Over the weekend, I read Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Terry Pratchett (yay!) and Neil Gaiman. It was a really fun comedy about an angel (Aziraphale; who guarded the gates of Eden) and a demon (Crowley; the snake who tempted Eve) who have been notified that the end times are coming. Having been on Earth for 6,000 years (the age of the planet), they have become quite fond of it, and actually work against their masters' wishes in an attempt to preserve it (is it really against the plan, though? It is ineffable).
Unbeknownst to them, the child that they thought was the antichrist (named Warlock; they have both been influencing him) was switched at birth due to a misinterpretation on the part of the Satanist nurse. The true antichrist, Adam Young (other suggested names included Wormwood and Damien), has been raised as a normal English boy.
Meanwhile, the four horsemen, War, Famine, Pollution (Pestilence quit after the discovery of Penicillin), and War, ready themselves to ride.
Unsurprisingly, this was a great book, with some laugh out loud moments (it was written by Terry Pratchett, after all).
I also learned a few things (which I suppose I should do with any book, but I noted this time specially). For example, the definition of "velocipede," who Azrael is, and the fact that, in England, many highways are named M# (or was it "H?"). I also found out about this Saturday's poem in the book (I like it; the only problem is that it is easy to fall into the meter of the "London Bridge is Falling Down" song at times).
This message has been brought to you by Rex Cosgrove at 1am (so don't be too critical).
My next book is The Adept, by Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris. All I know about it right now is that an adept is skilled magic user in fantasy stories, the Adept of the books has been reincarnated several times, and that it takes place in England.
Imagine that there's an "a" before "skilled."
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Trevize's Travels
I've read alot of this book since I last posted, so this is going to be a bit of a pain.
After the group leaves Aurora, they go to the next set of co-ordinates; Solaria. Having been seemingly deserted for millenia, we find that there are still humans--of a sort--on the planet. Having lived underground for these millenia, they find that the Solarians, the last of the Spacers, have genetically engineered themselves to a great extent over the generations.
Shortly after Bander meets them and takes them into his--its, rather--mansion, the group is basically insulted several times as Bander calls them half-humans. The Solarians are now hermaphroditic; they have both male and female "features." Trevize indicates that this causes a stall in evolution, but I don't know how that works (nor do I have any desire to). They also have an extra brain-lobe, called a transducer. This lobe can harness the energy caused by the flow of heat from the core to the crust and the light to the shade; this allows them to transport objects through their air and power their estates.
Bander eventually tries to kill them, as all Solarians would have, but Bliss is able to stop him; she is extremely upset by the fact that she accidentally killed him, however. In trying to escape (they are by now quite far from the entrance) they come across a child named Fallom (they refer to it as a she). She would have been the successor to the estate, but she is currently to young, and would instead be killed; they take her with them.
The third set to coordinates takes them to Melpomenia, where (after dealing with some potentially deadly moss) they find a set of fifty coordintates; all fifty of the Spacer worlds.
Inserting these into the computer, the group finds that it forms a rough sphere, as would be expected. When the center of this sphere is calculated (the center being the likely origin of settlers) a planet with the name of Alpha is found.
This planet is found to be orbited a binary star; Alpha Centauri. On it, there is one small continent. It seems to be a paradise, but they are eventually told by a woman who loved Trevize that they had been infected with a virus to which the "natives" were immune; if they did not leave immediately, it would be activated, and they killed.
They then go to the nearest star to that one, which does not exist on the Galactic map, as all the Spacer worlds. Trevize has been uneasy with Fallom the entire time, go so far as to call her a monster. Approaching the next star, they see one of the tell-tale signs of Earth's solar system; Saturn. Pelorat had heard that the sixth planet from Earth's sun boasted rings that dwarfed the planet itself- something unheard of in other locations. After staring at it in awe, they continue toward the rocky planets.
They come toward Earth and see its moon; the second tell-tale sign. However, the final sign, which they had hoped to by a myth, is also there: the radioactive crust. Disappointed, they prepare to head back to Alpha wtih the hope that, as the nearest planet to Earth, the secret would have been moved there.
Just then, Fallom takes over. Attempting to control the ship, she tells it to go to Solaria (which she sorely misses). With here extremely limited understanding of the Galaxy, however, she believes that the nearest large body (the Moon) is Solaria. This contradictory command preventing the computer from responding, the others pull her away from the interface.
But the event has brought the Moon to Trevize's attention; perhaps the secret was relocated to the Moon, rather than Alpha; there is no atmosphere, but many planets build down rather than up.
Approaching the body, Bliss detects a sentience; apparently neither a robot (they encountered robots on Solaria) or a human. Entering an airlock, they are greeted by a red-haired man. Fallom takes a liking to him, as he reminds her of her robot caretaker on Solaria.
This man introduces himself as Daneel Olivaw, and sends Bliss and Fallom out of the room; they are not Foundationers. Telling the two men that he is twenty thousand years old, he describes to them his ultimate goal. Older than any other being in the Galaxy, he has worked all that time to bring about Galaxia; it was only when he decided that it may fail that he helped Hari Seldon develope psychohistory, to bring about the second best option: the Second Galactic Empire. The reason for this is the Zeroth Law; the only way to truly work by it is to make mankind a single organism.
He has renewed hope for Galaxia, however, with the success of Gaia. Only one more major problem stands in the way. Daneel is dying. With his lifespan of twenty thousand years, every part of his body has been replaced several times. With each replacement, his positronic brain (to which all of his memories are uploaded) becomes more advanced. It grows in capacity, but becomes more volatile. His first lasted ten thousand years, but his latest only six hundred. The only way to make sure that Daneel survives to see Galaxia through is for him to...let's say "fuse his essence" with Fallom.
Being a Spacer, she will live for several hundred years, enough for Daneel to see his plan through. Despite Bliss's love for her, it is the only option.
Before the book ends, we get to hear Trevize's revelations. He now strongly supports Galaxia; he has seen the flaw in psychohistory; it only allows for one sentient race. Despite the fact that only one exists in our galaxy, countless other galaxies exist. If, at any time, a race in another galaxy unites it and turns outside of its own galaxy to find this one filled with petty squabbles, our galaxy--and our race--would fall. The only way to definitively prevent this is to create Galaxia--to create a truly united galaxy.
So the Foundation series ends.
Asimov wrote two other Foundation books, Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation, but I have no intention of reading them any time soon. As I've stated before, prequels tend to annoy me; the chance for surprises, such as the revelation of the Second Foundation's location, is greatly diminished. Contrary to what Shakespeare may have thought, those surprises are part of what makes a story great for me.
The Foundation series was a great story. It occasionally got a little slow for me, but it was interesting throughout. Gaia was a developement that I could never have foreseen, and it served as a great backround for the final book.
I can't really say that Asimov has become one of my favorite writers (those being Terry Pratchett and Tad Williams, who are both alive and writing *cheer*) but I suppose that he's up there. His books are great, but not quite as entertaining or awe-inspiring (respectively) as my two favorites.
As to the book at hand, I wish that we had gotten more face time with Pelorat. In fact, I don't feel like I know any of the characters as well as I would like after having spent several hours of my life with them (so to speak). Pelorat's case especially irked me, though. He hardly did anything in this book except come up with the occasional piece of information. The time specnt between planets was almost entirely spent in arguments between Bliss and Trevize.
Oddly, however, I feel like Pelorat had the most detail in his personality. He was a really simpathetic (I hesitate to use the word; it makes it sound like something horrible happens to him) character to me.
What do you know? That wasn't so bad after all.
After the group leaves Aurora, they go to the next set of co-ordinates; Solaria. Having been seemingly deserted for millenia, we find that there are still humans--of a sort--on the planet. Having lived underground for these millenia, they find that the Solarians, the last of the Spacers, have genetically engineered themselves to a great extent over the generations.
Shortly after Bander meets them and takes them into his--its, rather--mansion, the group is basically insulted several times as Bander calls them half-humans. The Solarians are now hermaphroditic; they have both male and female "features." Trevize indicates that this causes a stall in evolution, but I don't know how that works (nor do I have any desire to). They also have an extra brain-lobe, called a transducer. This lobe can harness the energy caused by the flow of heat from the core to the crust and the light to the shade; this allows them to transport objects through their air and power their estates.
