however they are both guys who added immeasurably to the genre and have been copied innumerable times.

Edgar Rice Burroughs you may wanna Google him

But books ~5 to 9 are so dull and boring...

My wife loves him reading his ideas and condensed versions of his books and falls asleep listening to him!

Glad to see someone else remembers "Doc" E. E. Smith. Extra Point: Who was the Gray Lensman?

chris foss spaceship covers

I love those book. Not sci-fi. But they are with foundation, on of my favourites

All religions will wither and die. And, finally, rationality will lead humans into the far future.

@@locutusdborg126 In pee-card's voice. "Spirituality as its Bean will Continue, never underestimate The human imagination and the hart, Resistants is futile".

@@franzhaas5597 Spirituality has nothing to do with religion.

You're right about all of that, there's also a planet of humans with full group consciousness living as a super organism that has more influence than the second foundation. I believe R. Daniel is the one who created it though. I love how Asimov ended the series

Yes, R. Daniel was following his programming. He use the Zero Law of Robotic to shape humanity. He needed an unmodified human to make the final decision to continue with the creation of Gasia(correct name?).

Gaia

@@slbailey65 Galaxia.

and later, they also wrote some "official" sequel trilogy after his death which was pretty bad

It made me think of Wolverine...

Wasn't he an elite marxist?

@@FictionCautious I don't know.

@@FictionCautious He was a notorious sexual harasser. Never heard about him being a marxist.

what are the other 2 if i may ask ?

@@Sniksax 1. Battlefield 🌎 Earth. L. Ron Hubbard 2. Game of thrones

I felt like that one devolved into repetitive conflicts.

Reading the Foundation books in publishing order is great IMO, as the prequels spoil some stuff that comes up in the later books

My recommendations: Read the main trilogy, then the prequels and then the sequels, I really liked that order and it worked for me

@@juanjosegutierrezmerchan2669 i agree.

I would read the prequel dead last, they are the weeker of the bunch. I would go OG trilogy into Robots novels into Caves of Steel and the Naked Sun, then Empire Cycle (Tyrann etc...) then the last two Fondation, then Robots of Dawn and Robots and Empire and finally the prequel if you wish to.

After the 1st 4 and the robot and empire novels, then Foundation and Earth. Then.Prelude to Foundation, then Forward the foundation. ( chronological in universe) , then.the 2nd trilogy. Foundation's Fear, Foundation & chaos, Foundation's triumph. The non Asimov books that fill in the missing history lost to mankind.

Unlike all those robots and warp drives, this bit of SF could actually be true.

Have a look into graphing databases. Interesting implications for predictive modelling / extrapolation. Neo4j could be a good place to start.

I love Asimov because his sci-fi is generally very convincing science. I always thought psychohistory was a bit flawed though. I can believe there is something to it, but I just can't see that it wouldn't get hopelessly off course. Ultimately I feel there are a few individuals and their personal choices who do make a difference to the course of history. If Hitler had never existed would we still have had WW2? Quite possibly yes, maybe it was the inevitable result of societal pressures. But if a different figurehead had stepped up then some very big decisions would have been made differently and the world would likely be very different now.

Bredburry and Shekley are my favorite masters of the short stories for long cosmic ride... Azimov, Clarke and Simons. I find myself returning to those authors when i miss good sci fi work. And movies or series aint it. So shallow shows.

Yeeeeaaahh. I've so far watched the first three episodes. I'll say the production quality is great, but it has practically NOTHING to do with the books. They use some of the names of places and characters, but that's about it. I kind of want to keep watching out of morbid curiosity just to see what happens, but it's definitely not a show I could ever see myself re-visiting in the future.

TV is all business nowadays, and the Foundation books come from both a simpler and more upbeat time. When people trusted experts, science was celebrated, and there can be debate of ideas. Some of the Foundation's themes can be disturbing to the audience in this age. The trajectory is downwards and there's a feeling of inevitable decline, and people more and more look inward rather than out. So the end result is a risk-free soup of what people are familiar and comfortable with, whilst stroking some topical interests like a checklist.

Well off course. Dune was lucky to get a producer that actually cared for the franchise.

Absolutely 💯

@@happyhighherbs1 I'm sure it's full of social virtuous signaling though.

Who? Daneel, Giskard, Gladia, and?

@@andreaslordos9040 he didn't say it

From the synopsis they are nothing alike.

I expect only ideas and messages to stay. It would be very hard to make a good show off most books otherwise. Specially since the foundation is a very not made for life action format book. It’s way more about ideas and concepts than characters and actions. Maybe a sci-if documentary could do it justice if you wanted a straight copy of the book in life action version.

I cut my teeth on those books. Along with Clark, A.E. Van Vogt, Clifford D. Simak. The memories this brings back.

I'd read Caves of Steel & Naked Sun before the fourth and fifth books of Empire, and was excited by the prospect of a "shared universe" raised in "Foundation's Edge"... but I gotta say, I hated the way "Foundation & Earth" handled the integration of the two series.

Eh, that's true, but when he decided to intertwine the universe (starting, I believe with Foundation's Edge), it was kind of detriment. I can't really go into major details without major spoilers, but let's just say that the decisions he made towards the end of the Foundation saga kind of bring into question the point of everything. Still, Outstanding books though.

You need to read "the end of eternity" which explains it.