# Who has read Asminov's Foundation series (and is it a 'prequel' to WTC/ 9-11?) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 4, 2002, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-read-asminovs-foundation-series-and-is-it-a-prequel-to-wtc-9-11/112301 "2002-06-04T03:09:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2002, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-read-asminovs-foundation-series-and-is-it-a-prequel-to-wtc-9-11/112301/21 "2002-06-04T20:48:30Z")
I’m a little unclear about the OP: Are you asking if Osama bin Laden is using _Foundation_ is a blueprint for his activities? (If he is, he isn’t exactly following the book very… religiously.) Or are you asking if Asimov had precognitive abilities and wrote the books based on a premonition he had? Well, you ought to know that Isaac Asimov was as atheist as a man could be and did not believe in premonitions or precognition or any other sort of supernatural phenomena. (He once wrote of a dinner party in which he was required to sit next to Shirley Maclaine and said that listening to her babble on about reincarnation and whatnot was one of the most unpleasant experiences of his life.) And if the books WERE based on a premonition, it wasn’t a very good premonition, was it? So I guess there’s nothing to that article you read, just as there’s very little in ANY Fortean Times article. ---
**Author:** ![Hazel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Hazel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hazel)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2002, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-read-asminovs-foundation-series-and-is-it-a-prequel-to-wtc-9-11/112301/22 "2002-06-05T05:36:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Captain Amazing \* > \*\*The Foundation series, if it’s about any real life analogue, is about the fall of the Roman Empire. In the books, the Galactic Empire is falling apart, which Seldon is able to prove through a new mathematical theory of history which he has worked out. He therefore establishes a sort of Galactic library in the far corner of the Galaxy, with the goal of preserving the knowledge of the Empire to shorten the Dark Ages that will result. In reality, though, Seldon realizes that his foundation will become the seed of a new, revived empire, because it will keep the organization and science of the old Empire. So, if you had to make comparisons, the Galactic Empire is Ancient Rome, and the foundation is the Catholic church. \*\* AND, IIRC, Asimov stated that he got the idea for the story\* from reading Gibbon’s Decline & Fall of the Roman Empire. \*His original plan was for one story. The editor he pitched the idea to (John Campbell of Astounding) liked it so much he insisted it had to be a whole series of stories. Which eventully became three books. Which eventually became however many books it is by now. ---
**Author:** ![Neptune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b5a626/32.png) [@Neptune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptune)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2002, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-read-asminovs-foundation-series-and-is-it-a-prequel-to-wtc-9-11/112301/23 "2002-06-05T05:53:05Z")
Correct me if I’ve misinterpretted, but I think the important thing to realize is that the purpose of Seldon’s Foundation was to restore the Galactic to it’s former glory as quickly as possible. The Foundation was in favour of the Empire. Seldon predicts that the Empire will fall. There’s nothing he can do to stop it, but he can act as a guide to restoring it. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2002, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-read-asminovs-foundation-series-and-is-it-a-prequel-to-wtc-9-11/112301/24 "2002-06-05T13:06:23Z")
A subtle correction: Seldon was not for restoring the Empire. He was for creating something to take its place as a unifying force in the galaxy. ---
**Author:** ![Starbury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f04885/32.png) [@Starbury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starbury)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2002, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-read-asminovs-foundation-series-and-is-it-a-prequel-to-wtc-9-11/112301/25 "2002-06-05T16:04:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Tuckerfan \* > \*\*_Wired_ magazine a few years ago printed an article about a group of Western business men who supposedly have started a “Foundation” type organization for when Western civilization collapses. > \*\* That’s the **Long Now Foundation** , founded by Danny Hillis to maintain the Millenium clock (its not finished yet, they’re still working on a second prototype). The building that will house the clock will also have a big library attached to it. Some relevant quotes from the Foundation’s [website](http://www.longnow.org/about/about.htm): > [@](#): > > **Danny Hillis** : > > When I was a child, people used to talk about what would happen by the year 2000. For the next thirty years they kept talking about > what would happen by the year 2000, and now no one mentions a future date at all. The future has been shrinking by one year per year for my entire life. I think it is time for us to start a long-term project that gets people thinking past the mental barrier of an ever-shortening future. I would like to propose a large (think Stonehenge) mechanical clock, powered by seasonal temperature changes. It ticks once a year, bongs once a century, and the cuckoo comes out every millennium. > > * * * > > Long Now added a “Library” dimension with the realization of the need for content to go along with the long-term context provided by the Clock-a library of the deep future, for the deep future. In a sense every library is part of the 10,000-year Library, so Long Now is developing tools (such as the Rosetta Disk and the Long Server) that may provide inspiration and utility to the whole community of librarians and archivists. The Long Bets project-whose purpose is improving the quality of long-term thinking by making predictions accountable-is also Library-related. In Michael Lewis’ newest book, **next** , he has a chapter about the Foundation. Its definitely worth checking out if you’re interested in reading more about the group. ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2002, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-read-asminovs-foundation-series-and-is-it-a-prequel-to-wtc-9-11/112301/26 "2002-06-06T16:10:04Z")
Why do people insist on seeing conspiracies and prophecies everywhere? You could probably pick a dozen books out of the library and find “chilling” correlations to 9/11. It doesn’t mean anything. ---
**Author:** ![Tars\_Tarkas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Tars\_Tarkas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tars_Tarkas)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2002, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-read-asminovs-foundation-series-and-is-it-a-prequel-to-wtc-9-11/112301/27 "2002-06-06T16:58:19Z")
Oh no!!! _Ramona Quimby, Age 8_, has foreshadowings of 9-11!!! ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2002, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-read-asminovs-foundation-series-and-is-it-a-prequel-to-wtc-9-11/112301/28 "2002-06-06T23:20:22Z")
Recarding Hari Seldon: didn’t a simulacrum of him appear every few centuries, to give comfort and guidance? Exactly what was this “simulacrum”-was it a robot, a talking image? ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2002, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-read-asminovs-foundation-series-and-is-it-a-prequel-to-wtc-9-11/112301/29 "2002-06-07T00:47:00Z")
Asimov never completely described Seldon’s simulacrum, but it was (will be?) clearly a recording of some sort. It was probably what we would now call a hologram. ---
**Author:** ![jab1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ee7513/32.png) [@jab1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jab1)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2002, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-read-asminovs-foundation-series-and-is-it-a-prequel-to-wtc-9-11/112301/30 "2002-06-08T18:56:18Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by photopat \* > \*\*Why do people insist on seeing conspiracies and prophecies everywhere? You could probably pick a dozen books out of the library and find “chilling” correlations to 9/11. It doesn’t mean anything. \*\* Hey, I’ve heard that if you fold a $5 bill a certain way… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2002, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-read-asminovs-foundation-series-and-is-it-a-prequel-to-wtc-9-11/112301/31 "2002-06-09T00:22:28Z")
And another thread mentions that C.S. Lewis wrote a book in 1952 which had the date Sep 11 in it. Well that **proves** it was also part of the conspiracy. Clearly this elderly English Christian academic was really a Middle Eastern Muslim fanatic. :rolleyes: And he knew Tolkien well, who wrote the Two Towers, which is obviously a coded reference to the Twin Towers… :rolleyes: Incidentally, what pathetic theory lies behind all this stupid conspiracy cr\*p? Does it ‘prove’ that writers who put this date in their works are psychic? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-read-asminovs-foundation-series-and-is-it-a-prequel-to-wtc-9-11/112301.md?page=1)