Bander eventually tries to kill them, as all Solarians would have, but Bliss is able to stop him; she is extremely upset by the fact that she accidentally killed him, however. In trying to escape (they are by now quite far from the entrance) they come across a child named Fallom (they refer to it as a she). She would have been the successor to the estate, but she is currently to young, and would instead be killed; they take her with them.
The third set to coordinates takes them to Melpomenia, where (after dealing with some potentially deadly moss) they find a set of fifty coordintates; all fifty of the Spacer worlds.
Inserting these into the computer, the group finds that it forms a rough sphere, as would be expected. When the center of this sphere is calculated (the center being the likely origin of settlers) a planet with the name of Alpha is found.
This planet is found to be orbited a binary star; Alpha Centauri. On it, there is one small continent. It seems to be a paradise, but they are eventually told by a woman who loved Trevize that they had been infected with a virus to which the "natives" were immune; if they did not leave immediately, it would be activated, and they killed.
They then go to the nearest star to that one, which does not exist on the Galactic map, as all the Spacer worlds. Trevize has been uneasy with Fallom the entire time, go so far as to call her a monster. Approaching the next star, they see one of the tell-tale signs of Earth's solar system; Saturn. Pelorat had heard that the sixth planet from Earth's sun boasted rings that dwarfed the planet itself- something unheard of in other locations. After staring at it in awe, they continue toward the rocky planets.
They come toward Earth and see its moon; the second tell-tale sign. However, the final sign, which they had hoped to by a myth, is also there: the radioactive crust. Disappointed, they prepare to head back to Alpha wtih the hope that, as the nearest planet to Earth, the secret would have been moved there.
Just then, Fallom takes over. Attempting to control the ship, she tells it to go to Solaria (which she sorely misses). With here extremely limited understanding of the Galaxy, however, she believes that the nearest large body (the Moon) is Solaria. This contradictory command preventing the computer from responding, the others pull her away from the interface.
But the event has brought the Moon to Trevize's attention; perhaps the secret was relocated to the Moon, rather than Alpha; there is no atmosphere, but many planets build down rather than up.
Approaching the body, Bliss detects a sentience; apparently neither a robot (they encountered robots on Solaria) or a human. Entering an airlock, they are greeted by a red-haired man. Fallom takes a liking to him, as he reminds her of her robot caretaker on Solaria.
This man introduces himself as Daneel Olivaw, and sends Bliss and Fallom out of the room; they are not Foundationers. Telling the two men that he is twenty thousand years old, he describes to them his ultimate goal. Older than any other being in the Galaxy, he has worked all that time to bring about Galaxia; it was only when he decided that it may fail that he helped Hari Seldon develope psychohistory, to bring about the second best option: the Second Galactic Empire. The reason for this is the Zeroth Law; the only way to truly work by it is to make mankind a single organism.
He has renewed hope for Galaxia, however, with the success of Gaia. Only one more major problem stands in the way. Daneel is dying. With his lifespan of twenty thousand years, every part of his body has been replaced several times. With each replacement, his positronic brain (to which all of his memories are uploaded) becomes more advanced. It grows in capacity, but becomes more volatile. His first lasted ten thousand years, but his latest only six hundred. The only way to make sure that Daneel survives to see Galaxia through is for him to...let's say "fuse his essence" with Fallom.
Being a Spacer, she will live for several hundred years, enough for Daneel to see his plan through. Despite Bliss's love for her, it is the only option.
Before the book ends, we get to hear Trevize's revelations. He now strongly supports Galaxia; he has seen the flaw in psychohistory; it only allows for one sentient race. Despite the fact that only one exists in our galaxy, countless other galaxies exist. If, at any time, a race in another galaxy unites it and turns outside of its own galaxy to find this one filled with petty squabbles, our galaxy--and our race--would fall. The only way to definitively prevent this is to create Galaxia--to create a truly united galaxy.
So the Foundation series ends.
Asimov wrote two other Foundation books, Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation, but I have no intention of reading them any time soon. As I've stated before, prequels tend to annoy me; the chance for surprises, such as the revelation of the Second Foundation's location, is greatly diminished. Contrary to what Shakespeare may have thought, those surprises are part of what makes a story great for me.
The Foundation series was a great story. It occasionally got a little slow for me, but it was interesting throughout. Gaia was a developement that I could never have foreseen, and it served as a great backround for the final book.
I can't really say that Asimov has become one of my favorite writers (those being Terry Pratchett and Tad Williams, who are both alive and writing *cheer*) but I suppose that he's up there. His books are great, but not quite as entertaining or awe-inspiring (respectively) as my two favorites.
As to the book at hand, I wish that we had gotten more face time with Pelorat. In fact, I don't feel like I know any of the characters as well as I would like after having spent several hours of my life with them (so to speak). Pelorat's case especially irked me, though. He hardly did anything in this book except come up with the occasional piece of information. The time specnt between planets was almost entirely spent in arguments between Bliss and Trevize.
Oddly, however, I feel like Pelorat had the most detail in his personality. He was a really simpathetic (I hesitate to use the word; it makes it sound like something horrible happens to him) character to me.
What do you know? That wasn't so bad after all.
Sunday, November 21, 2010
The Planet of Farewell
Foundation and Earth opens with Trevize still on Gaia. He has become irritable after his choice for Gaia over the Fouindations in the last book, and becomes increasingly angry toward anything/anyone that is Gaia. He questions both why he made the decision and why it was he who had to make it. Eventually, he decides to head out for Earth, his original destination, feeling that it holds the answers.
Pelorat decides to go with because Trevize is his friend, and Bliss comes because Gaia feels that it is necessary.
Their first stop is Comporellon (according to legend its founder was Benbally and its original name was Benbally World; Ben Baley, son of Elijah Baley, and Baleyworld, anyone?), home world of Compor, who asserted in the previous book that Earth was uninhabitably radioactive, and in that sector of space. They are nearly stopped at the entrance point because of Bliss's lack of papers (being from an unknown planet), but are let through because of their advanced gravitic ship (it's powered by gravity; this is a technology only Terminus currently has).
On the surface of the cold planet, they are stopped by armed men and taken to the Mintrans (Minister of Transportation). The Mayor of the First Foundation has sent out a message to all planets "asking" for the return of Trevize's ship; Gaia wiped Trevize from Branna's mind, but not the ship. However, the Mintrans has no intention of giving the ship to the Foundation. The reverse engineering of such a ship would advance Comporellon in that field significantly.
Trevize manages to convince her to let him go, largely because of the Comporellian fear of Earth (called only "The Oldest"). He next goes to a professor on ancient history, from whom he receives three sets of coordinates (which the prof. found in the near-unintelligible logs of the ancient ship of D.G. Baley and Gladia).
The three are currently on their way to the first of those three coordinates, the planet Aurora.
So far, the only real problem that I have with this book is that some of the references to previous books seem shoe-horned in; that professor finding the ship of D.G. and Gladia annoyed me a little.
Perhaps the most interesting developement in the story is Trevize's pondering on a third law that is necessary for psychohistory (in addition to the requirements of a large mass of people and that those people do not know the predictions). It would have to be something obvious; something that is taken for granted; I suspect that this requirement will involve the existence of R. Daneel Olivaw.
Something important that I forgot to mention in the last post was that part of the reason Trevize chose Galaxia was because it was the only of the three that would take place over a long enough time period that it would not necessarily occur; he despises the idea of a hive-mind.
Update:
Having landed on Aurora (whose ecological balance is failing) Pelorat and Bliss head out to search the ruins that they landed near. Trevize stays behind, blaster and neuronic whip (which stimulated all nerve endings, resulting in extreme pain) at the ready; he feels general unease at the thought of a planet that was deserted. Not just uninhabited (such planets are common), but deserted.
