I'm finally reading the Foundation Trilogy by Isaac Asimov. It's something that I've been meaning to do for about 20 years, and I suppose that it was worth the wait. I'm not far into it, but I find its premise to be deeply disturbing, for it harnesses the optimism of post World War II technocratic determinism and projects it onto a future of the entire galaxy. The anachronisms are amusing and annoying--the gender imbalance, the cigar smoking, print newspapers....
Yet, I can appreciate the vision. The Freudian inevitability of human destruction and social collapse, the conversion of science and technology into magic, and the wisdom/madness of crowds. Ultimately, I think Asimov is a bit optimistic.
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