Foundation, Flandry And The Further Future

In Poul Anderson's Technic History, Chunderban Desai analyzes Imperial decline and Dominic Flandry prepares a few planetary populations to endure the coming Long Night. Thus, on a more modest and less implausible scale, these two Terran Imperialists combine some of the achievements of Isaac Asimov's psychohistorian, Hari Seldon.

After Asimov's Galactic Empire has fallen, the civilizing influence of the Foundation spreads from one edge of the Galaxy towards the center although what Asimov describes is not planetary civilizations but clandestine machinations. When Anderson's Terran Empire has fallen, there is a prolonged period of barbarism followed by gradual rebuilding. Unlike Asimov, Anderson also shows us a later period of extensive interstellar civilizations.

What is meanwhile happening back on Earth? We are shown the Earth of the further future in some works by Anderson although not in this series. Anderson was a Wellsian sf writer. Of course, he did not write direct sequels. Instead, there are common themes: time travel, space travel, interplanetary invasion, future wars, future history, the effects of science on society and an acknowledgment of Wells in There Will Be Time. But we can ask whether some Wellsian and Andersonian texts are compatible. Thus, during the events of the Technic History, does the Time Traveler still hasten futureward to meet the Morlocks and Eloi and to contemplate his Further Vision - which is paralleled in Anderson's "Flight to Forever"? We know that there are no Danellians, Wardens and Rangers or Star Masters in the Technic History timeline. Might there be Morlocks and Eloi? Anderson obviously did not intend this but nevertheless we are free to speculate. In any case, read The Time Machine and the Technic History and think about common themes.