Space Cowboy Rides Again
I talked about Edgar Rice Burroughs and his influence on my reading habits. He was the first author to grab my imagination but certainly not the last nor most influential. The next big influence on my reading habits was Isaac Asimov. I remember someone reading his Foundation trilogy my 8th grade year and recommending him as someone I would like to read. My first trip through the Foundation trilogy opened the door to a science future that I have never looked back from.
Hari Seldon became a character that symbolized the triumph of sciences. He used mathematics, sociology, history, psychology, and other disciplines to put together a pathway to the future. He allowed us to see that things could not be hidden from us if we just spent enough time studying them. At least, you felt that way after reading about his Foundations. Granted it was fiction, but to a young impressionable mind, it was the portal to the next level of consciousness. Science would triumph and be able to save mankind from his own destructive power if you just kept focused on what was of real value. Hence, we ended up with psychohistory and a way to predict the future.
This was the beginning of my questioning the existence of God. If mankind was so great, why did we need God to solve anything? We could just delve into our bag of knowledge and pull out what ever we needed to eliminate the issue. Chalk it up to the naivety of a teenager or just plain immaturity but that level of blindness is kept for the truly dense.
The story of the Foundations and the subsequent books are very well written. Asimov is great at mysteries and puts two Foundations on opposing ends of the galaxy. You know where one of them is but are challenged and misled throughout a most of the three books to discover the location of the 2nd Foundation. He does as well in the additions to the trilogy with the mystery of who was behind the rise of Hari Seldon and the discovery of psychohistory. He was actually the first author I’ve read to present a whole future through a series of books. What a pioneer. Sadly, he died from complications of AIDS. He received it through a tainted blood supply. A great loss but he left quite the legacy in his written words.
Icool
Cobb
Hari Seldon became a character that symbolized the triumph of sciences. He used mathematics, sociology, history, psychology, and other disciplines to put together a pathway to the future. He allowed us to see that things could not be hidden from us if we just spent enough time studying them. At least, you felt that way after reading about his Foundations. Granted it was fiction, but to a young impressionable mind, it was the portal to the next level of consciousness. Science would triumph and be able to save mankind from his own destructive power if you just kept focused on what was of real value. Hence, we ended up with psychohistory and a way to predict the future.
This was the beginning of my questioning the existence of God. If mankind was so great, why did we need God to solve anything? We could just delve into our bag of knowledge and pull out what ever we needed to eliminate the issue. Chalk it up to the naivety of a teenager or just plain immaturity but that level of blindness is kept for the truly dense.
The story of the Foundations and the subsequent books are very well written. Asimov is great at mysteries and puts two Foundations on opposing ends of the galaxy. You know where one of them is but are challenged and misled throughout a most of the three books to discover the location of the 2nd Foundation. He does as well in the additions to the trilogy with the mystery of who was behind the rise of Hari Seldon and the discovery of psychohistory. He was actually the first author I’ve read to present a whole future through a series of books. What a pioneer. Sadly, he died from complications of AIDS. He received it through a tainted blood supply. A great loss but he left quite the legacy in his written words.
Icool
Cobb
posted by Cobb at
8:04 AM
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