Isaac Asimov, Game of Thrones: How to Write Sociological Stories
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Isaac Asimov's Foundation series is one of the greatest science fiction sagas ever written, and yet no one has been able to adapt it into film. In this video I take a look at why the books are difficult to adapt, and why they are stories that should be told.
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Works Cited:
The Real Reason Fans Hate The Last Season Of Game Of Thrones: blogs.scientificamerican.com/...
Palumbo, Donald. “Psychohistory and Chaos Theory: The ‘Foundation Trilogy’ and the Fractal Structure of Asimov's Robot/Empire/Foundation Metaseries.” Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, vol. 7, no. 1 (25), 1996, pp. 23-50. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43308254.
J. Joseph Miller. “The Greatest Good for Humanity: Isaac Asimov's Future History and Utilitarian Calculation Problems.” Science Fiction Studies, vol. 31, no. 2, 2004, pp. 189-206. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/4241254.
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_"The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom."_
*~ Isaac Asimov*
But isn't it wise for society to gather scientific knowledge so that it can generate resources for almost 8 billion people on the planet but then again it would be wiser for society to stop having kids so that we can bring the population under control....................
Did my brain just fuck itself?.......
Anyway great quote @MrFriendship
Hamza Orakzai Not everyone should stop having kids just Asia and Africa lmao
The gathering of wisdom has always been a slow process. Life without wisdom OR science was miserable, for the vast majority.
@@adamamaru4535 don't blame us.........we don't have Star wars or Marvel to keep us entertained. We don't have to deal with the whole futile liberal and conservative bullshit to keep us occupied, so we gotta past the time somehow and that's usually by having unprotected sex. We need feminism and climate change and all that shite so that we can get busy talking about all this bollocks rather than labouring at getting 8 kids
Hamza Orakzai you can literally just control your impulses and not be a sexual degenerate. Pick up a fucking hobby if you think sex is the only way to pass the time
I'd say GoT didn't change from sociological to psychological but from sociological and psychological to badly written psychological storytelling.
GoT eventually became pathological storytelling.
What was psychological about the last seasons of GoT?
@@Gameshunter3012 the sociological incentives no longer existed or exacted consequence on the main characters. It all became about their individual stories and not the overarching theme of the 7 kingdoms. Notice at the end that there was very little politics and that institutions became irrelevant. All that mattered were the desires of the characters, and the desires of the characters made very little sense in the context of their arch up to that point.
do you mean the books or the TV show?
@@Danlovar The TV show, the books are all written by Martin, so that style doesn't change, but once DnD didn't have a good source material to work from as a foundation and were no longer using Martin as a source to collaborate, the show took an obvious downturn in writing quality.
The last season is just the most egregious, beyond any reason for anyone who followed the series, read the books, or understands writing.
I’m always amazed at how Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke could craft these profound, engaging stories even though their individual characters are mostly forgettable. At one point it hit me: these are stories where the protagonist is not an individual but the human race itself.
And that's one reason why their characters are so horribly written. They couldn't write a well-developed, compelling character to save their lives. And both later in their careers really messed up their stories as well. When you compare something so great as Fountains of Paradise to the later Two Thousand Something books, you see how Clark should never have written 2010 and all the other sequels to 2001.
@@alexandresobreiramartins9461 Nah, I don't think Seldon, or Elijah Baley, or R. Daneel Olivaw are that badly written
@@saoirsedeltufo7436 Yes, I stand corrected. There ARE several remarkable characters in the books, The Mule not least among them.
@@alexandresobreiramartins9461 True, didn't even think about the Mule. I think you can see which Asimov books are about humanity (most of Foundation) and which are about people (Robot series, Foundation prequels to some extent)
@@saoirsedeltufo7436 Yeah, agreed. And the robot ones are equally great (Caves of Steel and all Susan Calvin stories come to mind).
Asimov can write really good prose, it's just that he was full-time professor, researcher, and non-fiction writer (among other things) and wrote so, so much. He's the only author to have written in every main division of the Dewey decimal system, and he has a gigantic catalogue. Generally, the shorter the piece, the better the prose is, because it's when he takes the time to slow down and write carefully that he produces his best works. The stories Robot Dreams, The Machine that Won the War, The Martian Way, The Feeling of Power, Cal are all great examples.
