History

Poul Anderson's Time Patrol series describes real historical events and processes. Anderson's History of Technic Civilization and Isaac Asimov's Foundation Trilogy describe such processes recurring on an interstellar scale in the future. Since the Technic History is just one of eight or nine future histories by Anderson, we can summarize this post so far by stating that, whereas Asimov presents a future, Anderson presents the past and several futures.

The Mule disrupts Seldon's psychohistorical Plan but the Second Foundation restores it. Neldorians disrupt recorded history but the Time Patrol restores it. Later Foundation novels reveal that Seldon's Plan is subordinate to a robotic plan for humanity. A later Time Patrol novel reveals that time criminals, like the Neldorians and the Exaltationists, are a lesser threat than temporal chaos. The Technic History presents a less implausible interstellar empire and less incredible preparations for its inevitable Fall.

Either the Time Patrol or the Technic History would be a better candidate for "Best SF Series Of All Time" although the Foundation Trilogy won a Hugo Award in this category.

Anderson contributed:

one novel to Robert E Howard's Conan series;
one US Robots story to Asimov's future history;
two stories to Asimov's "Isaac's Universe" series;
one chapter to Murasaki;
one War World story story to Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium future history;
three Man-Kzin Wars stories to Larry Niven's Known Space future history;
one story to Harlan Ellison's Medea series;
one story to Fred Saberhagen's Berserker series;
the concept, the Introduction and one story in A World Named Cleopatra.

We must soon return to the Man-Kzin Wars.

Some Parallels II

"'The shadow of the God lies on us... We will go to Him together, the hunt will give Him honor.'"
-Jerry Pournelle and SM Stirling, "The Children's Hour" IN Larry Niven, Ed, Man-Kzin Wars III, pp. 35-166 AT p. 164.

This sounds like a mixture of Merseian ("...the God...") and Ythrian ("The shadow...," "...the hunt will give Him honor...") However, it is a kzin.

Niven's Thrints' Power is Asimov's Mule's Power. The Mule was like the single alien in a humans only galaxy until we learned that he was a rebel Gaian - and that the robots were behind Gaia. Robots are like artificial protectors.

The Mule, Gaia and robots are in Asimov's Galactic Empire future history;
Merseians and Ythrians are in Anderson's Technic History;
kzinti, Thrintun and protectors are in Niven's Known Space History.

I have gained a new perspective of looking sideways across these future histories instead of chronologically along each in turn.

The conclusion of "The Children's Hour" is the turning point between the STL and FTL periods of Known Space. Poul Anderson showed STL interstellar warfare in "Time Lag," which is, perhaps, the culmination of his ninth future history.

Three Temporal Dimensions

We experience one temporal and three spatial dimensions and imagine a second temporal dimension to accommodate parallel universes with alternative histories but I suggest that science fiction future histories can be represented as occupying three temporal dimensions. I have listed several series that can be viewed as parallels. For example, Asimov's Galactic Empire, Anderson's Terran Empire and Pournelle's Empire of Man are three interstellar empires built by human beings with faster than light drives. Thus, we can move sideways in time to compare these three empires. The Galactic Empire encounters no alien intelligences (or one if we count a single short story), the Empire of Man encounters one and the Terran Empire encounters many. These are differences within comparable scenarios.

However, Anderson introduces another temporal direction. His later future histories present not more parallels but a progressive examination of different kinds of future history:

if current civilization is destroyed by nuclear war, then a successor civilization might for a long time ban any technologies that would lead to a resumption of space travel;

if there is no faster than light drive, then interstellar colonization and trade, without any imperialism over such long distances, must occur at relativistic speeds;

and what if the other intelligences encountered by human beings are not alien but artificial?

Anderson present two parallels in his first two future histories but then transcends the parallels by soaring upwards in a different direction. 

Seeing Far

Who wrote this?

A time traveler visits the far future;
men traverse interplanetary space;
Martians invade Earth;
there will be wars and revolutions;
an alternative history unfolds on a parallel Earth.

I have just summarized five major sf works by HG Wells - and also by Poul Anderson.

Moving on from Wells:

Stapledon gave us cosmic sf;

Capek gave us robots;

de Camp gave us a time traveler changing history;

Heinlein gave us a future history series, a generation ship, science fictional treatment of immortality, juvenile sf, elaborate circular causality and magic as technology;

Asimov gave us robotics and a predictive science of society;

Anderson developed all of these themes.

The blog has entered territory where we are comparing future histories, including several by Anderson, and assessing collaborative future histories. Thus:

Niven created a future history series that includes a period of wars between men and kzinti;
Pournalle and Stirling wrote stories set in this period;
Anderson wrote sequels to Pournelle's and Stirling's Man-Kzin Wars stories.

We have come a long way from Wells' Martians invading Earth but are clearly in the same literary tradition. We find Anderson seeing far because he stands on the shoulders of:

Wells
Stapledon
Capek
de Camp
Heinlein
Asimov
Niven
Pournelle
Stirling -

- and we have not yet mentioned Mary Shelley, creator of science fiction and of the Frankenstein theme developed further by Capek, Asimov and Anderson.

