[Deep Dive] Asimov's Foundation: Science, Technology, and Magic

In Isaac Asimov's *Foundation*, the galaxy is threatened by collapse of a hyper-empire centred around the throne world of Trantor, and the inequalities that the centre cannot see in the outer periphery. To cope with the impending collapse, a new society called the Foundation is set up at the edge of the galaxy in order to safeguard human knowledge in a new compendium, the Encyclopedia Galactica. As Asimov was a PhD-level chemist and a science communicator, his writing often explores the intersection of science, technology, and magic from a modern perspective. Read on for a breakdown.<br><br>In *Foundation*, Asimov transposes several 1940s technological systems to the far-off future, with various levels of handwaving, from lifts and escalators (*you can reach the surface by elevator*) to nuclear power (*the atomic power plant*), cigarettes (*I'm quitting smoking.*), and even telegraphy (*the televisor*). <br><br>But he also explores several scientific ideas, especially in the relationship between astrology and astronomy, which in *Foundation* has the name of psychohistory:<br><br><br><br>Psychohistory is a mathematical science in which the historian, by considering the laws of probabilities in large groups, predicts the future actions of humanity as a mathematical pattern. As psychohistory is a new field, the science is not perfect and its predictions are accurate only within large groups in which a large number of variables can be controlled. It cannot predict actions that will be carried out by individuals. The science of psychohistory uses intricate mathematical equations and a large computer in order to make predictions about future developments on a galactic scale.<br><br><br><br>In other words, psychohistory depends upon statistical mathematics to predict the future population movements of human beings, and as such is essentially an exercise in *mathematical astrology*, especially when you consider that Asimov's future humanity is spread across countless worlds and star systems, and as such, there are multiple astrological *houses* to consider in this hypothetical exercise of mathematical stellar cartomancy (for example, the Foundation is at the edge of the galaxy, Terminus, the *house of the setting sun*, while the center of the galaxy is the historical center of civilization, Trantor, the *house of the rising sun*). When one considers that the various characters of the story are often motivated by a concern for their own destiny, and therefore that of the Foundation, then the relationship with astrology becomes clear.<br><br>The intersection between science and magic is also considered in the context of *advanced technology that seems like magic*, which Asimov introduces on several occasions as a theme. For example, the Foundation is eventually able to deliver atomic energy to the outer worlds in the form of "heirlooms" - that is, small devices that deliver power without any fuel or maintenance:<br><br><br><br>"An heirloom? What's that?"<br><br>"Something left to us from before the Collapse. From the time of the Empire."<br><br><br><br>Aside from the fact that these heirlooms are the result of scientific advance, what's interesting about them is that from the perspective of the outer worlds, they are devices that seem to deliver energy magically:<br><br><br><br>"An heirloom. An atomjack." He sounded awed. "How does it work?"<br><br>"Doesn't."<br><br>"What do you mean? Do you mean that it feels nothing?"<br><br>"I mean I don't understand it and neither do you. That's all right. I don't have to, and neither do you. It works. It lights this house and a lot of others, keeps the heat going and the faucet running. That's all that matters."<br><br><br><br>This sets up an interesting theme, which is that even though the Foundation is a scientific society tasked with preserving knowledge in the face of collapse and an impending dark age, it is also responsible for delivering technological systems that seem to work magically to the outside observer. <br><br>This theme is echoed in the later books of the series, where the Mule is the supreme ruler of the galaxy, and sets up an inquisitorial society that seeks out scientists and those who pursue scientific knowledge - especially in atomic science - and punishes them as magicians and warlocks:<br><br><br><br>"Scientist" had become a synonym of "magician", and "science" for "black magic". That damned Mule had accomplished this single-handed.<br><br><br><br>Overall, Asimov's *Foundation* explores the intersection between science, technology, and social collapse, but in the context of a galactic empire influenced by astrology and the theme of a technological system that seems to work as a kind of magic.<br><br>[Sources]<br><br>- Asimov, I. (1951). *Foundation*. Gnome Press. <br>- Asimov, I. (1953). *Second Foundation*. Gnome Press. <br>- Asimov, I. (1958). *Foundation's Edge*. Tor. <br>- Asimov, I. (1993). *Forward the Foundation*. Tor. <br>- Asimov, I. (1996). *Gold: The Final Science Fiction Collection*. Harper Prism.<br>- Hubbard, L.R. (1950). *Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health*. Hermitage House.<br><br>[Small post warning: this one from a throwaway account has a couple more lined up]