"'Of course there are worlds. Millions of them! Every star you see has worlds, and most of those you don't see. It's all part of the Empire.'"
-Isaac Asimov, Pebble In The Sky (New York, 1964), chapter 11, p. 103.
This sounds like what fathers said to their sons on Birthday but the situation is completely different. Anderson's Terran Empire is a small part of one spiral arm of the galaxy and has external enemies whereas Asimov's Galactic Empire encompasses the Galaxy (capitalized) and has no external enemies.
In Anderson's Genesis, members of the dwindling population of a darkened Terrestrial city know that the planets orbiting other stars are not part of any human Empire but instead are the dwelling places or perhaps simply the locations of post-organic intelligences that are descended from, originally human-made, AIs. Thus, the universe has been given meaning:
"'But is it our meaning?' Naia cried."
-Poul Anderson, Genesis (New York, 2001), PART ONE, VIII, p. 93.
Three very different future histories, one by Asimov and two by Anderson.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And simply as SF and literature, I far prefer Anderson's future histories to Asimov's FOUNDATION books. Anderson's works are far more carefully thought out and convincing, unlike the FOUNDATION stories.
To be fair, when I was a boy of about 13 or 14, I was deeply impressed by the FOUNDATION stories. Big ideas, and grand sweeping vistas over space and time, etc.
Ad astra! Sean
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