Reviews from a Writer's Desk – Foundation

Foundation by Isaac Asimov

It is in my express opinion that reading is just as important to the writing art, as writing itself it. I strive to read as much as I can, being a reader of Analog Science Fiction and Fact and always reading a book. I recently finished Foundation by Isaac Asimov, and am currently reading A Game of Thrones by George R. R. Martin. All these are first time reads for me.

Going into Foundation, you could say that I had very high expectations. Asimov is one of my inspirations, having read many of his essays, also reading I, Robot, and hearing the rave reviews on top of that, it was something I was excited to read. But after reading it, and letting it sit in my mind, pondering it's story, I could not help but feel the reviews I had read were exaggerated. Grant it, it is one of the first space operas of science fiction, with a sweeping story that spanned many years in the novel. It was a story where there was not necessarily a grand hero, although one could argue that Hari Seldon was the hero and main character of the novel, but it is a novel of the people. Of politics, war, religion, and history. But what made this stand out to everyone? And why did this novel not stand out to me?

First, I looked into the history of the novel. Interestingly enough, it did not start as a novel. It started as short stories in Astounding Magazine, now known as Analog Science Fiction and Fact, and published between 1942 and 1944. It did not reach the form of a novel that we know now until 1951. The first story/part was published when he was about 23. It was also published in 1955 under the title The 1,000-Year Plan. So it is an over 50 year novel written by a 23 year old. I moved on with my thoughts.

Reflecting on the story, without releasing major spoilers, it definitely felt like a sweeping epic. It began with psychohistorians, a study that is touched on in the beginning, but not really explained. It was a topic I would have enjoyed to have learned more about. The characters we are introduced to where interesting: Hari Seldon, Gaal, and the Emperor who has his own impersonator. But just as I get used to these characters, that part ends. Another parts beings, with a whole new cast of characters, leaving behind the other characters, save for one. Get comfortable with them, and then that parts ends, and we get another new part with another new cast of characters. This repeats throughout the novel.

The theme changes throughout the novel as well. It begins with a fall of a civilization, then it switches to a political novel, following the politics of the scientific planet, Terminus. Then it becomes a novel of religion being used to take over and rule over the populous. Each part has its own feel and story to it, clearly showing the reading these were short stories tied together. Not a novel.

It was at that moment I realized that I was looking at this from the wrong perspective. I was looking at this as a novel, one story told throughout from start to finish. In reality, I should have looking at this as short stories taking place in one universe. Once I had that perspective, I then fell in agreement with the rest of the reviewers. This was a must read classic science fiction that all science fiction readers would enjoy.

But why? Why is this such a good novel? Ask any reader of Foundation and you will get a different answer from each and all are correct. These are my thoughts as to why it is so good. Generally, good triumphs over evil in all stories. Not so with Foundation. In here, it is the Galactic Empire, the good guys, that fall. It is the scientists, again the good guys, that need to reach a compromise with an attacking force. I enjoyed it because this is not your standard. This is one of the, if not the first, of space operas on a sweeping scale. It carries to a great degree the timeline and length of years stories. It does not follow the usual tropes of stories. And that is what makes it good in my eyes.

I recommend this novel, correction, short story collection to those that have gotten their feet wet and already enjoy science fiction. If this is your first science fiction read, it will be hard to read. On my scale of 0-9, I rate Foundation at a very strong 7. I definitely will be reading this novel again in the future.

The Sound of Silence

Earth as seen by the Mars Rover Spirit from the surface of the planet in 2004.

Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/Texas A&M

The following is a piece I wrote for a prompt called "Silence." Feel free to leave your thoughts, questions, and comments below!

~~~~~~

At Orfield Labs, in Minneapolis, there exists the world's most quiet room. With a sound level of -9 decibels, well below the average sound level of 30 decibels for "quiet rooms", you can easily hear your heartbeat, the stomach churning, even your own ears in it. Before the Mars One mission, the longest anyone could stay in there was around 45 minutes, before they started to suffer hallucinations. After the Mars One mission? 3 hours.

3 hours was the required amount one had to stay inside that room, both with and without lights, for a total of 6 hours. There was intense training involved in getting people who could last in that room for so long. Starting out with small intervals, and making their time spent longer and longer. One would say it was a cruel test, as noiselevels below 80 decibels cause hearing loss. But when you are setting up a colony on Mars, you need to make sure that no one will crack if there is any cause for the sound levels to reflect that of space. There will be constant fan noises being heard, with sound levels being at 50 decibels in sleeping areas and 60 decibels in working areas, almost exact to what NASA uses for their standard. But if there is any cause for these sounds to stop, you needed to be ready. With the first ever colonization mission off the planet of Earth, you need to be prepared for every angle.

None of this prepared Raphael for what it really was like. The power had been down for over an hour. The team was scrambling to return power. No one had expected a storm to break out on Mars. No one expected that maybe, just maybe, the storm would knock out the power lines they had set up. No one expected that the storm would cover the cables they had laid with thick dust, burying them. The fact that the cables were buried made it even harder to locate the issue, because they had to dig out the cables.

The silence was already affecting Raphael's mind. He was starting to hallucinate. He would see structures of Earth, children playing, and even his family and friends he had on Earth. Some of them were crying. They approached him and asked him, "Why did you leave, Raphael? Why did you abandon your home here, and go to another planet?"

Raphael looked up at the sky, hoping that he could see Earth and that it would lift his spirits. He looked in the area of the sky where Earth was, as was instructed. He could not differentiate any of the planets. They all looked the same. For all he knew, he was looking right at Earth, but the naked eye could not tell, as they were far away from home. So far, that Earth is out of view.

"Funny", Raphael thought to himself, "You go through life being told that you are important. That you are significant. Yet, Earth is out of view. It is small in comparison to the rest of the galaxy. In reality, we were insignificant. Paling in comparision to the rest of the world."

Suddenly, a whirring sound was heard. Power was restored. But it was too late. This "Earth-out-of-view" phenomenon, had driven Raphael to madness. Insanity had taken over Raphael's brain, and it's name was "Silence."

Interstellar Colonization: Is Humanity Meant to Populate the Stars

Interstellar colonization, that is the act of populating other planets as we populate Earth, has been an exciting topic for science fiction authors and scientists alike. It has been made popular in televised media such as Star Trek and novels such as the Rama series by Arther C. Clarke. Before it was revealed to be a scam, the Mars One project of recent years woke the common populace to the fact that we are not a primitive race anymore. We have the ability to populate other planets. We are living the stuff of Science Fiction. But along with these fantastic thoughts and ideas come a multitude of questions. What are the physical ramifications of interstellar travel and colonization? The psychological issues that go along with it? And what are the moral implications, for just because humanity can do something, doesn’t mean humanity should. While interstellar colonization is making great strides into the future and it seems humanity is ready, we are no where near ready for any of the challenges that humanity will face when the time actually arises.

Humans have many basic necessities in order for us to survive; oxygen, food, water, warmth, just to name a few. In a short article on the Live Science website in 2012, Corey Binns states that “You can live 3 minutes without air, though we don't recommend trying. In a harsh environment — it's snowing, say — you have 3 hours to survive without shelter. After 3 days, you need water or you'll perish. You can make it 3 weeks without food, though we promise you that won't be fun.” Survival experts call it the “Rule of Threes.” (Binns, 2012) As of yet, there is no viable renewable resource to provide all this to a human in space. Oxygen would come in storage tanks, equipment for shelters would need to be built, water would either be dropped in via shuttle, or could be made from recycled urine. Food and other supplies would also need to be dropped in, until some way of making food on other planets could be made. For a colonization mission to be successful, long term means of supplies would be needed. For example, a Mission to Mars could require 3,000 pounds of food per person, all of which would have a shelf life of 5 years. But the quality of the food would be bad, almost disgusting to taste, and that would result in the colonists eating less and less food, which would obviously not bear good results. Having a limited menu would result in menu fatigue, which would degrade their performance. Since 1979, Skylab has had a tasteful menu of over 72 items, but not nearly a long enough shelf life. (Millman, 2015) One major issue facing colonists has already been solved, the issue of sound. Nearly everyone is familiar with the fact that there is no way for sound to travel in space. It is interesting to note that noise levels below 80 decibels cause hearing loss and after a prolonged period of time, hallucinations also can happen. The fix is that constant fan noises are heard, with sound levels being at 50 decibels in sleeping areas and 60 decibels in working areas, which is what NASA uses as their standard. (Allen & Denham, 2010)

Even so, there are so many other physical issues that will affect the human body from space travel. Being in a different gravity field will cause vision impairments, bone fractures, reduced muscle mass, back pain, urinary retention. Being in a closed environment can cause inadequate food and nutrition, altered immune responses, sleep loss, decompression sickness, and even injury from sunlight exposure. Thankfully, NASA already has organization devoted to the study of these and other problems and working on ways of solving these. (NASA Office of Inspector General Office of Audits, 2015)

