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Mentalic
The ''Foundation'' series is a science fiction book series written by American author Isaac Asimov. First published as a series of short stories in 1942–50, and subsequently in three collections in 1951–53, for thirty years the series was a trilogy: '' Foundation''; '' Foundation and Empire''; and '' Second Foundation''. It won the one-time Hugo Award for "Best All-Time Series" in 1966. Asimov began adding new volumes in 1981, with two sequels: '' Foundation's Edge'' and '' Foundation and Earth'', and two prequels: '' Prelude to Foundation'' and '' Forward the Foundation''. The premise of the stories is that, in the waning days of a future Galactic Empire, the mathematician Hari Seldon spends his life developing a theory of psychohistory, a new and effective mathematics of sociology. Using statistical laws of mass action, it can predict the future of large populations. Seldon foresees the imminent fall of the Empire, which encompasses the entire Milky Way, and a Dar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Forward The Foundation
''Forward the Foundation'' is a novel by American writer Isaac Asimov, published posthumously in 1993. It is the second of two prequels to the ''Foundation'' Series. It is written in a format similar to that of the original book, '' Foundation'', composed of chapters with long intervals in between, although ''Forward'' takes place within only one lifetime. Both books were first published as independent short stories in science fiction magazines. The parallels between Hari Seldon and Isaac Asimov found in this book— the last one written by Asimov before his death— and the focus on Hari Seldon as he grows old and dies, strengthen the idea that Asimov considered Seldon his literary alter ego. Critics such as Josh Wimmer and Alasdair Wilkins have regarded many of the opinions and viewpoints expressed by Seldon in this book as autobiographical. Thus, they say, a detailed reading of ''Forward the Foundation'' can shed light on Asimov's inner thoughts at the end of his life. Like ot ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Second Foundation
''Second Foundation'' is the third novel published of the ''Foundation'' Series by American writer Isaac Asimov, and the fifth in the in-universe chronology. It was first published in 1953 by Gnome Press. ''Second Foundation'' consists of two previously published novellas originally published in '' Astounding Magazine'' (with different titles) between 1948 and 1950, making this the third volume in Asimov's ''Foundation'' series. Decades later, Asimov wrote two further sequel novels and two prequels. Later writers have added authorized tales to the series. The ''Foundation'' series is often regarded as one of Isaac Asimov's best works, along with his ''Robot'' series. The term also describes the organization by that name which is the focus of the book. The organization's existence (and nothing more) had been revealed in ''Foundation''; it is searched for in '' Foundation and Empire'', and it makes brief appearances in this novel. It would not be described in detail until '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Psychohistory (fictional)
Psychohistory is a fictional science in Isaac Asimov's ''Foundation'' universe which combines history, sociology, and mathematical statistics to make general predictions about the future behavior of very large groups of people, such as the Galactic Empire. It was first introduced in the four short stories (1942–1944) which would later be collected as the 1951 novel '' Foundation''. In-universe Axioms Psychohistory depends on the idea that, while one cannot foresee the actions of a particular individual, the laws of statistics as applied to large groups of people could predict the general flow of future events. Asimov used the analogy of a gas: An observer has great difficulty in predicting the motion of a single molecule in a gas, but with the kinetic theory can predict the mass action of the gas to a high level of accuracy. Asimov applied this concept to the population of his fictional Galactic Empire, which numbered one quintillion. The character responsible for the scie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Foundation And Empire
''Foundation and Empire'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Isaac Asimov originally published by Gnome Press in 1952. It is the second book in the ''Foundation'' Series, and the fourth in the in-universe chronology. It takes place in two parts, originally published as separate novellas. The second part, "The Mule," won a Retro Hugo Award in 1996. ''Foundation and Empire'' saw multiple publications—it also appeared in 1955 as Ace Double (but not actually paired with another book) D-125 under the title ''The Man Who Upset the Universe''. The stories comprising this volume were originally published in ''Astounding Magazine'' (with different titles) in 1945. ''Foundation and Empire'' was the second book in the Foundation trilogy. Decades later, Asimov wrote two further sequel novels and two prequels. Later writers have added authorized, and unauthorized, tales to the series. Plot summary The General The first half of the book, titled "The General," focuses on Genera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Galactic Empire (Asimov)
The Galactic Empire is an interstellar empire featured in Isaac Asimov's ''Robot'', '' Galactic Empire'', and '' Foundation'' series. The Empire is spread across the Milky Way galaxy and consists of almost 25 million planets settled exclusively by humans. For over 12 millennia the seat of imperial authority was located on the ecumenopolis of Trantor, whose population exceeded 40 billion, until it was sacked in the year 12,328. The official symbol of the empire is the Spaceship-and-Sun. Cleon II was the last Emperor to hold significant authority. The fall of the empire, modelled on the fall of the Roman Empire, is the subject of many of Asimov's novels. Background Asimov created the fictional Galactic Empire in the early 1940s based upon the Roman Empire, as a proposal to John W. Campbell, after reading Edward Gibbon's ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'' when he was working at the Philadelphia Navy Yard with Robert Heinlein. The concept evolved throu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Foundation (Asimov Novel)
