From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!floyd!cmcl2!lanl-a!unm-ivax!nmtvax!student Newsgroups: net.sf-lovers Title: Article-I.D.: nmtvax.197 Posted: Sat Feb 19 19:55:38 1983 Received: Wed Feb 23 01:23:44 1983 It seems to me that the nature of the Second Foundation has changed quite a bit from the beginning of the series. Hari Seldin started two foundation's "at the opposite ends of the galaxy" to stop the thirty thousand year dark ages that would occur after the empire would fall. The first foundation was set up on Terminus to (supposedly) create a Galatic Encyclopedia to keep all the knowledge from being lost. The beginnings were tough and it took fifty years before the Foundation found it's true mission was to create a new empire after 1000 years. While this was going on Salvor Hardin and Hober Mallow did have plenty of fun though. The Second Foundation however had to wait until the third book until they got some press. I find it slightly hard to believe that the Second Foundation would be able to develop the mind control capabilities that they did in only three hundred years while being bothered by the last of the Imperals. If they were on their own, as was Terminus, then they might not have a problem. However I am forced to admit that if Hari Seldin did not know that they could then the Second Foundation would not be of much use to anyone. Does anyone think that at some future Seldin cirisis the First Foundation will find out the truth about the Second Foundation?? Does anyone have any ideas about Foundation V or VI ad nauseum? when Asimov was asked if he would rather give up sex or typing he replied " Well I can type for six hours without getting tired!" Since he types at a completely disgusting 120 words per minute and only makes one copy before he sends in the manuscript he can chunk out many more books before he stops. After all in the last 20 years (240 months) he has only written 243 books. (Flames leave me alone, I know that this is not a recent statistic but it serves my point!)