# In Asimov's "Foundation" series did robots perform preemptive genocide of aliens to protect humans? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 11, 2014, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-asimovs-foundation-series-did-robots-perform-preemptive-genocide-of-aliens-to-protect-humans/704311 "2014-11-11T05:16:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-asimovs-foundation-series-did-robots-perform-preemptive-genocide-of-aliens-to-protect-humans/704311/1 "2014-11-11T05:16:03Z")
I’m trying to recall. In the Asimov’s Foundation series was a there reveal near the end that human protecting robots secretly killed everything in the galaxy that they thought might have competed with, or threatened, human beings? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-asimovs-foundation-series-did-robots-perform-preemptive-genocide-of-aliens-to-protect-humans/704311/2 "2014-11-11T05:32:12Z")
I don’t think Daneel et al. actually killed off aliens-- It’s implied that, through time-travel shenanigans, that they prevented them from ever arising to begin with. Except that they didn’t really succeed, as evidenced by the Solarians, who regardless of their origins are aliens in any meaningful sense. ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 6:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-asimovs-foundation-series-did-robots-perform-preemptive-genocide-of-aliens-to-protect-humans/704311/3 "2014-11-11T06:26:38Z")
I haven’t read any of the post-Asimov books, but in Foundation and Earth, it seems from R. Daneel Olivaw’s reactions to Golan Trevize’s “Zeroth Principal of Psychohistory” that no non-human (or human-derived) intelligences have ever been encountered by humans or human-created robots. The Solarians are indeed implied to be aliens for all intents and purposes, but were not thought of as such before the conclusion of that book. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-asimovs-foundation-series-did-robots-perform-preemptive-genocide-of-aliens-to-protect-humans/704311/4 "2014-11-11T06:34:58Z")
It is apparently something of an attempt to link the Foundation series and [The End of Eternity](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_End_of_Eternity), I believe. > [@](#): > > Asimov placed a hint in Foundation’s Edge, many years later, that the Eternals might have been responsible for the all-human galaxy (and the development of humanity on Earth) of the Foundation Series, but that interpretation is disputed. Asimov himself mentions the disparity.The human-like robots may have been intended to play a part. It is one of the loose ends that he may have planned to clean up, but died before doing so. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-asimovs-foundation-series-did-robots-perform-preemptive-genocide-of-aliens-to-protect-humans/704311/5 "2014-11-11T15:50:42Z")
You asked this question before, I think [Re Asimov's "Foundation-Empire" series was Daneel was killing alien civilizations to protect man? - Cafe Society - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=698449) As I wrote then: "In the authorized sequels by Brin, Benford and Bear, the robots spread through the galaxy ahead of the colonizing humans, destroying alien civilizations, and leaving planets ready for cultivation. The humans were manipulated by the robots such that no one thought much about the fact then whenever they got to a planet, they found that it was unoccupied, but ready for occupation. " ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-asimovs-foundation-series-did-robots-perform-preemptive-genocide-of-aliens-to-protect-humans/704311/6 "2014-11-11T18:19:02Z")
I tried to read the Brin, Benford, and Bear sequels, but couldn’t work my way through them. To me, it was too obvious the authors had too much of a thing for, um, Voltaire(?) and Joan of Arc. The stories were just too convoluted for me to follow. They did fill in a couple of blanks, though. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2014, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-asimovs-foundation-series-did-robots-perform-preemptive-genocide-of-aliens-to-protect-humans/704311/7 "2014-11-11T23:42:59Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#): > > I tried to read the Brin, Benford, and Bear sequels, but couldn’t work my way through them. To me, it was too obvious the authors had too much of a thing for, um, Voltaire(?) and Joan of Arc. The stories were just too convoluted for me to follow. They did fill in a couple of blanks, though. To be honest, the only one of the three I really liked was the Brin - Benford and Bear brought in too much of their own hobbyhorses (one of them used a previously written story, as I recall, with Seldon substituted in for the original protagonist), but Brin either had hobbyhorses that fit with Asimov’s or could fake it well. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2014, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/in-asimovs-foundation-series-did-robots-perform-preemptive-genocide-of-aliens-to-protect-humans/704311/8 "2014-11-12T01:44:47Z")
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