Well, I enjoyed them at the time, but I'm not sure I'd recommend them to anyone now ... especially the particular books I'm thinking of, which are the ones where he tries to link the Robot novels and the Foundation novels.
Basically, at the Robot end (which is a near-future setting), two robots, one of which is R. Daneel Olivaw, extrapolate the idea of a "zeroth law" that supersedes the other three laws of robotics: no robot may harm humanity or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm. They further decide the the current political situation, which is basically Earth plus a few colonies, is a recipe for stagnation and eventual extinction, and as a solution they start a chain reaction that will irradiate the surface of the Earth -- slowly, giving humanity time to leave -- which will force an expansion throughout the galaxy.
CUT TO: umpteen thousand years later, after the galactic empire has been established, flourished, and fallen, and representatives of the Foundation decide to start searching for the mythical planet of Earth, the location of which has long since been lost. After a long voyage, during which they stop off at various locations featured in other Asimov novels, they arrive at Earth, which is still radioactive. They then have a look at the moon, where who should they find but R. Daneel Olivaw, who has been guiding the galactic Empire, and later the formation of the Foundation, and is even now preparing the next stage of human society, which is to turn it into a galactic super-organism on the grounds that it will be much easier to decide what will harm humanity (or not) if humanity is all one thing.
Anyway, I think the final cylon is going to be revealed to be, like Olivaw, guiding all the events that we've seen in the course of the series. Or a lot of them, at any rate. I do not think the series will end with humans and cylons entering a state of telepathic transcendence and one-ness, but you never know.
Basically, at the Robot end (which is a near-future setting), two robots, one of which is R. Daneel Olivaw, extrapolate the idea of a "zeroth law" that supersedes the other three laws of robotics: no robot may harm humanity or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm. They further decide the the current political situation, which is basically Earth plus a few colonies, is a recipe for stagnation and eventual extinction, and as a solution they start a chain reaction that will irradiate the surface of the Earth -- slowly, giving humanity time to leave -- which will force an expansion throughout the galaxy.
CUT TO: umpteen thousand years later, after the galactic empire has been established, flourished, and fallen, and representatives of the Foundation decide to start searching for the mythical planet of Earth, the location of which has long since been lost. After a long voyage, during which they stop off at various locations featured in other Asimov novels, they arrive at Earth, which is still radioactive. They then have a look at the moon, where who should they find but R. Daneel Olivaw, who has been guiding the galactic Empire, and later the formation of the Foundation, and is even now preparing the next stage of human society, which is to turn it into a galactic super-organism on the grounds that it will be much easier to decide what will harm humanity (or not) if humanity is all one thing.
Anyway, I think the final cylon is going to be revealed to be, like Olivaw, guiding all the events that we've seen in the course of the series. Or a lot of them, at any rate. I do not think the series will end with humans and cylons entering a state of telepathic transcendence and one-ness, but you never know.
Reply
-- tom
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment