Asimov's Foundation: In Pursuit of History

The Foundation Trilogy was a series of books written right after the Second World War. In Asimov's distant galactic future of humanity, he envisaged a crumbling empire like the civilizations of the Ancient Romans. But by jumping into the future, he also explored ideas that really refer back to our past and our cyclical relationship with History. Internal power struggles, corrupted ideals, the breakdown of trade and commerce with the outskirt planets, the death of technological and cultural advancements, overpopulation, all of our vices slowly creep in and take their toll on the failing empire. These aren't new problems, these pitfalls have existed for generations, in our past, our present, and in our far-flung future. And through the ideas of psychohistory and statistics, Asimov's three Foundation Books highlight our short-sightedness in predicting our own nature and the nature of our fragile civilizations. #videoessay #Foundation #Asimov Featured cover print artists: Michael Whel