Flandry And Seldon

Poul Anderson's Dominic Flandry, who has been informed by Chunderban Desai, does a far more credible job than Isaac Asimov's Hari Seldon. The parallels are uncanny. In both future histories, an interstellar empire will inevitably fall but measures are taken to mitigate the effects of the fall. But the differences are infinitely greater than the similarities. Anderson's account is based on a detailed theory of history. Flandry neither secretly manipulates historical events nor manifests extraordinary mental powers. In fact, Anderson's Psychotechnic and Technic Histories parallel different aspects of Foundation because it is the Psychotechnic History that features a predictive science of society.

Anderson and Asimov also parallel each other in combining two series but, again, which is a better fit: Polesotechnic League and Terran Empire or Robots and Galactic Empire?

The Galactic Empire, impossibly large, was envisaged only to provide a population numerous enough for psychohistorical predictions to work but apparently increasing the population only increases the unpredictabilities. Asimov's comparison of random molecules and Newtonian masses with chaotic individuals and large populations doesn't work whereas Anderson always gives us plausible individual characters and historical processes. My message is always: if you have read Asimov, read Anderson.