Agreed
I also agree. And in fact, many readers considered the main problem with Foundation "sequels" was the length of the novels, much bigger than the usual format Asimov was used to.
@@lumsais3832 Except that Asimov did write longer form books between the period in the 1950 (When the Foundation short stories were turned into books) and when he wrote the next book in the Foundation series. Granted, he still wrote a lot of books as a collection of short stories (like I, Robot, The Caves of Steel, and The Norby Chronicles), but there were quite a few novels, like the detective stories involving Elijah Baley and R. Daneel Olivaw. So, it was a bit inaccurate to say that Asimov wasn't used to writing in the longer forms.
@@jackielinde7568 Judging by the books on my shelf, the Elijah Bailey novels are significantly shorter than the two Foundation prequels. Although I apologize if I'm wrong.
the bicentennial man is also a rare exemple of a Asimov story being really moving. Not that it has very deep characters in the absolute sense, but is a much more personal story (that still retains the broad philosophical implications his other stories have).
I read "Foundation and Empire" when I was a kid and was struck by how many ideas Star Wars lifted from it, including calling handguns "blasters."
Star Wars "steals" so much from other works it's absolutely absurd. It's part of the reason the story feels as timeless as it does. It's not doing anything particularly "new"
Asimov is one legendary author. Of course Lucas would “borrow” ideas and elements from the Foundation series.
Coruscant is literally Trantor...
@@GeeVanderplas And Coruscant wasn't created originally by Lucas, but was created by Timothy Zahn in the original Thrawn trilogy.
Pretty sure blasters predates foundation anyway - I'm thinking the old Flash Gordon serials, or perhaps even Buck Rodgers, not sure precisely
The Foundation series was Robin William's favourite literature. His love of Asimov got him to star in Bicentennial Man (1999).
Wow :O
My god that is so cool I love the books myself
That sex scene was written by a computer and you can’t convince me otherwise 🤭
Asimov was actually R. Daneel writing about the things he saw happen in the future.
Asimov was, in fact, a computer.
Not a computer, but Asimov did use a complex algorithm to predict what science fiction readers would find arousing.
50 shades of grey matter is next
It's his biggest weakness as an author, the meat and potatoes of human life feels forced and phony in his hands. Worth reading for the prescient ideas and interesting problems.
That logic about generals and emperors is truly straight from Roman history, nearly every great victorious general after like the claudians turned right around and went for the capital
The Foundation series is Rome in space.
Foundation is a sci-fi version of the fall of the Roman Empire. That's why so many place names are taken from Roman history.
I don't consider the sequels written after the fact, as they all show a considerable departure from/decay of quality in relation to the original 3 books.
It reminded me of Napoleon when I read it
As did Eisenhour in 1949
And even before the Claudians. Julius Caesar also marched on Rome, as did Sulla before him
The ultimate original sociological story is Tolstoy's War and Peace.
Normally ignored by lovers of science fiction etc, but if you love GoT or Foundation, give it a go. You will be very pleasantly surprised at how readable it is despite it's age and length.
A well made adaptation of _Foundation_ could be just the thing we need right now, sociologically speaking.
As long as they don't pervert the stories like they did with "I, Robot"...
They did... its truly AWFUL.
The Mule is one of the single most terrifying villains I have ever seen in a work of literature
And so profoundly tragic.
"You were bound to fail," said Susan Calvin. "I was bound to try," said Simon Ninheimer. Calvin turned and left. She did her best to feel no pang of sympathy for the broken man.
She did not entirely succeed.
So I wasn't the only one to think of her character. Thank you.
"[Asimov] is famous for his ideas, not for his prose." -- Are there any recommendations of science fiction notable for both ideas and a sparkling writing style?
Dan Simmons, Hyperion would spring to mind first. Excellent science fiction concepts with first rate prose! it could be described in a myriad of ways, but let me tell you 2 that might tempt you, both are equally true.
A group of 'pilgrims' share the stories of how they came to be on that journey in a futuristic retelling of the Canterbury tales. A time travelling monster is created to bring the final judgement to pass in a war between human's God and A.I.'s God.