''Foundation'' is a science fiction novel by American writer Isaac Asimov. It is the first published in his ''Foundation Trilogy'' (later expanded into the ''Foundation'' series). ''Foundation'' is a cycle of five interrelated short stories, first published as a single book by Gnome Press in 1951. Collectively they tell the early story of the Foundation, an institute founded by psychohistorian Hari Seldon to preserve the best of galactic civilization after the collapse of the Galactic Empire. Origin and early publication history Four of the five stories had been earlier published in ''Astounding Science Fiction'' between 1942 and 1944 under different titles. A fifth part, the first in fictional chronology, was added for the 1951 Gnome Press edition. The original four stories also appeared in 1955 as part of Ace's double novel series as D-110 under the title ''The 1,000-Year Plan''. Two further books, each consisting of two novellas, were published shortly after and the thr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Milky Way
The Milky Way is the galaxy that includes our Solar System, with the name describing the galaxy's appearance from Earth: a hazy band of light seen in the night sky formed from stars that cannot be individually distinguished by the naked eye. The term ''Milky Way'' is a translation of the Latin ', from the Greek ('), meaning "milky circle". From Earth, the Milky Way appears as a band because its disk-shaped structure is viewed from within. Galileo Galilei first resolved the band of light into individual stars with his telescope in 1610. Until the early 1920s, most astronomers thought that the Milky Way contained all the stars in the Universe. Following the 1920 Great Debate between the astronomers Harlow Shapley and Heber Curtis, observations by Edwin Hubble showed that the Milky Way is just one of many galaxies. The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy with an estimated D25 isophotal diameter of , but only about 1,000 light years thick at the spiral arms (more at the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics with the major subdisciplines of number theory, algebra, geometry, and analysis, respectively. There is no general consensus among mathematicians about a common definition for their academic discipline. Most mathematical activity involves the discovery of properties of abstract objects and the use of pure reason to prove them. These objects consist of either abstractions from nature orin modern mathematicsentities that are stipulated to have certain properties, called axioms. A ''proof'' consists of a succession of applications of deductive rules to already established results. These results include previously proved theorems, axioms, andin case of abstraction from naturesome basic properties that are considered true starting poin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mass Action (sociology)
Mass action in sociology refers to the situations where numerous people behave simultaneously in a similar way but individually and without coordination. For example, at any given moment, many thousands of people are shopping - without any coordination between themselves, they are nonetheless performing the same mass action. Another, more complicated example would be one based on a work of 19th-century German sociologist Max Weber, ''The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism'': Weber wrote that capitalism evolved when the Protestant ethic influenced large number of people to create their own enterprises and engage in trade and gathering of wealth. In other words, the Protestant ethic was a force behind an unplanned and uncoordinated mass action that led to the development of capitalism. A bank run is mass action with sweeping implications. Upon hearing news of a bank's anticipated insolvency, many bank depositors may simultaneously rush down to a bank branch to withdraw th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon (; 8 May 173716 January 1794) was an English historian, writer, and member of parliament. His most important work, '' The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788, is known for the quality and irony of its prose, its use of primary sources, and its polemical criticism of organised religion. Early life: 1737–1752 Edward Gibbon was born in 1737, the son of Edward and Judith Gibbon at Lime Grove, in the town of Putney, Surrey. He had six siblings, five brothers and one sister, all of whom died in infancy. His grandfather, also named Edward, had lost his assets as a result of the South Sea bubble stock-market collapse in 1720 but eventually regained much of his wealth. Gibbon's father was thus able to inherit a substantial estate. One of his grandmothers, Catherine Acton, descended from Sir Walter Acton, 2nd Baronet. As a youth, Gibbon's health was under constant threat. He described himself as " ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dark Ages (historiography)
The ''Dark Ages'' is a term for the Early Middle Ages, or occasionally the entire Middle Ages, in Western Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire that characterises it as marked by economic, intellectual and cultural decline. The concept of a "Dark Age" originated in the 1330s with the Italian scholar Petrarch, who regarded the post-Roman centuries as "dark" compared to the "light" of classical antiquity.. Reprinted from: The term employs traditional light-versus-darkness imagery to contrast the era's "darkness" (ignorance and error) with earlier and later periods of "light" (knowledge and understanding). The phrase ''Dark Age'' itself derives from the Latin '' saeculum obscurum'', originally applied by Caesar Baronius in 1602 when he referred to a tumultuous period in the 10th and 11th centuries. The concept thus came to characterize the entire Middle Ages as a time of intellectual darkness in Europe between the fall of Rome and the Renaissance that became espec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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