There is another issue that will afflict colonists even more than the need for resources – psychological issues. In a simulation done on a group of people for this very topic of colonization, the subjects were measured on identity, goals, culture, stress, motivation, recognition, and organization behavior. Nearly all the measurements were down by at least 10%, with the subjects having less an identity, goals and culture. Motivation and recognition had decreased by about 20%, and stress decreased by about 30%. (Rai & Kaur, 2012)

But there is one psychological phenomenon that I call out specifically, mostly for it’s sheer fantastic quality of being an unknown until humanity finally colonizes a planet. A phenomenon that we cannot prepare ourselves for, and no tests can ever screen subjects for it beforehand. It is called Earth-out-of-view phenomenon. “In the history of human beings, no one has ever been in a situation where Mother Earth, and all her associated nurturing and comforting aspects (e.g., gravity, atmosphere, food, flora and fauna, collected history of our species) has been reduced to insignificance in the sky. Partially, this lack of direct visual link to our beautiful globe might be compensated by films or email images of the Earth, or even by the provision of a telescope that will allow the crew to scan their home planet in real time when they get homesick. But probably none of these measures can be considered as a sufficient substitute.” They go on to say that this may cause anxiety, depression, suicidal intentions, hallucinations, delusions, and even a complete loss of commitment to the Earth system and orders being received from Earth, basically, going rogue. “The main problem related to this issue is that it cannot be studied before the first crew has been sent out, and it will need to be monitored and dealt with in-flight should psychological, interpersonal, or psychiatric problems occur.” (Kanas & Manzey, 2008) One could say that this is nothing, for pilgrims had the same issue when they left Europe, and came to the New World. But this is so much a larger scale than a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. Even so, people in those voyages came down with cabin fever from not seeing land. What is that on a grander scale?

Neil deGrasse Tyson, a popular astrophysicist, and director of the Hayden Planetarium said, “If we have the power turn other planets into Earth, then we have the power to turn Earth back to Earth.” This begs the eternal question, just because we can colonize other planets, that does not mean that we should colonize other planets. We have slowly destroying our planet over the course of many years. Why should we do that to others? Should we not try to rebuild our planet first? One could also argue that humanity is meant to colonize the universe, as a quote from Carl Sagan, a late astrophysicist along with other titles, says the following, “The nitrogen in our DNA, the calcium in our teeth, the iron in our blood, the carbon in our apple pies, were made in the interiors of collapsing stars. We are made of star stuff.” Some may interpret that as we are made of the same elements as stars, so too we are meant to traverse the stars. But what of the other moral implications? What religion would be brought to this New World? What culture? Political belief? Race? Who would be sent to begin a colony? What genes would be needed? How would we go about screening the “perfect person” to start a new colony of humans on another planet? Adolf Hitler did something similar to this in World War II. He wanted to create the perfect human race. Would we be any different if we started picking people to begin a new population on another colony? All these are questions that spark many a debate for endless of hours. This is where scientists would have to read up on science fiction, for one of the beauties of science fiction is that it can be used to explore a plethora of ideas without actually having to try it out. For example, the Alpha Centauri novels by Michael Ely explore a colonization mission where everyone is separated by ideology instead of being separated by race. In the end, this would not be a representation of any one person, country, religion, or political belief. This would be a representation of the entire human race.

With all these facts and theories in mind, it is my belief that humanity is no where near ready to colonize another planet, let alone the fact that we should. While NASA may have plans to colonize, along with other space organizations, these are naught but lofty goals that would be sure to end in failure if any single one of these questions is not answered. The answer cannot be gained by any one organization. It requires all of us, as the human race, to figuratively wake up and decide how we want to go down in history as. Do we want to go down in history as a people who sent others to their doom on other planets? Or do we want to go down as the people who for once could finally put aside differences and decide what is best for humanity as a people?
 
Bibliography

Allen, C. S., & Denham, S. A. (2010). International Space Station Acoustics – A Status Report. Houston, TX: NASA Johnson Space Center.
Binns, C. (2012, November 30). How Long Can a Person Survive Without Water? Retrieved from Live Science: http://www.livescience.com/32320-how-long-can-a-person-survive-without-water.html
Kanas, N., & Manzey, D. (2008). Space Psychology and Psychiatry. Springer Science & Business Media.
Millman, C. (2015). The Care and Feeding of Astronauts. Discover, 36, 66-68.
NASA Office of Inspector General Office of Audits. (2015). NASA's Efforts to Manage Health and Human Performance Risks for Space Exploration. NASA Office of Inspector General Office of Audits.
Oakes, K. (2013, July 7). A homesick astronaut on Mars. Retrieved from Scientific American: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/basic-space/a-homesick-astronaut-on-mars/
Rai, B., & Kaur, J. (2012). Human Factor Studies on a Mars Analogue During Crew 100B International Lunar Exploration Working Group EuroMoonMars Crew: Proposed New Approaches for Future Human Space and Interplanetary Missions. orth American Journal Of Medical Sciences, 4(11), 548-557.
Rinaldi, L. (2015, August 31). Colonizing the Moon. Maclean's, 128(34/35), 28-31.
Williams, L. (2010). Irrational Dreams of Space Colonization.Peace Review.

Random Adventure Day – Galactic Lush Observatory

(Image courtesy of www.wallpaperswa.com.)

To keep my writing skills fresh, I use an app on my iOS Device called "The Brainstormer", by developer Andrew Bosley. I have it generate a random phrase, and I then write either a couple paragraphs or a short story about that phrase. Today's random phrase is, "Galactic Lush Observatory".