If you'd prefer something more modern and mind twisting, anything by Hannu Rajaniemi (Fractal prince possibly best) is fantastic!
You can also read the 6 Dune books by Frank Herbert (not the later ones by his son). Helps that there is a movie coming out next year. Herbert does both sociological and psychological really well.
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein.
The Heinlein book is insane. Totally recommended. A good idea would be Ender's Game. Please don't watch the movie.
In general I would say that sci-fi is good for his ideas and not prose though. You can check The Stars My Destination too. Pro tip: check Hugo prizes for novels and pick one that the plot looks good for you. You can check that on Wikipedia.
Second the Dune books - really well written and with a very sociological base, like the early seasons of GoTs.
Give it the Dune treatment. A bit artful, lots of wide pans, Blade Runner-esque shots. Cherry pick the dialogue from the books so that it's all a bit suitably weird but the story still hangs together. Jazz up the costumes. You might even get a feature length film out of it that way.
Could definitely work, I think a good mysterious sci-fi film would bring his name back into the spotlight.
I mean, we got part of that.
@@MCArt25 we got a hatchet job. I'm so mad I can't even
Loved that you mentioned The Big Short, one of my all-time favorite movies :D
it's really good
That One Guy I’M JACKED...I’M JACKED TO THE TITS!
@@spencergoesbig2735 TRUTH IS LIKE POETRY... AND MOST PEOPLE FUCKING HATE POETRY
Definitely, an awesome film - one of the best of recent time.
Everyone, deep in their hearts, is waiting for the end of the world to come.
"They endlessly tease big space battles that don't happen or aren't
important... There is a guy explaining why his trade policy will end a
war with less bloodshed."
.....
Well, Aaron Sorkin can make a masterpiece out of it!
A lot of Star Trek TNG is also like that. Captain Picard resolves most things with diplomacy.
"Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent"
Unfortunately for him, his people did not remember that quote after he died.
It's basically...if you can't win... change the game
@@nityanshsingh6002 more like: if you don't know how to win... overthrow the game board
Salvor Hardin?
The intelligent one knows that will win after he/she's dead.
This is the first time I heard the word "disrobe" being used and I never want to hear it again ever.
No one has ever asked you to disrobe? That's sad.
F
@@jbtechcon7434 the proper term is "git nekkid"
You must not get out much. Or read much. Or exist, really.
Shirtdown
Finally! Someone is talking about the importance of Isaac Asimov! Great job man
People have been talking about the importance of Asimov for decades
Those book covers contain way more imagery and thoughts than the recent start trek movies combined. I was mesmerized and transported to another world just by looking at them.
SPOILER ALERT: Don't forget to read the Robot series; I'll just say there's connection to the Foundation series.
I always start with the robot short stories, move on to the robot novels, then do Foundation and finish with the discovery of Earth. It's a satisfactory journey.
There was no connection at all, until Asimov caught the One Big Universe bug in his later years, and shoehorned them together.
@@ernststravoblofeld Yes, that was wen all his writing went to shit. Or rather, it had begun going to shit with the Foundation undesired and unrequired sequels.
@@alexandresobreiramartins9461 I always blamed Heinlein. He had a more natural way of fitting his stories into a common universe. And Niven did it too. Asimov wanted to join the club, instead of just accepting that he worked differently.
@@ernststravoblofeld Hmm, makes sense. And yes, Heinlein and Niven wrote not only in a completely different way, but also their themes and subject matter had little to nothing to do with Asimov's, whose finest works for me remain Foundation and I, Robot.
I read the trilogy in the early 70s. My only beef with Asimov (in retrospect) is that he predicted miniaturization a billion years in the future, but Moore's Law kicked in 10-15 years after he wrote the trilogy. On the other hand, he was the only scifi writer or the era to realize how important it was.
Heinlein has guys navigating spaceships using a slide rule :-)
I'd love to see a new sci-fi series embrace the Zeerust retro future and write in such a setting unironically. Bonus if they can give an actual reason for it.
...then, at the end, they come across a more "conventional" hard sci-fi civilization.
He also had people cooking with "RADAR waves."
I got 4 minutes in and realized that I'm just starting to read The Foundation and this might be a spoiler. I'll be back when I'm done the book!