After thinking about such mythical beasts as lions, tigers, whales, unicorns, and orcs, he notices a large dog. Initially thinking that, as all dogs are bred to love humans, this one would be friendly, he moves slowly toward it, trying to get it to be his friend; he is quickly greeted by a snarl. As twenty other dogs begin to surround him, he climbs a tree, and fires at one with his blaster. The dog, quite literally, explodes, and the other dogs eat its remains.
The shot brought back Pelorat and Bliss, whose mental powers hold the dogs off long enough for Trevize to scare them away with the "whip." They hurry back to the ship shortly after Trevize considers that house cats and dogs would be the largest predators that the Spacers would have taken to their planets; would they evolve to fill more niches? Could there be such a thing as semi-aquatic dogs and flying cats (in the fashion of flying squirrels)?
By the way, the Spacer world are called the Forbidden worlds by the people of Comporellon; despite being habitable, they have not been resettled, and appear on no maps.
Pelorat decides to go with because Trevize is his friend, and Bliss comes because Gaia feels that it is necessary.
Their first stop is Comporellon (according to legend its founder was Benbally and its original name was Benbally World; Ben Baley, son of Elijah Baley, and Baleyworld, anyone?), home world of Compor, who asserted in the previous book that Earth was uninhabitably radioactive, and in that sector of space. They are nearly stopped at the entrance point because of Bliss's lack of papers (being from an unknown planet), but are let through because of their advanced gravitic ship (it's powered by gravity; this is a technology only Terminus currently has).
On the surface of the cold planet, they are stopped by armed men and taken to the Mintrans (Minister of Transportation). The Mayor of the First Foundation has sent out a message to all planets "asking" for the return of Trevize's ship; Gaia wiped Trevize from Branna's mind, but not the ship. However, the Mintrans has no intention of giving the ship to the Foundation. The reverse engineering of such a ship would advance Comporellon in that field significantly.
Trevize manages to convince her to let him go, largely because of the Comporellian fear of Earth (called only "The Oldest"). He next goes to a professor on ancient history, from whom he receives three sets of coordinates (which the prof. found in the near-unintelligible logs of the ancient ship of D.G. Baley and Gladia).
The three are currently on their way to the first of those three coordinates, the planet Aurora.
So far, the only real problem that I have with this book is that some of the references to previous books seem shoe-horned in; that professor finding the ship of D.G. and Gladia annoyed me a little.
Perhaps the most interesting developement in the story is Trevize's pondering on a third law that is necessary for psychohistory (in addition to the requirements of a large mass of people and that those people do not know the predictions). It would have to be something obvious; something that is taken for granted; I suspect that this requirement will involve the existence of R. Daneel Olivaw.
Something important that I forgot to mention in the last post was that part of the reason Trevize chose Galaxia was because it was the only of the three that would take place over a long enough time period that it would not necessarily occur; he despises the idea of a hive-mind.
Update:
Having landed on Aurora (whose ecological balance is failing) Pelorat and Bliss head out to search the ruins that they landed near. Trevize stays behind, blaster and neuronic whip (which stimulated all nerve endings, resulting in extreme pain) at the ready; he feels general unease at the thought of a planet that was deserted. Not just uninhabited (such planets are common), but deserted.
After thinking about such mythical beasts as lions, tigers, whales, unicorns, and orcs, he notices a large dog. Initially thinking that, as all dogs are bred to love humans, this one would be friendly, he moves slowly toward it, trying to get it to be his friend; he is quickly greeted by a snarl. As twenty other dogs begin to surround him, he climbs a tree, and fires at one with his blaster. The dog, quite literally, explodes, and the other dogs eat its remains.
The shot brought back Pelorat and Bliss, whose mental powers hold the dogs off long enough for Trevize to scare them away with the "whip." They hurry back to the ship shortly after Trevize considers that house cats and dogs would be the largest predators that the Spacers would have taken to their planets; would they evolve to fill more niches? Could there be such a thing as semi-aquatic dogs and flying cats (in the fashion of flying squirrels)?
By the way, the Spacer world are called the Forbidden worlds by the people of Comporellon; despite being habitable, they have not been resettled, and appear on no maps.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Confrontation in the Sky
Enter:
A Mexican standoff between the First Foundation, Second Foundation, and Gaia.
The First Foundation ship is protected by several things: a) their mentalic shield b) their copious weaponry c) the fact that the death of Branna would perhaps deal a fatal blow to the Plan (even though she knows that the Second Foundation is located on Trantor).
The Second Foundation ship also has protection: a) the mentalic shield has not been perfected; the First Foundationers are prevented from firing b) the possibility of bringing the combined force of all Second Foundation mentalics to bear against Gaia c) the mentalic skill of Stor Gendible.
Gaia (which is a near hive-mind; all things [including the planet itself] are connected, but still have their own sentience) has the protection of only it's hold on Gendible and the First Foundation crew (Sura Novi; not as harmless as she seems). This, however, puts both ships out of commission.
Enters the ship carrying Trevize, Pelorat, and Bliss (a Gaian).
Trevize is told that only he, with his power to be sure of things once in a while due to his untrained mentalic capacity, can choose who wins: the First Foundation, creating a violently established, violently maintained, and violently ended Empire, the Second Foundation, making a calculating Empire that would remain forever in a state of virtual death, or Gaia, which would, over time, establish Galaxia, a galaxy-wide hive-mind. (more-or-less).
Listening to pleadings from both sides, he is reminded of his remark that the galaxy seems alive. He chooses...
Branna returns to the Foundation with no memory of the events; she now believes that she won a minor victory in securing Sayshell peacefully as part of the Foundation Federation, and that Trevize was a crackpot in believing the Second Foundation still existed.
Gendible leaves feeling relieved at having neutralized the threat of First Foundation mentalic shielding; he will return to Trantor to become the First Speaker with his love, Sura Novi, at his side.
Pelorat and Trevize return to Gaia, and Pelorat decides to stay there; he has found bliss in loving Bliss (he's a fifty year old man with a wife and child and Bliss appears to be a young woman of no more than twenty).
Trevize confronts Bliss on Gaia; he tells her to take care of Pelorat and that he knows her secret- she's a robot. As had been mentioned several times, Gaia was founded millenia ago by robots that had advanced so far that they were nearly indistinguishable from humans, except that they were mentalic. Gaia's hive-mind is the pinnacle of a mentalic society, in fact. Bliss strongly implies that this is true, although she/it/Gaia would not speak in concretes.
Trevize then goes to the leader of Gaia (de facto leader, at least) whom he questions on the topic of the Galactic Library at Trantor; when he Chose, he received brief insight into Gendible's mind via the ship's computer; he learned that there were no files on Earth inside the library. Why was this? Don denied that he/it/Gaia had anything to do with it, but that they/Gaia would supply him to help discover why; clearly, it was important. So does this lead to Foundation and Earth.
Yes, I am aware that a skipped over a brief period of time, but it makes for better dramatic effect, no?
This was a really great ending. It really kept you on your toes (or perhaps the edge of you seat) from the time that you discover that Gaia is a hive-mind; it was really tense there for a while. I'm certainly glad that there was no Shakespearean sonnet to come before this one!
I was sort of (or rather, rather) disappointed in the fact that R. Daneel didn't show up. I assume that he is behind the disappearance of Earth from the library, but I would have liked for him to have had a larger presence in this book; he was an interesting character.
Foundation and Earth is the last Asimov novel that I intend on reading for a while; chronologically, that's where his novels end, and prequels tend to annoy me.
A Mexican standoff between the First Foundation, Second Foundation, and Gaia.
The First Foundation ship is protected by several things: a) their mentalic shield b) their copious weaponry c) the fact that the death of Branna would perhaps deal a fatal blow to the Plan (even though she knows that the Second Foundation is located on Trantor).
The Second Foundation ship also has protection: a) the mentalic shield has not been perfected; the First Foundationers are prevented from firing b) the possibility of bringing the combined force of all Second Foundation mentalics to bear against Gaia c) the mentalic skill of Stor Gendible.
