Books, Brochures, and Chapters>Book: Asimov, Isaac (2004-08-31), Foundation and Earth, Spectra, Retrieved on 2011-05-28
Folksonomies: science fiction gaia Memes
28 MAY 2011
Perspectives on Gaia
TREVIZE WAS surrounded by the tameness of Gaia. The temperature, as always, was comfortable, and the air moved pleasantly, refreshing but not chilling. Clouds drifted across the sky, interrupting the sunlight now and then, and, no doubt, if the water vapor level per meter of open land surface dropped sufficiently in this place or that, there would be enough rain to restore it.
The trees grew in regular spacings, like an orchard, and did so, no doubt, all over the world. The land and sea were...Folksonomies: gaia gaia hypothesis
Folksonomies: gaia gaia hypothesis
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notes
notesSelections from "Foundation and Earth" on the fictional world Gaia, which is a more concrete example of Lovelock's almost metaphorical description of Earth as a living being.
28 MAY 2011
Foundation is Based on Faith and Superstition
"I neither admire nor condemn. Superstition always directs action in the absence of knowledge. The Foundation believes in the Seldon Plan, though no one in our realm can understand it, interpret its details, or use it to predict. We follow blindly out of ignorance and faith, and isn't that superstition?"
[...]
"I'm not at all sure of that. The point is, though, that we don't know how psychohistory works at all."
"I don't know how that computer works, but I know it works."
"That's because ... 1 notes
notesThe contradictory nature of Foundation: a planet founded on scientific principles meant to rebuild the empire in an enlightened form, but also dependent on a science that no one knows anything about and a plan that cannot be independently verified.
28 MAY 2011
Humans Have to Keep the World Going
Pelorat said, "You know what that reminds me of? -Pardon me, Bliss, for interrupting, but it so fits that I can't resist telling you right now before I forget. There's an old creation myth I once came across; a myth in which life was formed on a planet and consisted of only a limited assortment of species, just those useful to or pleasant for humanity. The first human beings then did something silly-never mind what, old fellow, because those old myths are usually symbolic and only confusing i... 1 notes
notesAfter they remove the natural components they dislike but that also kept the natural system in balance.
28 MAY 2011
The Zeroeth Law of Robotics
"Just before Giskard's end, he conceived of a robotic law that superseded even the first. We called it the 'Zeroth Law' out of an inability to think of any other name that made sense. The Zeroth Law is: `A robot may not injure humanity or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.' This automatically means that the First Law must be modified to be: 'A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm, except where that would conflict with th... 1 notes
notesA robot may not injure humanity or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.
28 MAY 2011
Can a Machine Die?
"Die? Can a machine die?"
"I can cease to exist, sir. Call it by whatever word you wish. I am old. Not one sentient being in the Galaxy that was alive when I was first given consciousness is still alive today; nothing organic; nothing robotic. Even I myself lack continuity."
"In what way?"
"There is no physical part of my body, sir, that has escaped replacement, not only once but many times. Even my positronic brain has been replaced on five different occasions. Each time the contents of m... 1 notes
notesNot in the sense in which humans die, but a machine will eventually become so overwhelmed with ideas that it will cease to function through indecision.
28 MAY 2011
With Warm-Bloodedness Comes Freedom
Pelorat said, "Tortoises are cold-blooded. Terminus doesn't have any, but some worlds do. They are shelled creatures, very slow-moving but long-living.”
"Well, then, isn't it better to be a human being than a tortoise; to move quickly whatever the temperature, rather than slowly? Isn't it better to support high-energy activities, quickly contracting muscles, quickly working nerve fibers, intense and long-sustained thought-than to creep slowly, and sense gradually, and have only a blurred awa...
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1 ...but it is costly, requiring much more fuel.
28 MAY 2011
The Thrill of Landing on a New Planet
To ANYONE who has been in space and experienced its changelessness, the real excitement of space flight comes when it is time to land on a new planet. The ground speeds backward under you as you catch glimpses of land and water, of geometrical areas and lines that might represent fields and roads. You become aware of the green of growing things, the gray of concrete, the brown of bare ground, the white of snow. Most of all, there is the excitement of populated conglomerates; cities which, on ...Folksonomies: space travel adventuring
Folksonomies: space travel adventuring
Each planet has its own distinct characteristics that are a welcome sight after spending a long time in the abyss of space.