As promised I'm back!
@@mattforthelikes and the review was accurate?
This reminds me so much of The Legend of the Galactic Heroes, which is one of the greatest anime series ever made, which is in turn based on japanese Novels and short stories, written between 1982-1987
This video essay gave me the words to describe why i felt a Game of thrones connection to LotGH , because LotGH was a practically perfect blend of sociological storytelling and psychological storytelling too.
You might find it interesting!
Foundation is a large part of the reason I ended up with a politics degree. Wanting to understand, in the real world, how countries move and what difference individuals can make to this. (Foundation, and also Pinky & The Brain.)
Soo what's your verdict? Can individuals do just anything to make a country move, or to stop its movement?
Can't wait to watch this later. Asimov is the Nikola Tesla or Michael Faraday of scifi: not as well remembered in popular culture, but those who dig into the genre slowly understand how important he was.
What planet do you live on where Isaac Asimov isn't remembered in popular culture? I mean yeah his stories are old so kids aren't familiar with his work, but that's a bit like saying no one remembers the Beatles.
In the 80's and 90's he was regularly on the New York Times bestseller list.
njstuckey - Your analogy isn't really accurate. You can compare him with Tesla in that he was one of what I call "The Fathers of Modern Science Fiction" (a list that I include Bradbery, Heinlein, and Roddenberry (somewhat), but you may chose others for this list.) that helped to shape what we would know as that Genre. Science Fiction has been, for the most part, a niche genre enjoyed by what society as a whole would call "eggheads and nerds". (It did have a brief time in the spotlight and killed the popularity of westerns because of Sputnik and the space race.) Even thought his fiction wasn't widely read outside of science fiction circles, he did enjoy widespread name recognition. You could go to any time period after the 1940s and poll most people of that time, and you'd find that most people have heard of him and know of him as a writer. His glorious mutton chops may never have graced a t shirt or poster the way that Einstein or Che Guevara did, but he was part of Pop Culture because of his contributions.
His laws of robotics are pretty big in pop culture, and he's known at least partly by a lot of people
He's pretty famous even still.
I was just now reading THE LAST QUESTION, so perfect timing.
one of the best of his stories!
Well you should read 'the end of eternity' a novella by asimov. It is about time travel and no matter how many time travel movies you might have watched it will surprise you.
Let there be light.
There is as yet insufficient data for a meaningful answer.
The prose is brilliant there. No sex scenes.
I'm gonna try that "my chest is cold" line on my partner when I get home, I'll let you all know how it goes.*
* not really
Coward. I'll try it when I meet a woman for the first time.
@@grubbybum3614 A.. W-Wo-W-What?
69 likes...
Do it, pussy
You aren't doing it? What does your morality dictate?
omg i have the same collection of foundation novels, love them! read them in russian back in teen ages, now re-reading in english) it's always a pleasure to see videos about Isaac Asimov, I think he's extremely underrated among young and semi-young people. THANK YOU!
It’s fantastic to see a thoughtful video essayist using intertextuality to attract viewers to texts and ideas that haven’t been explored as much on CZcams.
It can be a little disheartening to see otherwise great CZcamsrs respond primarily to topical new-releases (like Endgame, for instance), then just contribute to the soon-forgotten discussion about the new release.
What I think you do well, sage, is use common frames of reference like GoT to draw in viewers, but then push them to think outwardly, and about ideas that transcend the confines of the source material.
It seems like you’re finding a great balance between strategising for growth on the CZcams platform and remaining thought-provoking and original. Thanks!
I’m happy to be a subscriber of this channel 😊
I’d love to see a video about your thoughts on The Wire - it was the first TV show to pull off sociological storytelling in such a powerful way.
The Wire had actual characters, unlike Asimov's stories.
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world
"The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity."
The Rough Beasts are are definitely abroad in the land, and live-tweeting their progress the whole way.
This quote is burned into my memory thanks to Chinua Achebe.
If it was as simple "Seldon predicted everything and the Foundation can handle it all", then there wouldn't be much of a story there, and Asimov was aware of that. So I think the handling of the Mule storyline will be telling. I also think that at least some of the prequels should be incorporated, if only to show the development of Psychohistory rather than rely on exposition.