Gaia (which is a near hive-mind; all things [including the planet itself] are connected, but still have their own sentience) has the protection of only it's hold on Gendible and the First Foundation crew (Sura Novi; not as harmless as she seems). This, however, puts both ships out of commission.
Enters the ship carrying Trevize, Pelorat, and Bliss (a Gaian).
Trevize is told that only he, with his power to be sure of things once in a while due to his untrained mentalic capacity, can choose who wins: the First Foundation, creating a violently established, violently maintained, and violently ended Empire, the Second Foundation, making a calculating Empire that would remain forever in a state of virtual death, or Gaia, which would, over time, establish Galaxia, a galaxy-wide hive-mind. (more-or-less).
Listening to pleadings from both sides, he is reminded of his remark that the galaxy seems alive. He chooses...
Branna returns to the Foundation with no memory of the events; she now believes that she won a minor victory in securing Sayshell peacefully as part of the Foundation Federation, and that Trevize was a crackpot in believing the Second Foundation still existed.
Gendible leaves feeling relieved at having neutralized the threat of First Foundation mentalic shielding; he will return to Trantor to become the First Speaker with his love, Sura Novi, at his side.
Pelorat and Trevize return to Gaia, and Pelorat decides to stay there; he has found bliss in loving Bliss (he's a fifty year old man with a wife and child and Bliss appears to be a young woman of no more than twenty).
Trevize confronts Bliss on Gaia; he tells her to take care of Pelorat and that he knows her secret- she's a robot. As had been mentioned several times, Gaia was founded millenia ago by robots that had advanced so far that they were nearly indistinguishable from humans, except that they were mentalic. Gaia's hive-mind is the pinnacle of a mentalic society, in fact. Bliss strongly implies that this is true, although she/it/Gaia would not speak in concretes.
Trevize then goes to the leader of Gaia (de facto leader, at least) whom he questions on the topic of the Galactic Library at Trantor; when he Chose, he received brief insight into Gendible's mind via the ship's computer; he learned that there were no files on Earth inside the library. Why was this? Don denied that he/it/Gaia had anything to do with it, but that they/Gaia would supply him to help discover why; clearly, it was important. So does this lead to Foundation and Earth.
Yes, I am aware that a skipped over a brief period of time, but it makes for better dramatic effect, no?
This was a really great ending. It really kept you on your toes (or perhaps the edge of you seat) from the time that you discover that Gaia is a hive-mind; it was really tense there for a while. I'm certainly glad that there was no Shakespearean sonnet to come before this one!
I was sort of (or rather, rather) disappointed in the fact that R. Daneel didn't show up. I assume that he is behind the disappearance of Earth from the library, but I would have liked for him to have had a larger presence in this book; he was an interesting character.
Foundation and Earth is the last Asimov novel that I intend on reading for a while; chronologically, that's where his novels end, and prequels tend to annoy me.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
To Green Planet Earth
Moving several millennia into the future from Robots and Empire, we arrive back in Foundation times. Foundation's Edge takes place 498 years since the establishment of the First and Second Foundations, and the Seldon Plan is right on track.
The First Foundation is well on its way to becoming the next Galactic Empire, as it is already the most powerful force in it; those planets that are free are so because the First Foundation (known only as the Foiundation, to most) allows it. The Second Foundation, on the other hand, has been working hard to make sure that the Second Galactic Empire is formed, and their decendents can become its rulers. With the First Foundation thinking that destroyed after the events of Second Foundation, the psychohistorians there are free to work, and have kept the Plan on track quite well.
it's too well on track, in fact. Several people in both Foundations have become suspicious. Just a century and a half after the near-catastrophe that was the Mule, there should be some discrepancies between Seldon's Plan and reality.
The First Foundation's current Mayor, called Branna the Bronze, and Golan Trevize are two of those people. Shortly after a Seldon Crisis has been resolved by Branna (by keeping the capital on Terminus) their worst fears have been confirmed; when Seldon's image appears to congratulate them, it matches Branna's reasoning nearly word-for-word. It's impossible to think that Seldon could predict so far, so well, into the future; the Second Foundation is still controlling them.
The more vocal of the two, Trevize, is bringing attention to the fact. Inorder to prevent more Second Foundation tampering, Branna exiles him until he can discover the location of the Second Foundation. Going along with him is a historian named Pelorat, who has spent much of his life in a search for the mythical origin planet, Earth. Treveize decides to go along with the search for Earth, thinking that, as Seldon said that the Second Foiundation was at the oppostie end of the Galaxy from the First, it must be on Earth; Terminus was, in Seldon's time, the newest planet to be settled, and Earth would be the oldest. They travel to the planet Sayshell in search of information on the planet Gaia.
On Trantor, the true home of the Second Foundation, Seaker Stor Gendibal has become convinced of something similar. The fact that there have been so few variations from the Plan in the times since the Mule, prompts him to run some figures through complicated pychohistoric calculations, and he arrived at three possibilities; either there are more variations in the Plan than there truly are (obviously false), Gendibal's calculations are off (which no one believes), or there is and even higher power working toward the fufillment of the Plan than the Second Foundation.
Calling them Anti-Mules (the Mule nearly broke the Plan, this group is keeping it on track), he presents his theory to the other eleven Speackers. After successfully avoiding conviction in the trial following his impeachment (for the un-Speakerlike conduct of making such an improbable possibility known while operating largely on intuition), he manages to convince them of this fact. however, this results in his exile, though the current First Speaker has named him as his successor if he returns successfully (Gendible would be the younges-ever First Speaker at the age of 32).
On the way,, a Hamish (the farmers of Trantor call the planet Hame, or Home) woman saves him from being beaten by a Hamish man (this is very out-of-character; the Hamish are terrified of the scholars ["scowlers" in their dialect]). Realizing that the two had been altered by whatever force is guiding the Plan, he brings the simplre Sura Novi with him, as any tampering with her mind will be immediately apparent to him (plus, he's falling in love with her).
Gendible sees Trevize for the man that he is; he would have been an incredible Second Foundationer if it weren't for the rule against recuriting Terminus natives, and he still possesses great abilities for deducing an answer with little info) and sends Trevize's former friend (who turned him over to the Mayor) Compor (a Second Foundation agent) to keep him on Sayshell until Gendible could arrive.
This is accomplished by telling him that the real Earth is in a different place (it is the true Earth; its history in the Empire Trilogy was mentioned and it is highly radioactive). Trevize suspects Compor of being Second Foundation, and plays right into their hands by doing the opposite of what Compor advised (going to the real Earth).
That brings us right up to date.
I think that his has been the best of Asimov's books so far; I've been unhappy that my sutdy time has been cutting into my reading time. It's really had be disliking the fact that I have to put it down.
Plus, I finally figured out how big a parsec is! In Asimov's universe, at least, a single parsec is equivalent to 3.26 light years; I thought that that was quite neat.
P.S.
Since originally composing this post, I have read some more of the book.
Trevize and Pelorat are in Gaian space now, approaching carefully because of stories of the destruction of a large Empire fleet when it moved against the planet and also the fact that even the Mule skirted around it. Trevize suspects that they are being manuevered into going to Gaia. When I left them, they were being tractor beamed into a space station.
Having sent such info to Branna, Compor now awaits Gendible's arrival.
In her turn, Branna has sent four large Foundation ships (which could easily wipe out Sayshell) to the edge of Sayshellian space; Sayshell has remained neutral for centuries, even though it has been completely surrounded by the Foundation and the Mule's empire. The Mule spared no other planet mercy. The planet Gaia is on no map, and even Pelorat does not know how he found out about it.
These ships naturally worry Sayshell, and it is doubtful that the Foundation could survive an uprising amongst its members if violent action is initiated and sparks a dislike of a now expansionist Foundation.
The fate of the Second Foundation is also beginning to come into doubt; the First Foundation is light years (or parsecs, rather) ahead of them in all sciences beside psychohistory. True, the Second Foundation can alter minds, but how long will that hold off the First Foundation when the Second's military might is dwarfed by any planet in the Galaxy?
I dislike not being able to keep a backup of these posts on my computer.
