Isaac Asimov's Foundation Explained In FIVE Minutes! (Some Spoilers)

Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Series was the first-ever science fiction series to contain a full-fledged galactic empire. The entire series involves the centuries-long plan of a man known as Hari Seldon, to restore the human galactic empire after a great crash that led to a dark age. Hari Seldon was able to predict the fall of the first galactic empire by use of a form of mathematics known as psychohistory, which was able to predict human behavior overtime at mass.

Essentially the empire fell due to the capital planet, Trantor's inability to adequately handle the bureaucratic and administrative demands of such a large empire, containing 25 Million worlds. Hari Seldon’s Solution would ultimately prove to be extremely complicated and multifaceted, but it is presented initially as the creation of the Foundation. The Foundation would be founded on the distant world of Terminus and would have an encyclopedist whose job was to record all human knowledge in the universe inside the Encyclopedia Galactica. Thousands of humans would devote themselves to the project in an effort to preserve the knowledge of all mankind in the hope that doing so they could shorten the interregnum which would follow the collapse of the empire.

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[janentomenkafka]

I read Asimov's Foundation trilogy ages ago, in my early twenties (I am in my late sixties now). I lost a lot of sleep, too eager to read just one more chapter before going to bed. Ten years later I was amazed when I found a book "Foundations of psychohistory". It had nothing to do with Asimov. Asimov was not only one of the greatest scifi writers, he actually predicted a real science that researches the effects of mass psychology and sociology on the evolution of society.

[chrisw]

Asimov was so great at writing novellas and short stories that would circle back to a planned shared world. It’s genius writing and way ahead of his time.

[HZeshka]

Reading this series was such a good experience. I was never able to read books with such enthusiasm until I started reading the Foundation series

[SuperChaoticus]

I read the whole series once every ten years, since I first read it in my teens. My 5th journey through the series is coming up soon, and I can't wait. These books are a true work of art.

[nicholasforrester]

I'm 60 years old and I grew up with my mom always reading sci-fi. The Foundation series is one of her favorites. She's 76 now and I don't think I have ever met anyone who's a fan of the Foundation series. I am going to get her to look at your channel. I know she's going to love it. She also loved the stainless steel rat. I am sure you are aware of it. Maybe a video on that would be great. Thanks 😊

[emkkahn]

I can remember coming home from work at a science lab on a Friday to a stack of paperback books by Issac Asimov which were already aged at the time....
This was in the early 1980s... No internet and no cell phones...
Fantastic. A weekend full of adventure and ideas....

[frglee]

I read a vast amount of scifi as a kid in the 60s and 70s, and Asimov's stories were some of the very best. The BBC also did a very enjoyable (and long!) radio adaptation of the Foundation stories in the 1970s.

[PS-itdm]

In many of the more relaxed civilizations on the Outer Eastern Rim of the Galaxy, the Hitchhiker’s Guide has already supplanted the great Encyclopaedia Galactica as the standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom, for though it has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate, it scores over the older, more pedestrian work in two important respects. First, it is slightly cheaper; and second, it has the words "DON'T PANIC" inscribed in large friendly letters on its cover.

[mackblack]

This series really has a special place in my heart. It was the first sci fi series I've finished completly.

[walteringle]

I feel that Asimov's greatest contribution is his non-fiction. He wrote hundreds of books on an insane variety of subjects in a way that made it accessible to people without a college degree. He literally educated the masses better than a lot of school systems at the time he wrote them.

I own copies of the first editions of the first two volumes of his autobiography. The man had his faults. OMG, he had his faults.

[goatface]

Asminov understood that “too big to fail actually means too big to manage.” The answer is decentralization.

[wadewest]

Commenter: I guess you could say Isaac Asimov laid the FOUNDATION for modern science fiction!
*Scrolls through comments and realizes 5784 commenters made the same pun*

[garypuckering]

Correction at 0:25. Both the Foundation series (by Isaac Asimov) and the Lensman series (by EE Smith) were in the running for all-time best sci fi series Hugo award in 1966. Foundation won. Both laid out a vast galactic empire.

Foundation was first published as a series of short stories and novellas in 1942–50. But the initial Lensman series (Galactic Patrol, Gray Lensman, Second Stage Lensmen, and Children of the Lens) was published between 1937 and 1948 in the magazine Astounding Stories.

Therefore the honour of first series to showcase a “galactic empire” goes to Smith for his Lensman series.

[masquedebe]

I remember reading The Foundation Trilogy as an assignment for the non-credit class "The Sciences in Fiction". I love it! Later the other Foundation books came out and I didn't love them or many of the following yearly offerings from Asimov at that time. Those stories have aged well and I have discovered a new appreciation for his work. The original trilogy is on a different level but his other stories are very good to great (imo). It appears that there is definetly going to be at least one season (10 episodes) of "Foundation" based on Asimov's writtings. I'm elated that the current generation will be exposed to Asimov's stories. Who knows how a young girl or boy may be inspired and what that may lead to?

[originalhgc]

Thank you for this video. I first read the Foundation trilogy when I was about 12, in the mid-70's. I reread them again last year, and wow, are they ever great. Simple, yet so dense with possiblities to extrapolate your own ideas. I guess this is what people like Frank Herbert did.

[jackdeespadas]

A few months ago finished reading this series, with the Robot and Galactic Empire parts too. The extras give it depth, a feeling of "I was there". I recommend reading the whole thing, and for me was a greatly satisfying read. I think it lives the fame it has, no doubt.

[wtk]

Foundation is my favorite sci-fi work, but the most fun thing about Foundation is that, even though its a seminal mainstream science fiction classic, the story is plainly set in a space opera universe. As only one example, Asimov used a galactic empire, a concept created in the twenties by Edmond Hamilton (according to Asimov, his favorite writer in his youth). Also, the cars, guns, and general society use the concepts of space opera pulp stories by Hamilton, with a little Doc Smith, Henry Kuttner, and others thrown in as well. This makes the universe of Foundation instantly familiar to readers of pulps (or people who've seen movies like Star Wars that also draw from these pulps).

[Sinaimedve]

Quinn, your service to the scifi community is awesome. Thumbs up from the Kingdom of Hungary!

[keithspainjr]

This show has amazing Universe visuals.. Planets with foreign skies… Love it. There beautiful. ❤ I’m half way through Season one and am already looking forward for Season 2.

[mannyhoward]

Wow, just found your channel. It's a gold mine for SF fans. Great job dude.