I think a simple example would be it's not an exact science, the very principle of it discribed in the video implys that, the 'bigger' a group gets the more predictable it becomes, if a group of 100 is less predictable then a group of 1,000 then neither prediction is perfect, this would also explain why he was able to predict the fate of the entire empire, if it was a galactic civilization presumably those Predictions are the most precise he ever made.
I think that Dune is also a sociological story, to an extent. As the Atreides saga evolves through the next three books - Herbert's original vision - Dune shifts to a more psychological story, as the power of the individual Atreides becomes superhuman. But that was Herbert's point - the effect of individuals on history, and what can go horribly wrong if they make mistakes. Or very right, if they don't.
I read these books as a kid and now that I think about it, they went a long way into how I see the world. I don't believe in individuals having much ability to create change, only in systematic shifts.
I think you’re wrong about individuals not having the ability to create change and I think that it is a point that is always missed in this series.
Think about it. Seldon was an individual who changed the world with a system of thought that he had invented.
Salvor Hardin was responsible for making Terminus a dominant world despite having absolutely no military power, laying the basis of what would become the Foundation.
Hober Mallow, realizing that if the Foundation wanted to expand to the far reaches of the galaxy, needed to transition from a theocratic power to an economic power, effectively making the Foundation the most powerful empire in the galaxy.
You see these are INDIVIDUALS who altered the course of history. Human history is littered with similar examples. Every generation has individuals that shape its future.
Individuals are the ones who create those systematic shifts in the first place, though. Much like Shawn DeJesus was saying. Individuals still matter and have the power to make change. You can't change other people, but you can change the systems everyone lives in. Which in turn can change society.
By pushed to act , I meant that the Seldon's plan literally presented them with only one possible course of action.
@@whybecuzporque4655
It has been stated multiple times that Seldon's plan was largely unfinished and underdeveloped-that is why the second foundation had to build on his work, which was mostly incomplete. Therefore, in this case, development and change did come from the collective . Furthermore , Seldon's plan was originally created by him alongside his large team of psychohistorians.
Hardin and Mallow were just individuals who were simply pushed to act by the Seldon's plan that was devised and controlled by a society of psychohistorians. Even , if those individuals didn't exist , they would have probably been replaced by other public figures who would have fulfilled the same role as them.
Yes, individuals still matter , but if we want to succeed as a society , the change/solution needs to come through the collective ( through systemic shifts) and ultimately this is what alters the course of human history.
I think that a better way to present your point was to cite The Mule as an example of individuals that can make a huge difference. Nevertheless, you could still argue that he was a product of the abusive environment in which he was raised , although I wouldn't personally go there.
"He's famous for his ideas, not for his prose" could also be said of Greg Egan, who may be the current era's premier writer, not of science fiction, but of math fiction.
Or Philip K. Dick. He could write three pages of dialogue and each sentence would begin with
x said:
y said:
x said:
y said:
I love Egan but after discovering Ted Chiang I started to believe that it really is a matter of how much effort an author is willing to spend into honing their craft of writing prose.
I would say that Egan writes Science Fiction though, and some of the purest and most fundamental SF you'll find. I don't think you need to make up a new word for it but I understand why you'd want to, they are so very unlike most things.
@@doppelrutsch9540 It's just very abstract, hard sf.
I don't know I think Greg Egan is more a matter of preference. The opening chapter of Diaspora made me cry at it's shear beauty
Oddly enough I’ve never had a problem with the dialogue. I can’t explain why though. Maybe I’m secretly a robot or something.
It could be autism, no offense.
@@Gameshunter3012 how?
@@andreasvarousiadis9464
We tend to talk like that. It takes a concerted effort for me to not.
I think you and Susan Calvin would get along just fine.
2 minutes in and this is already essential knowledge
THANK YOU! The dialog example was a perfect representation of Asimov and one of my biggest gripes with his writing. Yes, his ideas are brilliant and groundbreaking, but you have to dive head on to a pool of gravel to fish them out.