The First Foundation is well on its way to becoming the next Galactic Empire, as it is already the most powerful force in it; those planets that are free are so because the First Foundation (known only as the Foiundation, to most) allows it. The Second Foundation, on the other hand, has been working hard to make sure that the Second Galactic Empire is formed, and their decendents can become its rulers. With the First Foundation thinking that destroyed after the events of Second Foundation, the psychohistorians there are free to work, and have kept the Plan on track quite well.
it's too well on track, in fact. Several people in both Foundations have become suspicious. Just a century and a half after the near-catastrophe that was the Mule, there should be some discrepancies between Seldon's Plan and reality.
The First Foundation's current Mayor, called Branna the Bronze, and Golan Trevize are two of those people. Shortly after a Seldon Crisis has been resolved by Branna (by keeping the capital on Terminus) their worst fears have been confirmed; when Seldon's image appears to congratulate them, it matches Branna's reasoning nearly word-for-word. It's impossible to think that Seldon could predict so far, so well, into the future; the Second Foundation is still controlling them.
The more vocal of the two, Trevize, is bringing attention to the fact. Inorder to prevent more Second Foundation tampering, Branna exiles him until he can discover the location of the Second Foundation. Going along with him is a historian named Pelorat, who has spent much of his life in a search for the mythical origin planet, Earth. Treveize decides to go along with the search for Earth, thinking that, as Seldon said that the Second Foiundation was at the oppostie end of the Galaxy from the First, it must be on Earth; Terminus was, in Seldon's time, the newest planet to be settled, and Earth would be the oldest. They travel to the planet Sayshell in search of information on the planet Gaia.
On Trantor, the true home of the Second Foundation, Seaker Stor Gendibal has become convinced of something similar. The fact that there have been so few variations from the Plan in the times since the Mule, prompts him to run some figures through complicated pychohistoric calculations, and he arrived at three possibilities; either there are more variations in the Plan than there truly are (obviously false), Gendibal's calculations are off (which no one believes), or there is and even higher power working toward the fufillment of the Plan than the Second Foundation.
Calling them Anti-Mules (the Mule nearly broke the Plan, this group is keeping it on track), he presents his theory to the other eleven Speackers. After successfully avoiding conviction in the trial following his impeachment (for the un-Speakerlike conduct of making such an improbable possibility known while operating largely on intuition), he manages to convince them of this fact. however, this results in his exile, though the current First Speaker has named him as his successor if he returns successfully (Gendible would be the younges-ever First Speaker at the age of 32).
On the way,, a Hamish (the farmers of Trantor call the planet Hame, or Home) woman saves him from being beaten by a Hamish man (this is very out-of-character; the Hamish are terrified of the scholars ["scowlers" in their dialect]). Realizing that the two had been altered by whatever force is guiding the Plan, he brings the simplre Sura Novi with him, as any tampering with her mind will be immediately apparent to him (plus, he's falling in love with her).
Gendible sees Trevize for the man that he is; he would have been an incredible Second Foundationer if it weren't for the rule against recuriting Terminus natives, and he still possesses great abilities for deducing an answer with little info) and sends Trevize's former friend (who turned him over to the Mayor) Compor (a Second Foundation agent) to keep him on Sayshell until Gendible could arrive.
This is accomplished by telling him that the real Earth is in a different place (it is the true Earth; its history in the Empire Trilogy was mentioned and it is highly radioactive). Trevize suspects Compor of being Second Foundation, and plays right into their hands by doing the opposite of what Compor advised (going to the real Earth).
That brings us right up to date.
I think that his has been the best of Asimov's books so far; I've been unhappy that my sutdy time has been cutting into my reading time. It's really had be disliking the fact that I have to put it down.
Plus, I finally figured out how big a parsec is! In Asimov's universe, at least, a single parsec is equivalent to 3.26 light years; I thought that that was quite neat.
P.S.
Since originally composing this post, I have read some more of the book.
Trevize and Pelorat are in Gaian space now, approaching carefully because of stories of the destruction of a large Empire fleet when it moved against the planet and also the fact that even the Mule skirted around it. Trevize suspects that they are being manuevered into going to Gaia. When I left them, they were being tractor beamed into a space station.
Having sent such info to Branna, Compor now awaits Gendible's arrival.
In her turn, Branna has sent four large Foundation ships (which could easily wipe out Sayshell) to the edge of Sayshellian space; Sayshell has remained neutral for centuries, even though it has been completely surrounded by the Foundation and the Mule's empire. The Mule spared no other planet mercy. The planet Gaia is on no map, and even Pelorat does not know how he found out about it.
These ships naturally worry Sayshell, and it is doubtful that the Foundation could survive an uprising amongst its members if violent action is initiated and sparks a dislike of a now expansionist Foundation.
The fate of the Second Foundation is also beginning to come into doubt; the First Foundation is light years (or parsecs, rather) ahead of them in all sciences beside psychohistory. True, the Second Foundation can alter minds, but how long will that hold off the First Foundation when the Second's military might is dwarfed by any planet in the Galaxy?
I dislike not being able to keep a backup of these posts on my computer.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
Veterans' Day
I was intending to post a poem today to honor the veterans, but I honestly couldn't even think of what sort of poem would be most appropriate, let alone which poem. My solution, then, is to provide a link to a list of general war poems.
http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/SubjIdx/war.html
They all have different view points on war, so take each one as you will.
As far as those who didn't make it back from the war, I can do little for. I came across a phrase which I suppose fits the occasion well, however, so:
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.
Also, my condolances to those family and friends who surive the fallen.
I would like to point out the reason the Veterans' Day is today (well, yesterday now); it was on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918 (Nov. 11th at 11am) that the cease fire with Germany came into effect (which by then had gone through the German Revolution, resulting in the creation of the Weimar Republic; the kaiser of Germany and Prussia, Wilhelm II, was also about to be exiled).
http://www.theotherpages.org/poems/SubjIdx/war.html
They all have different view points on war, so take each one as you will.
As far as those who didn't make it back from the war, I can do little for. I came across a phrase which I suppose fits the occasion well, however, so:
Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.
Also, my condolances to those family and friends who surive the fallen.
I would like to point out the reason the Veterans' Day is today (well, yesterday now); it was on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918 (Nov. 11th at 11am) that the cease fire with Germany came into effect (which by then had gone through the German Revolution, resulting in the creation of the Weimar Republic; the kaiser of Germany and Prussia, Wilhelm II, was also about to be exiled).
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Alas, Earth
On Earth, Gladia has remained a very public figure, and is pressed into another speech. Midway through, a laser shot is fired. Daneel dives to protect he who he considers to be most important: Giskard. He can now follow the Zeroth Law quite well. A clean hole is left just behind the point in space where Giskard’s head would have been.
The attacker, having been beaten by the crowd around him, is found to be a humanoid robot (sent by Mandamus). However, the act of aiming a deadly weapon so near a group of humans has greatly affected its positronic brain and it is under very strong orders not to reveal anything in relation to its master. After a short period of questioning, the only thing that the robot says about the location of the base in “-- mile --.” After this, its brain effectively shuts down; the information held within is irretrievable.
After some speculation on what the word “mile” means (everything, including Galactic Standard Time, is by now metric), Daneel and Giskard go to an official nuclear specialist (I no longer have the book, so I can’t give you the specific office) who they ask for advice about what three syllable word or phrase would have “mile” in the middle.
With some tampering by Giskard encouraging her to help them, she speculates on it before coming to a conclusion. There was one location that the base could be; one of the most isolated places on the planet, where it is taboo for any robot to go, let alone any human. It was the site of the nuclear near-catastrophe that forever turned Earthmen away from nuclear power (although the fusion of light particles is now a common energy source on other planets). Three Mile Island.
