In 1951, Isaac Asimov's 'Foundation' examined humanity though the long arc of history, showing how the societal upheavals of yesterday become the static bureaucracy of today. It opens 12,000 years into the Galactic Empire. The pinnacle of human civilization, the Empire is eternal. The emperor immortal. Or at least, that's the narrative pushed out by the Imperial Palace.
Hari Seldon listened through the narratives and heard the truth. The Empire was running out of time. The great society was breaking down due to lack of interest. The good times had bred such weak men that deferred maintenance was made unofficial Imperial policy. When the nuclear power plants melted down, instead of training new technicians, they banned nuclear power all together. Anything else just seemed like too much work. A society with no answers taking the path of least resistance as the very system that kept them fat and happy and warm degraded. As long as they could mitigate discomfort. if they had tobacco and coffee and bourbon, who cared if the outer planets had rolling blackouts? The crisis wasn't happening to them, therefore there was no crisis. Don't bother them with other people's problems. Seldon knew that this was how Empires died. In three centuries, the collapse would be complete. It would take thirty thousand years to rebuild what they lost, if left to their own destiny.
But Hari Seldon knew that the trick to beating destiny was just adequate planning. Because he could see into the future. Well, sort of. Through the Mathematics of Psychohistory, Hari Seldon could chart the course of humanity from a planetary scale. Through Psychohistory, he could map trends. See which part of the system was going to break first and why. Understand the third order effects.
So, he decided to adequately plan. Seldon knew he couldn't stop the collapse of the Empire. But he could shorten it to 1,000 years. With twenty thousand families, Hari Seldon created a scientific Foundation on the uninhabited world 'Terminus.' Located at the far end of the galaxy, deep in the Imperial Frontier, Terminus would be a home for the great Encyclopedia Galactica, who's volumes would maintain a depot of public knowledge throughout the coming dark age.
Hari Seldon knew there were two types of men. Those that make plans, and those that follow the plan. After his death, the Foundation was put in the charge of Seldon's followers, the Encyclopedists. Men who are given purpose by someone else hold tight to it, institutionalize it, and govern by it. That purpose grants them the clarity that they couldn't find on their own. Any objection to that clarity is an attack on their very identity. The focus the Encyclopedia provided kept the Foundation on task as the Empire receded out of the Frontier. Imperial Governance was replaced with local Principalities. Kingdoms won by who could kill the most. All surrounding a lonely planet full of Encyclopedists. So, when the first crisis came about, those in power were so taken with their plan, they were unable to meet the challenge.
Seldon foresaw this. He knew the revolutionary thinking of yesterday was today's stale policy. That a new plan would be drawn to adapt against the crisis. Institutional thought would equate this with heresy. Salvador Hardin was an adequate planner. He knew that violence was the last refuge of the incompetent. So, when the representatives of the breakaway Four Kingdoms came to Terminus, he listened through their narratives and heard the truth. The Four Kingdoms had lost nuclear power. That meant the Foundation was the only nuclear power in the area. Salvador Hardin knew the only way to keep Terminus from being a military prize was to make it more valuable as an independent planet. He made sure the four former nuclear kingdoms knew if one captured Terminus, then the other three would be at risk immediately. So, they protected the Foundation from each other for free.
Well, not entirely free. Hardin recognized how basic science was turning into superstition. So he created a new religion based around science. Priest that were trained in nuclear technologies, but were loyal to Terminus on a spiritual level. The Mecca of the stars was to be kept sacred. This message was spread to all followers in the Four Kingdoms. Those followers teaching it to their children. Those children finding meaning in their faith. That faith providing hope and a sense of destiny, in a time of barbarism and breakdown. That hope buying loyalty to the Foundation above anything else. Because this was how Empires are born.
(As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.)
Comments