Not all of it is that bad. His robot series starting with "The Caves of Steel" is much smoother, as the murder mystery element is his more natural habitat in fiction (though the later ones do have some of that cringe). And his short stories are also really good, since he is much more able to get to his big idea without pulling a galactic epic around it: just a handful of characters with a simple conflict portrayed in a brilliant twist or premise. Robot Dreams is probably the ideal collection. He can do really good prose, it's just that the man was a full time professor, researcher, non-fiction writer, etc. and wrote so much that he was often in a hurry with his prose.
@@spamus5243 I get what you're saying, but not so much about the excuse. Writing a novel, novella or any publishable material is not like doing homework. Half-assing it wasn't common in the fifties-sixties, as it is today. However he's also not the worst writer when it comes to prose, especially not by today's standards. Good prose is the foundation (unintentional pun) and mortar of a story, it holds everything together and can carry bad ideas a long way. He just seems to have suffered from the opposite.
@@creatorsremose Oh, I didn't mean it as an excuse. I just meant that he pays more attention to his prose and style when he's writing shorter stories and clearly taking more time per line. When he's writing something huge, he seems impatient or rushed at times to get to the big ideas that he's so famous for.
I do think it's pretty evident though that his best writing comes from times when he wasn't focused on other things like teaching and researching.
Asimov knew his prose was clunky, but he didn't feel the need to change it because many of his readers didn't care.
@@MalloonTarka Nothing wrong with Asimov's prose but he wasn't a great developer of character/personality. His nonfiction is far more readable than his fiction. His wooden human characters may explain why his robot stories are much more popular.
Honestly though, I still have a hard time seeing Foundation as a TV-series. I, Robot and the other robot related short stories written after would be a better choice, like a Black Mirror-style anthology series.
One thing that happened in the foundation book. Was there was a fight scene when one of the characters or enemies died. Only that I didn't understand they died until he said "Oh this person is on the ground dead"
I reread it several times and I still don't understand the fight scene. To this day.
Isaac Asimov, one of my three favorite authors. H.P. Lovecraft and Ray Bradbury being the other two.
My favourite SF author covered by my favourite Video essayist? Sign me up!
Great video...
2:22 I have no doubt that The Big Short earned its various accolades, including the Oscar for its screenplay, but... was that really the best reading they had for that line?
*"Seldon is dead"*
cit. The Mule
Game of Thrones did a good job of showing how large audiences can be compelled by sociological storytelling. I wonder if it will set people up better for fathoming climate change and its ensuing political crises.
Now that all 10 episodes of the Foundation show are out can you pleaseeee do a review of it?
From the Original Trilogy to The Phantom Menace Star War went from a psychological one to a sociological story. That did not go over very well with some fans. I like sociological stories best !!
But there can still be bad sociological stories, and the prequel trilogy is one of them, but the Clone Wars show is a good one. Yes, the series is part of the prequels story, but it feels very different from the movies, and the movies are a TRILOGY, the show shouldn't be counted. Just like Rebels and Rogue One aren't counted as part of the original trilogy.
@@MrX-pc5xn Sure. Quality suffers, but I just like that type of story better. Mainly Phantom Menace, while the rest are less interesting, especially in parts.
One could argue that Episode 3, where Anakin turns to the dark side, again becomes a psychological story and loses the sociological elements.
I haven't seen most of either Star Wars show.
@@QazwerDave I think episode 3 has some of the strongest sociological storytelling with the failure of the Jedi compounding into Anakins fall.
The sociological storytelling in the star wars prequels is why I love the trilogy despite its many, and varied, and deep, and many, writing flaws.
This series was so influential to me. I just remember being awed by the scope of time, and R. Daneel Olivaw :) Thanks for putting terms to what I'm interested in as an author, as always.
Same; I read the robot novels before the foundation prequels and when Daneel was revealed in _Prelude_ I was so stunned it stuck with me for days. I didn’t even know they were set in the same universe until then. Plus, _The Evitable Conflict_ right at the end of _I, Robot_ shaped my entire outlook.
Awesome analysis, i keep in my mind the idea that stories about "nobody" can help us focus on the problems of the "system" rather than individuals..
Lately when you upload a video I see the thumbnail and title and I'm not that excited, but then I watch it and it grabs me. Thanks for all your hard work. We can see the passion!!!