There, Amadiro and Mandamus squabble over the time frame of their plan. Mandamus has no interest in killing, only in weakening the Settlers, while Amadiro, with his hate of Elijah Baley, wants to see the plan come to fruition well within his lifetime, with the added bonus of killing great numbers of Earthpeople. Mandamus wants to set their machine so that the radiation produced by the nuclear intensifier’s action on the natural deposits of radioactive elements on Earth would cause the radiation to reach its peak in 150 years before steadying; this would give Earth more than enough time to evacuate and cause the Settlers to believe that it was an unexplained, but natural, phenomenon. Dr. Amadiro wants the destruction of Earth to occur over 4 times faster (a change from the setting 2.72 to 12) so that he is still alive to take the credit for the destruction of Earth.
Eventually, Dr. Amadiro pulls a blaster on Mandamus, threatening him with death while bribing him with a high governmental position.
Here, Daneel and Giskard enter, and rip the blaster out of Amadiro’s hands. The two doctors attempt to order the robots to leave, claiming that there is no danger, so the Second Law takes precedence; this, of course, fails against the Zeroth Law. Giskard is eventually forced to put Amadiro into a coma after manipulating him into a rage during which he admits their plans.
Mandamus then launches into a speech about how the destruction of Earth would ultimately benefit mankind. He speculates that, with the Holy World of the Settlers gone, they would be forced to spread ever farther into the galaxy. Giskard hears this and speculates on whether this is true. He knows that Mandamus does not believe his words, but he also knows that it would remove the one thing that he and Daneel had speculated was a crutch equivalent to the robots and long lives of the Spacers.
Thus, when Mandamus lunges for the controls after shouting a command to the robots to “Freeze!,” Daneel is powerless to stop him. After being ashamed of himself for having allowed the Second Law to take precedence over the Zeroth, Giskard reveals that he had prevented Daneel from stopping Mandamus. He believes that the destruction of Earth would ultimately be better for humanity, but the fair chance that it would not be is killing Giskard.
In his final moments, Giskard speaks the final set of commands that would convert Daneel into a telepath (though the two could only sense and manipulate emotions).
He was now the protector of the Galaxy, and is now all alone.
This was probably my favorite book out of the Foundation series so far.
I’m honestly not sure what else to say, but I will compare the Robot series to “Mid-Winter Resolution,” by S. L. P. Van der Veer, which we read in English a few days ago. The theme is actually quite similar. In the poem, a man speculates that if everyone remains in doors during the winter, (living relatively easy- taking no risks) everyone will remain lethargic evening the spring, when they need to get more things done. In the Robot novels, the Spacers have become to comfortable with their robot servants and perfect worlds; to comfortable to compete with the more energetic and vigorous Earthmen for control of the future. The authors seem to have set out to send the same message; one that is relevant even now.
The attacker, having been beaten by the crowd around him, is found to be a humanoid robot (sent by Mandamus). However, the act of aiming a deadly weapon so near a group of humans has greatly affected its positronic brain and it is under very strong orders not to reveal anything in relation to its master. After a short period of questioning, the only thing that the robot says about the location of the base in “-- mile --.” After this, its brain effectively shuts down; the information held within is irretrievable.
After some speculation on what the word “mile” means (everything, including Galactic Standard Time, is by now metric), Daneel and Giskard go to an official nuclear specialist (I no longer have the book, so I can’t give you the specific office) who they ask for advice about what three syllable word or phrase would have “mile” in the middle.
With some tampering by Giskard encouraging her to help them, she speculates on it before coming to a conclusion. There was one location that the base could be; one of the most isolated places on the planet, where it is taboo for any robot to go, let alone any human. It was the site of the nuclear near-catastrophe that forever turned Earthmen away from nuclear power (although the fusion of light particles is now a common energy source on other planets). Three Mile Island.
There, Amadiro and Mandamus squabble over the time frame of their plan. Mandamus has no interest in killing, only in weakening the Settlers, while Amadiro, with his hate of Elijah Baley, wants to see the plan come to fruition well within his lifetime, with the added bonus of killing great numbers of Earthpeople. Mandamus wants to set their machine so that the radiation produced by the nuclear intensifier’s action on the natural deposits of radioactive elements on Earth would cause the radiation to reach its peak in 150 years before steadying; this would give Earth more than enough time to evacuate and cause the Settlers to believe that it was an unexplained, but natural, phenomenon. Dr. Amadiro wants the destruction of Earth to occur over 4 times faster (a change from the setting 2.72 to 12) so that he is still alive to take the credit for the destruction of Earth.
Eventually, Dr. Amadiro pulls a blaster on Mandamus, threatening him with death while bribing him with a high governmental position.
Here, Daneel and Giskard enter, and rip the blaster out of Amadiro’s hands. The two doctors attempt to order the robots to leave, claiming that there is no danger, so the Second Law takes precedence; this, of course, fails against the Zeroth Law. Giskard is eventually forced to put Amadiro into a coma after manipulating him into a rage during which he admits their plans.
Mandamus then launches into a speech about how the destruction of Earth would ultimately benefit mankind. He speculates that, with the Holy World of the Settlers gone, they would be forced to spread ever farther into the galaxy. Giskard hears this and speculates on whether this is true. He knows that Mandamus does not believe his words, but he also knows that it would remove the one thing that he and Daneel had speculated was a crutch equivalent to the robots and long lives of the Spacers.
Thus, when Mandamus lunges for the controls after shouting a command to the robots to “Freeze!,” Daneel is powerless to stop him. After being ashamed of himself for having allowed the Second Law to take precedence over the Zeroth, Giskard reveals that he had prevented Daneel from stopping Mandamus. He believes that the destruction of Earth would ultimately be better for humanity, but the fair chance that it would not be is killing Giskard.
In his final moments, Giskard speaks the final set of commands that would convert Daneel into a telepath (though the two could only sense and manipulate emotions).
He was now the protector of the Galaxy, and is now all alone.
This was probably my favorite book out of the Foundation series so far.
I’m honestly not sure what else to say, but I will compare the Robot series to “Mid-Winter Resolution,” by S. L. P. Van der Veer, which we read in English a few days ago. The theme is actually quite similar. In the poem, a man speculates that if everyone remains in doors during the winter, (living relatively easy- taking no risks) everyone will remain lethargic evening the spring, when they need to get more things done. In the Robot novels, the Spacers have become to comfortable with their robot servants and perfect worlds; to comfortable to compete with the more energetic and vigorous Earthmen for control of the future. The authors seem to have set out to send the same message; one that is relevant even now.
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Mountain of Super Heavy Elements
In Robots and Empire, Earth is in great peril. Dr. Amadiro, who has opposed the expansion of Earthpeople for two centuries and is of the opinion that the withering and dying of the entire human race would be better than seeing the short-lived, dirty barbarians populate the Galaxy, has found a partner in Dr. Levular Mandamus.
Mandamus has discovered (mind, I have no idea if this applies in the real world) why Earth is the only world that has been found in the galaxy to have organisms more complex than ferns and insects; the moon. No other inhabitable planet has such a large moon, in fact (again, this may or may not reflect real life) Earth is one of the few rocky planets with a comparably large moon. The tides created by the Moon have caused something that has proven vital to the evolution of intelligent life; plate tectonics. With the friction produced by the action of the tides on the ocean floor, kinetic energy is converted into heat energy, resulting the the slowing of Earth's rotation and continued plate tectonics. This means that the Earth has a much thinner crust than any other known inhabitable planet. More importantly, however, it means that uranium and thorium has accumulated in quantities 1,000 times more than on any other life-sustaining planet. These elements are distributed unevenly, meaning that, in certain places, there is enough natural radiation to force more rapid mutation; in other words, evolution (still operating off of sci-fi logic, here).
The pair plans to use this radiation, with the help of the newly invented nuclear intensifiers (which use W particles to hasten nuclear decay) to destroy the Earth. This woiuld, they hope, demoralize the Settler planets (which treat Earth as a holy place) and eliminate their competition for control of the Galaxy.
They have also discovered R. Giskard's incredible ability, and realize that he has been using it to maintain the late Dr. Fastolfe's control on Aurora's government. They worry about the fact that he is heading to Earth, where they have used humanoid robots similar to Daneel to infiltrate the populace, and head there themselves.
