Anabalón 1

Miguel Alberto Anabalón Torres

Emilio Araya Burgos

Composition III - Section 2

Tuesday June 18, 2019

The Foundation

Isaac Asimov takes us to a distant future. Humanity has the ability to reach stars and our

civilization has flourished beyond our wildest expectations. The Foundation is a trilogy, which

its first book was published in 1974. It features many different elements which provide a glimpse

of Asimov’s future (Strauss). The use of atomic energy, the mathematical predictability of events

created by Gary Seldon, and the power struggle are some of the aspects developed through

story’s plot. For this purpose, human nature permeates as the catalyst of conflict. Furthermore,

the Foundation trilogy manages to creates a vibrant and plausible future, which is not exempted

of challenges. One of these hardships is presented by the Mule, which nature escapes from

Seldon’s ability to grasp future events.

As a first aspect, I will refer to the introduction of the contemporary elements used by

Asimov to create the Foundation’s universe. Asimov writing matured during the Cold War

(Larsen). Therefore, its vision reflected his concern about the world. The creation of a nuclear

based technology was not a random choice. During Cold War, the development of new power

sources represented an important part of the conflict. According to it, the first part of the story

gave us a clear message; those who manage to hold knowledge will be able to rule. When the

Foundation was at the verge of destruction, the only force capable of saving it was knowledge.

The political influence and military prowess of the Imperium was useless, for those who

possessed the expertise to operate the machines were not aligned with the interests of the
 Anabalón 2

Imperium. At this point, Asimov’s beliefs pointed out that the resolution of a conflict, like Cold

war, rested on the ability of scientist to surpass the current boundaries of technology.

The second aspect I will refer to is the use of mathematical models to predict human

behavior. The Foundation, the Empire, and the complete universe’s fate lies on the ability to

predict the development of future events. At first sight, it seems improbable to completely

predict the future; nevertheless, Asimov fathoms the upcoming important crisis relaying on the

predictability of human nature. People are likely to stumble with the same stone multiple times;

therefore, if history unfolds to recreate the same adversities, regardless of the context, the same

decisions will be adopted multiple times. I believe that Asimov made the right choice. Despite

the era, human kind has its own flaws, which tend to resurface from time to time. From this point

of view, it is not wrong to assume that in the foreseeable future, the decisions we take will show

the best or the worst of our condition as mortals. The fear to death or to worship the unknown

reflects this essence. For example, during the first part of the series people worshiped nuclear

technology and the figure of Seldon.

The third aspect I will approach will be the introduction of the unexpected, under the

figure of the Mule. While Seldon developed the unfolding of future events relaying on human

nature, the introduction of the Mule collided with that condition. The ability to surpass the limits

of our flesh cage clashes with the predictions and create riptides, which interrupts the flow of

future events. At this point, this was Asimov’s idea of the uncertainty and his first conclusion

was that it would lead to conflict, because it was beyond our human quality. I believe Asimov’s

first conclusion, despite being possible, it only represented a menace to those who whished to

maintain the status quo. Nevertheless, it was too convenient, for humanity, to posses a failsafe

against this possibility. If the Mule was supposed to be beyond Seldon’s predictions, it would
 Anabalón 3

have been reasonable that human kind would have not been prepared to face it. Moreover, those

who were able to surpass this challenge, possessed the same ability as the Mule, but they

preferred to maintain Seldon’s future. This rest consistency to the development of the events.

The unknown was finally completely known and even expected.

Asimov’s Foundation trilogy probes to be an incredible piece of work. It manages to

transport us to the future and experience the adversities of humanity. First, the use of knowledge

as a source of power becomes a guideline through the story. Second, the use human behavior

becomes a constant in the equation of future calculations, which is brilliant to picture the

development of future events. Third, the expected unexpected does not tarnish the development

of the story. It aligns with the idea of existence of people interested in keeping the status quo

whereas it is a good or a bad thing. The books present elements, which expose mankind prone

nature to appeal to violence, yet this flaw gets outwitted by intellect and resilience against

adversity.

Word count: 798

 Anabalón 4

Works cited.

Larsen, Cate. “‘Foundation’ (1951) by Isaac Asimov.” Shadows of Light, 6 Nov. 2014,

blogs.baruch.cuny.edu/utopia/?p=326.

Strauss, Mark, and Mark Strauss. “What Absolutely Everyone Needs To Know About Isaac

Asimov's Foundation.” io9, io9, 16 Dec. 2015, io9.gizmodo.com/what-absolutely-

everyone-needs-to-know-about-isaac-asim-1660230344.