I really appreciate this video for introducing me to the sociological storytelling concept. Great stuff.
Wow, ive never thought about story telling in this way. Really good video!
I'm an aspiring writer, currently taking a sociology course but have no idea how to incorporate the knowledge into my work. Thank you for making a video specifically for me. I fucking love this channel.
I appreciated the explanation of the difference between psychological and sociological storytelling. I'd heard the terms used before but never quite got a clear picture of what they meant. Now I get it.
I'm so happy that this video exists!! These books were formative for my taste in sci fi and love of books. Glad to see them get solid recognition in a modern context and some good analysis.
Also, if you want a crash course on some of Asimov's best writing with a lot less cringy prose, I'd recommend I, Robot or Robot Dreams. Both collections of short stories. I, Robot is exclusively robot stories, and Robot Dreams is some of everything.
that breast scene was weird, kept laughing
I think this might be 1 of 2 video essays I've ever seen on the foundation and my god I applaud you. I reread the trilogy roughly once a year. Incredible series and unfathomably influential and applicable to life.
And holy fuck, is the Decline and Fall of the empire described by Gibbon / Asimov is relevant as the west is slipping into it's decline.
You also can't find all 7 books on audible.
I loved the first three Foundation books, they formed a large part of my childhood. Foundations Edge was interesting and definitely introduced some cool new ideas but it was also baggy. As you said, there were nine stories in the first trilogy. For Foundation's Edge there is only one in a book double the size of any of the others. After that the Foundation books became part of Asimov's 'linking everything together' project. The books got bigger and flabbier and eventually I stopped reading Asimov.
Nice thank you for reminding me to revisit these books it's been a couple of decades!
It's for stuff like this that I appreciate your channel, and you.
i am glad you are returning to foundation in the present day of late 2022.
1:15 I never heard anything about the Wire until some months ago, i just finished it few days a ago, it was a great TV serie.
You got to see a treat!
I have never been early to a Just Write video. I just want to say I love this channel so fucking much. From the hobbit movies to the Airbender video and the one marvelous scene video. I’m an amateur director myself and this channel makes me want to create more.
Wow. Forgot about this channel. Glad I subscribed at some point. Incredibly well cut, voice over and content. Thanks for your research and execution.
Great timing of the video as I'm just in the process of re-reading the Foundation Series.
Best Foundation AppleTV vid on youtube right now. Excellent analysis. Thanks.
I can't believe I never heard of Issac Akimov's work before today! I recognize his name but that's about it. I have so much to read!
He wrote a LOT of books btw, I used to read so many of them and even I have only read a fraction. I meant to read his Guide to the Bible but never got round to it.
Coming to watch this right after watching the Apple series. They did a fantastic job of retaining the sociological aspects of the storytelling and the psychological aspects as the same time. Very true to the intentions of the book series, imo, and beautifully done.
Dude I was trying to refind this video for hours. It's so good. Though it needs more tags
Great breakdown. Really appreciate it. Thank you.
Exceptional content sir. As always .
I think one important aspect of sociological storytelling is that it explains the 'bad' decisions of 'good' characters as well as 'bad' characters. And yes, inherently these stories are set in or around systems that are problematic which begets problems which are, well... systemic.
Japan did a good job with Legends of the Galactic Heroes book/anime showing differences between two different systems, how those systems bring best and worst in humans and how it influences characters, their lives, moral compass etc. And also anime has the great soundtrack, the classics of Wagner, Dvorak, Mahler, Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky.
3:33 - One of the best SF pictures that were made. Use to look at it 35 years ago for hours...
This video made me go and pick up these books! I finally finished the first one a week ago and im starting the second one (the bookstore i go to didnt have the prequels so im waiting to read them maybe after ive finished the series)
BRAVO!!! Thank you for your work bro.
Man, I'm always coming back to this distinction of storytelling. I noticed one show that would incredibly benefit from a more sociological storytelling: The Walking Dead. It is a perfect example of how Hollywood just knows to tell stories the psychologist way. It's so full of unnecessary, repetitive character drama.
I'm on an Asimov binge this year. Re-read Foundation and on to reading a couple dozen short stories. His short fiction is among the finest.
