Foundation and Earth

Isaac Asimov's final installment, chronologically, in the Foundation series was, in our opinion, an unnecessary addition. Whereas Foundation's Edge at least featured real or at least exciting conflicts with multiple perspectives as the narrative shifted focus to different protagonists, Foundation and Earth focuses entirely on Golan Trevize, Pelorat, and Bliss on their quest for Earth. It is, more or less, a direct sequel to the previous novel without much change in the timeline of the projected 1,000 years predicted by Hari Seldon. Of course, as the great novel that sought to connect the Robots series and Foundation universe, the fusion is far from seamless. It didn't necessarily make much sense that the Galactic Empire would have, for the most part, completely forgotten the history of robotics. Nor does the reader find much excitement here. This dialogue-heavy novel is mostly centered on specific stops the trio make before finally reaching Earth and a certain character from the Robots novels. 

However, the novel's frequent digressions on which path from the previous novel is the best path forward for humanity contains occasionally interesting references to the history of space colonization and the Foundation universe. Unfortunately, much of it seems to revolve around the same recurring doubts of Trevize and a quickly irritating personal disagreement between Bliss/Gaia and Trevize. Their constant bickering does not make for entertaining reading. Nor was the ultimate "revelation" about the force behind Gaia and psychohistory really logical, although Trevize raising the possibility of intelligent life in other galaxies was interesting. Indeed, in End of Eternity, we know that had humans never developed interstellar travel, another species would have done it and humanity eventually went extinct. However, in this version of human history, without Eternity, there is no confirmation of alien life. The novel's final scene hints at possible "aliens from within" (perhaps Follom and the people of Solaria), so maybe Galaxia seems the best solution for preventing humanity from extinguishing itself. 

So, the necessity of Gaia or a collective consciousness in a superorganism becomes strategic for planning the Galaxy's defense against possible outside forces. Sure, one can say, Galaxia becomes more attractive than a Second Galactic Empire, when seen in that light. And the various "Isolated" planets and lost Spacer settlements seem to offer additional evidence of the danger of too much isolation and individuality. But it never quite struck us why humanity would have to submit to a collective consciousness when a Second Empire that combined the best of the First and Second Foundations could have led to a rational Galactic state encompassing advances in mentalics and technology. Nor do many of the obstacles faced by Trevize and company actually strike us as compelling or threatening. Moss and feral dogs on two deserted Spacer planets are hardly interesting, and the novel's episode on Solaria, while another interesting link between the Robots and Foundation series, does not suffice. 

All things considered, Asimov should have either left the series alone or at least written a shorter adventure tale that did a better job clarifying the future history of the Galaxy. Perhaps less obsession with backsides of female characters and, maybe, juggling between protagonists to illustrate what is going on with the galaxy, would have created a more effective narrative. Sure, it was interesting to see Solaria develop into a society of hermaphrodites who view others as only half-humans, and the "primitives" on Alpha provided an occasionally interesting example of both "primitiveness" and technological advancement in their own form of unhealthy isolation. Clearly, Asimov envisioned the future of humanity lay in further association and union, yet one cannot comprehend exactly why Galaxia and the vision of humanity's future informed by ancient robots is the best direction for ensuring humanity's future. Nor does anyone consider the ethics of fusing a human child's brain with that of the decaying robot?

The Caves of Steel

Asimov's The Caves of Steel is a somewhat predictable murder mystery set in a future overpopulated Earth. The New York City of this novel is one of many Cities, vast urban expanses where most of humanity lives entirely regimented and strictly controlled lives in order to centralize production and consumption. The overpopulated Earth has created a new reigning ideology (civism) after a disastrous war with the Spacers, the descendants of human colonists who live on other planets. Unlike our protagonist Elijah Baley and the people of Earth, the Spacers live in underpopulated societies which protect individualism. However, the future of the human race is imperiled by the fragility of the overpopulated Earth, whose political and economic systems could collapse at any moment. Like the human homeworld, the colonies of the Spacers are seen as too stable and lacking the kinds of social cohesion and desire to expand colonization of the Galaxy. 

However, a fusion of the two types of human civilization, along with robot technology and labor (represented by C/Fe, a union of carbon and iron to symbolize human and robot society) could ensure the fate of humanity by expanding colonization through Earth emigration and issuing new social formations that combine elements of the corporate social bonds and solidarity of Earth with robots and pioneer spirit of the Spacers. Unfortunately for the long-held dreams of some Spacers, the murder of a prominent Spacer threatens this future. A human detective who shares the Earthmen's disdain for robots finds himself forced to solve the crime with the aid of an advanced (and humanoid) robot detective, Daneel Olivaw. The case takes our heroes across the vast sprawl of the City, its discontented Earthmen, the conspiracies of Medievalists (those who are calling for a return to the soil and ways of life that are closer to the 20th century than the dystopic future), and the prejudices and beliefs of Baley himself. 

While the ultimate mystery of who killed Dr. Sarton is, after a few plot twists, somewhat predictable, the tale of this overpopulated New York and the problematic fate of humanity reminds us at the blog of the then-current Cold War. The conflict between Spacers and Earthlings and their divergent ideologies almost sounds like Cold War conflicts between the US and the USSR. That a possible solution to the great problems of modernity could be found in a synthesis of the two civilizations may have appealed to writers like Asimov, who, as a rationalist, may have seen the path forward with both the embrace of reason, technology, and communalist aspirations, and a binding ethical vision. That could explain the numerous references to the Bible throughout the text, especially Elijah, Jezebel, and Jesus Christ.

R.U.R.

Perhaps like many young people, I was first exposed to Karel Čapek through an episode of Futurama. In the Futurama episode inspired by R.U.R. the robots are not synthetic humans manufactured in a factory, but the episode embedded the name Čapek into my mind. Finally, several years later, and on a whim, I read the short play which introduced the word robot to science fiction. The story seems to borrow elements from Island of Dr. Moreau (island setting where questionable experiments are conducted by a dangerous scientist) to offer a warning of the dangers of progress, industrialization, and exploitation. Written in 1920, the recent memory of World War I and the Russian Revolution surely influenced this, as the belief in boundless progress and further technological advances led to horrific wars, social unrest, and loss of life. 

Intriguingly, a Soviet film adaptation of Čapek's play exists, which presumably highlights the theme of alienation and exploitation of the proletariat. Helena's husband, Domin, does seem to have genuinely good intentions through the use of robots to alleviate the labor burdens on the working-class, but R.U.R., like the bourgeoisie, had also planned to turn robots against each other through the creation of "national robots." Thus, the manufacturer of robots was plotting to exploit the labor of beings and, through the exploitation of race and nationality, turn them against each other to prevent rebellion. By the end of the play, the robot revolution is at the doors of the R.U.R. factory, and the extinction of humanity is all but ensured. Yet, in the epilogue, despite never learning the formula to manufacture additional robots, two robots have managed to develop emotion, particularly love. Thus, in spite of humanity's misguided belief in progress and elimination of the need for humans' labor, there is a glimmer of hope among the robots for life to continue (Adam and Eve, or Helena and Primus).

Of course, R.U.R. is not quite great writing. It's interesting as a testament of its era of science fiction. It possesses an assured position in the annals of science fiction for the word robot. But subsequent writers have done a much better job with the themes of robot revolt or human-like sentient synthetic beings. Philip K. Dick, for example, did a better job at it. One cannot forget the plethora of science fiction films and TV that became hits in recent memory, either. Still, one owes a great debt to Karel Čapek for his use of the idea and the term robot, a great gift to the world of science fiction.