Shortly before this, Gladia and D.G. Baley went to Solaria. There, they discovered that, sometime before the Solarians seemingly disapeared, the robots were programed with a very specific definition of "human" as pertaining to the Three Laws; anyone who does not speak with a Solarian accent is marked for death. They escape, seemingly due to a malfunction in the humanoid robot that was then trying to kill them, but truly due to the intervention of Giskard (who also "killed" Jander).
They go to Baleyworld, where Gladia becomes a hero after a speech about how Spacers and Earthpeople are truly the same, how a long life does not equal a happy or eventful one, and how, when the Settlers become dominant, they should learn from the mistaken policies of the oppressive Spacers, and show tolerance.
Gladia then decides to go to Earth, taking Daneel and Giskard with her, so that she can attempt to stop the potential war before it starts.
Meanwhile, Daneel has created the Zeroth law, which reads:
0. A robot my not injure humanity, or through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.
The first law then reads:
1. A robot may not injure a human being, or through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm, unless this would violate the Zeroth Law of Robotics.
This revelation has been brought about by two centuries of mulling over the dying words of Elijah Baley, those being to the effect that "What the ending of a single thread to the continuance of the larger tapestry?" However, Daneel and Giskard are the only two robots with any inkling of this new Zeroth Law, and even they may not truly follow it yet. Giskard doesn't even believe in its validity, pointing to all the atrocities commited in history that were supposedly for the betterment of humanity as proof. The two decide that "humanity" must be defined.
The two are also the only beings in the Galaxy that have an idea of Amadiro's plans.
This book is really getting good! I'm sort of glad to see that Gladia isn't actually the main protagonist (or at least not the only one), despite the fact that the book opened with her. Daneel and Giskard are really the most sympathetic characters. What makes it all the more interesting is that, when you think about it, they don't even experience emotions as we know them. They describe things such as pleasure in word to the effect that their positronic pathways become clearer, allowing clearer, faster thinking and actions in a feeling roughly analagous to the human concept of pleasure.
Also of note is the fact that this is perhaps the first book where so much time is spent on the antagonists' points of view. I've read books that had short sections that explored their actions from their point of view, but this book spends more time on them than on the protagonists, it seems to me. It may be closer to equal than it appears, but, given with the protagonists' numerical superiority, that's still quite unusual; I think that I'd like to see more books like that.
This is an example of ironic fate, as the outcome of the conflict is shown in the Empire Trilogy, which is set well into the future of this universe.
Oh, and why doesn't the rock cycle allow for the creation of rock? All of the rock in the rock cycle must have started off somewhere (namely, in space). That original rock wouldn't fit into it.
Mandamus has discovered (mind, I have no idea if this applies in the real world) why Earth is the only world that has been found in the galaxy to have organisms more complex than ferns and insects; the moon. No other inhabitable planet has such a large moon, in fact (again, this may or may not reflect real life) Earth is one of the few rocky planets with a comparably large moon. The tides created by the Moon have caused something that has proven vital to the evolution of intelligent life; plate tectonics. With the friction produced by the action of the tides on the ocean floor, kinetic energy is converted into heat energy, resulting the the slowing of Earth's rotation and continued plate tectonics. This means that the Earth has a much thinner crust than any other known inhabitable planet. More importantly, however, it means that uranium and thorium has accumulated in quantities 1,000 times more than on any other life-sustaining planet. These elements are distributed unevenly, meaning that, in certain places, there is enough natural radiation to force more rapid mutation; in other words, evolution (still operating off of sci-fi logic, here).
The pair plans to use this radiation, with the help of the newly invented nuclear intensifiers (which use W particles to hasten nuclear decay) to destroy the Earth. This woiuld, they hope, demoralize the Settler planets (which treat Earth as a holy place) and eliminate their competition for control of the Galaxy.
They have also discovered R. Giskard's incredible ability, and realize that he has been using it to maintain the late Dr. Fastolfe's control on Aurora's government. They worry about the fact that he is heading to Earth, where they have used humanoid robots similar to Daneel to infiltrate the populace, and head there themselves.
Shortly before this, Gladia and D.G. Baley went to Solaria. There, they discovered that, sometime before the Solarians seemingly disapeared, the robots were programed with a very specific definition of "human" as pertaining to the Three Laws; anyone who does not speak with a Solarian accent is marked for death. They escape, seemingly due to a malfunction in the humanoid robot that was then trying to kill them, but truly due to the intervention of Giskard (who also "killed" Jander).
They go to Baleyworld, where Gladia becomes a hero after a speech about how Spacers and Earthpeople are truly the same, how a long life does not equal a happy or eventful one, and how, when the Settlers become dominant, they should learn from the mistaken policies of the oppressive Spacers, and show tolerance.
Gladia then decides to go to Earth, taking Daneel and Giskard with her, so that she can attempt to stop the potential war before it starts.
Meanwhile, Daneel has created the Zeroth law, which reads:
0. A robot my not injure humanity, or through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.
The first law then reads:
1. A robot may not injure a human being, or through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm, unless this would violate the Zeroth Law of Robotics.
This revelation has been brought about by two centuries of mulling over the dying words of Elijah Baley, those being to the effect that "What the ending of a single thread to the continuance of the larger tapestry?" However, Daneel and Giskard are the only two robots with any inkling of this new Zeroth Law, and even they may not truly follow it yet. Giskard doesn't even believe in its validity, pointing to all the atrocities commited in history that were supposedly for the betterment of humanity as proof. The two decide that "humanity" must be defined.
The two are also the only beings in the Galaxy that have an idea of Amadiro's plans.
This book is really getting good! I'm sort of glad to see that Gladia isn't actually the main protagonist (or at least not the only one), despite the fact that the book opened with her. Daneel and Giskard are really the most sympathetic characters. What makes it all the more interesting is that, when you think about it, they don't even experience emotions as we know them. They describe things such as pleasure in word to the effect that their positronic pathways become clearer, allowing clearer, faster thinking and actions in a feeling roughly analagous to the human concept of pleasure.
Also of note is the fact that this is perhaps the first book where so much time is spent on the antagonists' points of view. I've read books that had short sections that explored their actions from their point of view, but this book spends more time on them than on the protagonists, it seems to me. It may be closer to equal than it appears, but, given with the protagonists' numerical superiority, that's still quite unusual; I think that I'd like to see more books like that.
This is an example of ironic fate, as the outcome of the conflict is shown in the Empire Trilogy, which is set well into the future of this universe.
Oh, and why doesn't the rock cycle allow for the creation of rock? All of the rock in the rock cycle must have started off somewhere (namely, in space). That original rock wouldn't fit into it.
Friday, November 5, 2010
A Tale of Many Cultures
Having finished The Robots of Dawn several days ago, I’d say it’s about time to do a post.
I didn’t really like it as much as the previous two books of the Robot Trilogy for two reasons: 1. I simply didn’t like the plot as much and 2. the exploration of Aurora’s little oddity, just as Earth’s Cities and Solaria’s agoraphobia before it.
Before I get into that, however, you need some background. Elijah has been called to Aurora (Roman goddess of the dawn) and, specifically, the city of Eos (Greek goddess of the dawn). They are named for the two goddesses because Aurora (at first, New Earth) was the first planet (other than Earth, of course) to be settled, and represented the dawning of a new era. Eos is the most populous city on all of the 50 Spacer planets, and even there, large tracts of open land are between each building.
Elijah must clear Dr. Fastolfe’s (the head of the Auroran government, the staunchest supporter of allowing Earth the right to expand into the galaxy, and the creator of the only two robots that look so much like humans [Asimov has a name for these robots, but I don’t remember it]). He has been accused of “killing” the robot Jander, the second such robot to be made (the first being Daneel). If this were to be proven, his political life would crumble, and Earth’s last hope would fade.
He faces opposition in Dr. Amadiro, who resents Fastolfe for withholding the secret of human-like robots from the scientific community.
Along the way, we meet R. Giskard, a more primitive robot that nonetheless proves to be extremely important. He is the only telepathic robot in existence (although this is not unprecedented, as shown in I, Robot). Elijah realizes this at the end of the book, and Giskard allows him to remember it, although he removes any drive to tell someone else.