~~~~~~

In a far distant galaxy, exists a lush planet, full of much organic life. This planet is called "Argen", and the entire planet is filled with jungle, and tropical life. As you arrive, you start to descend into the atmosphere. Traveling through the clouds, you are then greeted by an explosion of color; bright greens from the tops of the trees, sparkling blues from the pure water, animals of an alien nature are scattered throughout the landscape. A family of animals is drinking at the shore of a flowing river. The two smaller of the animals are playing in the water, pouncing on each other and wrestling. One of the larger ones is drinking cooly from the shore, while the other is looking about and alert; protecting them. They are no larger than an armadillo, but their skin is a smooth grey color, with shiny scales and a blueish tint to them. They are a bit fat, and their nose hangs out about a foot long, resembling an elephants trunk. There must be many visitors to this planet, as the presence of your spacecraft does not bother them. They most likely don't even care that you exist.

Suddenly, unfolding above the colorful landscape, you see this white dome. It does not appear out of place with this lush scenery. A silver tube protrudes from the dome. It appears to be an observatory. This galactic observatory, hidden from prying eyes in this tropical jungle on an alien world, is your destination.

~~~~~~

Feel free to leave your comments and constructive criticism below. For more information on "The Brainstormer" app, go to http://andrewbosley.weebly.com/the-brainstormer.html.