The Foundation Revisitation Is Meeting WIth Complication

Only In America! *removes Don King wig* Enough of that! In June I did a post relating how I reread Foundation for the first time in several years. Well, at the same bookstore I found The Bridge Over The River Kwai, I also found a copy of Second Foundation*, and I polished that off last night. Second Foundation actually comes after Foundation and Empire, but I know what I need to from that book to be able to read this one, so it wasn't an issue**. {Beyond this point is both possible spoilers for the book, and considerable ranting}

At this point the Foundation has been conquered by a powerful mutant who calls himself the Mule. He's an empath, but also able to manipulate people's minds, make them loyal to them, in such a way they don't really question it. At the start of the book, he's ceased his conquering for the last five years as he searches for a Second Foundation, which Hari Seldon (who established both Foundations) only alluded to once. No one knows who these Second Foundationers are, or if they exist, except that the Mule can perceive that some of his advisors have been subtly (not subtly enough, though) altered, to make them less inspiried, lacking of something. So he is understandably concerned. The first half of the book deals with his attempts to find the Second Foundation, and his eventual defeat, though it doesn't lead to the complete collapse of him or his empire, interestingly enough.

The second half of the book comes 50 years later, as certain members of the First Foundation begin a dedicated hunt for the Second. They don't like the idea that there's a shadowy organization out there which can manipulate their actions, and thus they resolve to find the Second Foundation and do something about it. Into this falls one of the conspirators' daughter, Arcadia Darell, who decides it would be a great adventure for her to tag along and try and help. So she does, and ultimately she discovers the location of the Second Foundation! Or not.

I mentioned it in my discussion of Foundation, how some of the main characters are not the most moral people, and that their actions are borne of less than noble desires, like greed. Well, the motives are somewhat different, but no less noble. The Mule and the First Foundationers are both driven by fear of this mysterious group of mind manipulators. I get that. I like having a sense that my choices are my own, and if I learned there were people out there manipulating me without my consent, I would probably want to find some way to stop them.

The Second Foundation is driven by survival instinct, which comes from a self-importance they have. Really, Second Foundationers are religious fanatics, except they pray to math. They have their precious Seldon Plan, which they intend to see through to the end, and they are the only ones who can, so by Space, they must survive! And if that means there have to be sacrifices, then there will be sacrifices. When its members of the Second Foundation allowing themselves to be captured, so the First Foundation thinks they've succeeded in their hunt, well that's not so bad, though I note the high up muckety-mucks are not the ones on the chopping block. When the Second Foundation also deems it acceptable, as part of a trap for the Mule, to convince him a planet called Tazenda is their base, and the Mule goes Scorched Earth on it with his military, and they're prepared to let him destroy another world, and wage a battle against the sections of his forces he left at home, which they will have freed from his control, all of which would add up to a lot of deaths***, I'm less enthused. Sure, they see the Mule as having caused a divergence from the Plan (When really he's just being less subtle about his using his pwoers to consolidate territory under one banner than they were), and the Plan must be preserved, but it's rather presumptiuous of them to decide, "Eh, it's OK if everyone on these planets die, because it'll get the PLAN back on track!". Oh the Plan! Perhaps I should genuflect when I say that.

Then we learn near the end that they've had one character as a sleeper agent of sorts, since their birth. Namely, they modified this character's brain when they were still an infant, so they would be more likely**** to react in ways beneficial to the Second Foundation's strategies. And it's hunky-dory because a) it helps maintain the Plan, and b) well, it gave them a precious and intelligent personality (the First Speaker's own words). Well I guess it's just the swellest thing ever then. Rereading that admission last night, the first thing I was reminded of was the Geldoff character from Ultimate Spider-Man, who had been the subject of genetic manipulation while still in the womb. It was done because it suited some person's purposes to do so, and if it just so happened to help Geldoff be popular with people, well, whatever, the manipulator doesn't give a damn. As Xavier explains it to Spider-Man, it's presented as a troubling thing, not a good thing, and here we've got these guys, who are ostensibly protectors of civilization or something, doing the same damn thing. Makes it hard for me to think the Foundation is any sort of a positive force, all these actions that are excused under the auspices of being for the greater good*****.

It also occured to me, while trying to arrange my thoughts on the book, that to the individual, it probably doesn't matter one way or the other whether the Seldon Plan succeeds or fails. There will be people living in opulence, and others in squalor, either way, so what the hell does it matter. Yes, they avoid 30,000 years of anarchy, cutting it to only a thousand, but that's on a galactic scale, since the end of that time is marked by the rise of the Second Galactic Empire. On a planetary or citywide scale, does that really matter. The underpinnings of one's life might change, if there's a shift from one energy source or standard of currency to another, but life is going to continue. How much does being part of an Empire that spans a galaxy really matter to most people? And who says the Second Galactic Empire will be a good one? All we ever know is the Foundation is designed to bring about its rise in a shorter time frame, but nobody ever discusses what sort of Empire it will be, or what will happen in the time after its ascent.

You know, I didn't have all these cynical thoughts when I read the book the first time. I'm not sure whether that's better or worse.

*Total cost for the two paperbacks: $6 dollars. Love those used bookstores.

** Also, Asimov is nice enough to give you the gist of the relevant things that happened before the book started through the course of the story.

*** The latter two don't come to pass, but they were factored in as possibilities, and deemed acceptable.

**** Because it's all about probabilities with the Plan, trying to manipulate events so the outcome you desire has the highest possible porbability, then ensuring it comes to pass.

***** I'm reminded of an issue of GrimJack from the Trade Wars story arc, where Mayfair justifies his actions with that phrase and Gaunt replies that everytime someone says 'Greater good', he hears 'Personal gain', which is certainly true of Mayfair, and probably true of these Second Foundationers, who have learned to manipulate others mentally, and hoard the skill for themselves, keeping themselves above the rest of the galaxy, which is just a mass of people to be manipulated as they see fit.