Lately, I’ve been trying to read more classic science fiction. It led me to reading Starship Troopers and I’m looking forward to reading the Dune series. Right now, I’m reading The Foundation series by Isaac Asimov. It’s interesting reading, especially considering how much farther into the future we are and how different society is.
Asimov was an extremely prolific author and a celebrity in his time. If I understand correctly, he invented the word “robotics” and had significant impacts on both science fiction and science itself. But despite being a liberal (one of the supposed enlightened ones), he seems to have been vulgar and to have crossed the line into sexual harassment multiple times.
Take what you will from that. It’s not going to stop me from reading his books since I have the ulterior motive of learning from someone who helped found modern science fiction. But no matter his brilliance, if he had tried that stuff where I grew up, he would’ve been assaulted often, if not outright killed.
However, his influence upon the science fiction of the time and some relatively modern politicians is enormous. Newt Gingrich was apparently very inspired by The Foundation Novels. Central to the novels is a fictional mathematical way of predicting the future of humanity by predicting how the masses respond to stimuli. Now, there are many lamentable comparisons to be made between the fictional world of Trantor, which is the corrupt bureaucratic heart of the Galactic empire, and the bloated federal agencies in D.C. But that is a comparison that could just as easily be made to Coruscant in Star Wars or other Science Fiction.
No, the low hanging fruit right now is that in Foundation, science becomes a religion. Gee, I wonder where we might see that in real life? Oh, how about the last two years. Asimov’s science-religion in the book has nothing to do with a pandemic, but only with the subversive control of populations. Also, very far-fetched in our illustrious modern society.
To be blunt – Asimov was an atheist and his writing reflects that. The ends justify the means, not as a matter of moral debate, but as a fundamental assumption. While so far, they have been interesting reads they are not at all morally compelling. It’s all about the fate of the universe and what is the most expedient path to that goal. So far, his writing reflects a casual disrespect for humanity. It’s all about what the few learned enlightened men can do.
This rule by elites who supposedly know better is very familiar to us now. More and more people have woken up to it and rejected it wholesale. It’s a very American thing: many prosperous or poverty-stricken normal Americans will do whatever it takes to call themselves ‘middle-class.’
At the core, it looks like many Americans still believe that we are capable. We can make our own decisions and live our own lives and teach our children our values without some jackwagon with 4 degrees and no kids telling us how to do it. I guess it’s a rebellious streak that came to a head in 1776 and that we have nurtured – sometimes poorly, sometimes well – since that time.
After all:
“When great forces are on the move in the world, we learn we’re spirits—not animals” – Winston Churchill
Asimov didn’t account for the power of just one man standing in front of history saying that he will fight for what is right. A moral stand has power of its own that attracts others to its cause.
To be clear: Asimov wrote interesting stories that inspire thought. But for the life of me I can’t find anything in The Foundation Novels that I would uphold as a good lesson. Instead, they are all lessons on why a world with only science and no religion, no spark of the divine in man, is bleak.