Great video! Very interesting perspective on the saga.
Interesting and entertaining. My only quibble is the bit about individuals effecting change, which is more or less what the Foundation is tasked with doing - a small group who must actively manipulate the movements of large groups to optimise their course to a specific effect. It would be interesting to compare The Foundation with The Culture as they appear to do much the same thing, guiding mankind along an optimal trajectory with minimal interference.
Great video! I really enjoyed the information and insight you have. For those who are interested in reading the books Asimov connected to the Robots/Empire/Foundation series, which one day I would love to refer to as the Asimov Cinematic Universe, he wrote a chronological list of titles in the forward (author's note) after the table of contents of Prelude to Foundation. It follows the timeline of the galaxy and NOT the publication order (but I put the year of publication in case anyone's curious).
1. THE COMPLETE ROBOT (1982)
--contains short stories from 1940 to 1976, including all short stories from I, ROBOT (1950)
2. THE CAVES OF STEEL (1954) first robot novel
3. THE NAKED SUN (1957) second robot novel
4. THE ROBOTS OF DAWN (1983) third robot novel
5. ROBOTS AND EMPIRE (1985) fourth robot novel
6. THE CURRENTS OF SPACE (1952) first Empire novel
7. THE STARS, LIKE DUST (1951) second Empire novel
8. PEBBLE IN THE SKY (1950) third Empire novel
9. PRELUDE TO FOUNDATION (1988) first Foundation novel (prequel)
10. FORWARD THE FOUNDATION (1993) second Foundation novel (prequel)
11. FOUNDATION (1951) third Foundation novel
12. FOUNDATION AND EMPIRE (1952) fourth Foundation novel
13. SECOND FOUNDATION (1953) fifth Foundation novel
14. FOUNDATION'S EDGE (1982) sixth Foundation novel
15. FOUNDATION AND EARTH (1983) seventh Foundation novel
Asimov obviously wrote numerous other stand-alone works that aren't part of those listed above, but at the same time there is one in particular I read that I wish he had added: THE END OF ETERNITY (1955). I can't quite figure out where it would go, either before The Caves of Steel or after Foundation and Earth or somewhere in between. It has to do with humans who live "outside of time" and whether or not humankind should remain on Earth or colonize the galaxy to avoid extinction.
Share your thoughts if you have an idea.
Thank you for this. I never got to read the prequels but mostly loved the originals.
This is the video I’ve been PRAYING for!!
Glad to see somebody talking about Asimov. Wish there was more on Heinlein, too.
Really interesting. Great work
From memory, the later books introduced robots (Daneel Olivaw, Dors Venabili).
With some re-writing, they could become background characters for the whole series, providing continuity.
>"These are the Foundation novels by Isaac Asimov."
I've never liked a video so fast. 🤔
I just finished reading the foundation trilogy a week ago, was hoping to see some discussion about it, and this video pop up.
Great video. I’d love to hear your take on Iain M Banks Culture series and how that might be adapted as planned in Consider Phlebas.
One thing when you mention individuals as an oddity showing up in these sociological books.
Consider this, these individuals were destined to arrive eventually based on the conditions presented in the book.
The reasons they are the ones the books are about is because they are the successful or interesting ones.
A system of reactions will quite often start with an individual change such as in the change of water to ice, quite often stemming from the seed ice crystal formed etc.
Anyway all in my own opinion, good video!
Cixin Liu Remembrance of Earths Past is also a Sociological Story.
Psychohistory is basically the dialectical history of marxist theory. The idea that you can only understand the world through looking at the bigger picture - at the totality - and the interactions between classes. In fact you could have fooled me into thinking that the part V ch 18 quote at 9:40 was a quote from Marx, so long as you replaced the term "Seldon Crises" with "Class Contradictions"
Nice to see books depicted in a video that look a lot like the books I own that have actually been read and reread numerous times.
I've read these books so many times. I love them.
You forgot to mention that the second half of Foundation and Empire posed one of the biggest challenges to the idea of sociological forces trumping individual action :)
I like this, change the system not the individual. Good video.
I hate that I waited so long to watch this one. Awesome work my friend
2:58 dat edit almost gave me chills
Can't wait for more book related content!