Daneel plays a relatively small part, although he is elevated in status to Elijah’s genuine friend.
That first part sounded oddly like an advertisement…
If you wish to know the rest of the story, you’ll have to read it! Call 1-817-888-8888 today. And now, we return to our regularly scheduled programming.
Hmm, odd.
Now, back to why I didn’t like the book so much. The main reason being, #2 the exploration of Aurora’s oddity, which is polygamy. This made for some rather uncomfortable conversations, and even one less-than-appropriate scene. Ironically, his wife is named Jezebel, while his lover is Gladia. She is also the protagonist (along with Daneel and Giskard) of the next story, though she is largely unsympathetic to my for the above reason.
This seems to run contrary to what I had come to expect from Asimov. He has also written several books on the topic of the Bible, and even used the biblical story of the adulterer that Christ saved from stoning, in Caves of Steel, which seemed to teach Daneel a lesson in humanity, having told the criminal of the story (read the book to see who it is) to “go, and sin no more.” However, it occurs to me that this blog really ought to be kept secular.
In the next story, Robots and Empire (which begins to connect three of his trilogies, Foundation, Robots, and Empire [which I read around 1 ½ years ago, and feel no need to read again]), which is set roughly two centuries farther into the future, Gladia goes to Solaria once again. Daneel Giskard Baley, descendent of Elijah in the 7th degree, has come from Baleyworld (creative name, eh?), one of 20-odd earth settled planets, to investigate occurrences on Solaria.
Solaria has recently been abandoned by the 20,000 that once lived there, though millions of robots have been left behind. It was the last Spacer planet to be settled, and the first to collapse. The Traders of the new planets have attempted to gather these robots to sell to the Spacers (robots are prohibited in the Settlers’ planets, as they believe that they lead to stagnation). When the two ships landed, however, they were quickly destroyed, leading to the questions “why?’ and “by whom?”
Daneel and Giskard consider it very odd that the Spacer worlds were willing to allow the exploration of Solaria, and believe that the Spacers are stalling for time; time to activate a mystery weapon aimed at Earth, potentially destroying both the outward expansion of the Earthmen (which they resent) and the threat of the increasingly powerful Settler worlds.
It’s interesting to note how much an over three-century lifespan would change the pace of history. If an official could reasonably expect to be in office from 1700 (long before the Revolutionary War) until now, where would we be? Personally, I share the Settlers’, and assumedly Asimov’s, opinion that we wouldn’t be too well off. With such a slow inflow of new ideas and perspectives, society would stagnate.
Did I mention that Giskard founded the science of psychohistory?
Hmm, after wondering exactly what it meant for a while, I looked up "biweekly" to find that it can mean both twice a week and once every two weeks; I plan to update that column twice weekly.
I didn’t really like it as much as the previous two books of the Robot Trilogy for two reasons: 1. I simply didn’t like the plot as much and 2. the exploration of Aurora’s little oddity, just as Earth’s Cities and Solaria’s agoraphobia before it.
Before I get into that, however, you need some background. Elijah has been called to Aurora (Roman goddess of the dawn) and, specifically, the city of Eos (Greek goddess of the dawn). They are named for the two goddesses because Aurora (at first, New Earth) was the first planet (other than Earth, of course) to be settled, and represented the dawning of a new era. Eos is the most populous city on all of the 50 Spacer planets, and even there, large tracts of open land are between each building.
Elijah must clear Dr. Fastolfe’s (the head of the Auroran government, the staunchest supporter of allowing Earth the right to expand into the galaxy, and the creator of the only two robots that look so much like humans [Asimov has a name for these robots, but I don’t remember it]). He has been accused of “killing” the robot Jander, the second such robot to be made (the first being Daneel). If this were to be proven, his political life would crumble, and Earth’s last hope would fade.
He faces opposition in Dr. Amadiro, who resents Fastolfe for withholding the secret of human-like robots from the scientific community.
Along the way, we meet R. Giskard, a more primitive robot that nonetheless proves to be extremely important. He is the only telepathic robot in existence (although this is not unprecedented, as shown in I, Robot). Elijah realizes this at the end of the book, and Giskard allows him to remember it, although he removes any drive to tell someone else.
Daneel plays a relatively small part, although he is elevated in status to Elijah’s genuine friend.
That first part sounded oddly like an advertisement…
If you wish to know the rest of the story, you’ll have to read it! Call 1-817-888-8888 today. And now, we return to our regularly scheduled programming.
Hmm, odd.
Now, back to why I didn’t like the book so much. The main reason being, #2 the exploration of Aurora’s oddity, which is polygamy. This made for some rather uncomfortable conversations, and even one less-than-appropriate scene. Ironically, his wife is named Jezebel, while his lover is Gladia. She is also the protagonist (along with Daneel and Giskard) of the next story, though she is largely unsympathetic to my for the above reason.
This seems to run contrary to what I had come to expect from Asimov. He has also written several books on the topic of the Bible, and even used the biblical story of the adulterer that Christ saved from stoning, in Caves of Steel, which seemed to teach Daneel a lesson in humanity, having told the criminal of the story (read the book to see who it is) to “go, and sin no more.” However, it occurs to me that this blog really ought to be kept secular.
In the next story, Robots and Empire (which begins to connect three of his trilogies, Foundation, Robots, and Empire [which I read around 1 ½ years ago, and feel no need to read again]), which is set roughly two centuries farther into the future, Gladia goes to Solaria once again. Daneel Giskard Baley, descendent of Elijah in the 7th degree, has come from Baleyworld (creative name, eh?), one of 20-odd earth settled planets, to investigate occurrences on Solaria.
Solaria has recently been abandoned by the 20,000 that once lived there, though millions of robots have been left behind. It was the last Spacer planet to be settled, and the first to collapse. The Traders of the new planets have attempted to gather these robots to sell to the Spacers (robots are prohibited in the Settlers’ planets, as they believe that they lead to stagnation). When the two ships landed, however, they were quickly destroyed, leading to the questions “why?’ and “by whom?”
Daneel and Giskard consider it very odd that the Spacer worlds were willing to allow the exploration of Solaria, and believe that the Spacers are stalling for time; time to activate a mystery weapon aimed at Earth, potentially destroying both the outward expansion of the Earthmen (which they resent) and the threat of the increasingly powerful Settler worlds.
It’s interesting to note how much an over three-century lifespan would change the pace of history. If an official could reasonably expect to be in office from 1700 (long before the Revolutionary War) until now, where would we be? Personally, I share the Settlers’, and assumedly Asimov’s, opinion that we wouldn’t be too well off. With such a slow inflow of new ideas and perspectives, society would stagnate.
Did I mention that Giskard founded the science of psychohistory?
Hmm, after wondering exactly what it meant for a while, I looked up "biweekly" to find that it can mean both twice a week and once every two weeks; I plan to update that column twice weekly.
Wednesday, November 3, 2010
The Three Laws of Robotics
These have been posted on the side of the blog for a week or so, but I would like to have that space for something new. I decided that these ought to be on my blog somewhere, however, so here they are.
1. A robot may not (knowingly) injure a human being or, through inaction, (knowingly) allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
These, of course, are vital to all of Asimov's books that involve robots.
Interesting fact; Asimov was one of the first to publish a story involving a robot that did not have that robot turn on its creator (a la Frankenstein). This was (in-universe) due to the three laws that are a key part of each robot's positronic brain.
Hmm, Fire and Ice has one line that doesn't quite fit the available space at the side of the blog. Just consider "fire" to be part of the first line.
1. A robot may not (knowingly) injure a human being or, through inaction, (knowingly) allow a human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey any orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
These, of course, are vital to all of Asimov's books that involve robots.
Interesting fact; Asimov was one of the first to publish a story involving a robot that did not have that robot turn on its creator (a la Frankenstein). This was (in-universe) due to the three laws that are a key part of each robot's positronic brain.
Hmm, Fire and Ice has one line that doesn't quite fit the available space at the side of the blog. Just consider "fire" to be part of the first line.
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