Parallel Histories II

Robert Heinlein's Prophets ban space flight but are overthrown by the Second American Revolution which establishes the Covenant.

Isaac Asimov's psychohistorians are unable to prevent the Fall of the Galactic Empire but plan to build a Second Empire in a thousand years. The Plan begins with a surviving center of civilization called the Foundation.

James Blish's Bureaucratic State bans space flight but cannot ban atomic research and is overthrown by the Exodus of the Cities after the independent rediscovery of antigravity. Flying cities overthrow the Vegan Tyranny and the Earth police suppress interstellar empires.

The Psychotechnic Institute of Poul Anderson's Solar Union is unable to prevent the Second Dark Ages and the Coordination Service of his Stellar Union is unable to prevent the Third Dark Ages. Unions and Dark Ages are succeeded by several Empires, then by a Galactic civilization.

Anderson's Solar Commonwealth becomes a corporate state but declines and is unable to resist invasions by the Gorzuni, barbarian slavers. However, Manuel Argos leads a slave revolt and founds the Terran Empire. Later, Dominic Flandry is unable to prevent the Fall of the Terran Empire but ensures that several centers of civilization survive.

Larry Niven's UN Earth-Moon government bans technologies with military applications but then uses such technologies against the invading kzinti, carnivorous slavers. The UN survives.

Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium bans technologies with military applications but is unable to prevent the Patriotic Wars which devastate Earth. However, the Exodus of the Fleet leads to the Formation Wars and the founding of the First Empire of Man. The Secession Wars are followed by the Second Empire of Man.

Interplanetary And Interstellar

A future history series typically divides into an earlier interplanetary period and a later interstellar period although there are variations.

Interplanetary Periods
Heinlein: The Green Hills Of Earth
Asimov: I, Robot
Blish: They Shall Have Stars
Anderson, Psychotechnic: The Psychotechnic League; Cold Victory
Anderson, Technic: "The Saturn Game"
Niven: the Garner/Hamilton period
Pournelle: (straight to interstellar)

Blish's four volumes are respectively interplanetary, interstellar, intergalactic and inter-cosmic. Anderson also goes intergalactic and inter-cosmic although not in his future histories.

It seems to require an extra leap of the imagination for sf writers to get outside the galaxy. Asimov only just starts to think about it at the end of his future history. Having populated the Galaxy only with human beings and with robots whose behavior is constrained by their relationship to human beings, he begins to ask whether there might be other kinds of intelligences in other galaxies.

Ten Near Futures

When I reflected that several American future histories are interconnected, I knew that Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium series was part of the mix but did not expect to get into it in any detail but it is worth the effort. After reading about -

Robert Heinlein's World Federation,
Isaac Asimov's economy- and ecology-controlling positronic Brains,
James Blish's spaceflight-banning Bureaucratic State, Port Authority and two alternative UN governments (four scenarios here),
Poul Anderson's Solar Union and Solar Commonwealth (in his first two future histories),
Larry Niven's UN and Belt governments (in his single future history) -

- we now read about Pournelle's CoDominium of the United States and the Sovier Union.

Here are ten parallel near future regimes each preceding later historical developments. Try to fit all that into a single multiverse. Starting point: we are told that Heinlein's Rhysling and Anderson's van Rijn both visit Anderson's Old Phoenix inn - but please disregard Heinlein's The Number Of The Beast.

Pournelle's John Falkenberg is a substantial character in and of himself and in recent posts I found that, for me, he faintly echoed a couple of Anderson's characters. Onward.

Isolated Planets

How likely are faster than light interstellar travel and a galaxy full of habitable but uninhabitable planets for human beings to colonize? I think that both ideas are extremely unlikely. However, these improbable premises underlie two standard sf scenarios:

an interstellar civilization or "Empire";

a post-Imperial period during which colonized extrasolar planets, isolated for several generations, are gradually rediscovered and recivilized by the few worlds that have retained or regained the capacity for interstellar travel.

This second scenario, Star Trek without the absurdity of identically humanoid beings independently evolved on innumerable planets, exists in:

Isaac Asimov's Second Foundation;
James Blish's Cities In Flight;
the Long Night and Allied Planets periods of Poul Anderson's Technic History;
Jerry Pournelle's A Spaceship For The King, expanded as King David's Spaceship.

Poul Anderson describes fictional planets in detail and always makes clear that human colonists would require dietary supplements, imported ecologies, biological readjustments etc. Another planet is not just another continent.

Important People

Structurally, a future history has an earlier period and a later period and the earlier period has a pivotal character or characters who are builders of the future:

in HG Wells' The Shape Of Things To Come, Gustave de Windt, author of Social Nucleation (1942);

in Robert Heinlein's Future History, DD Harriman, "The Man Who Sold The Moon";

in Isaac Asimov's future history, Susan Calvin, robopsychologist;

in James Blish's Cities in Flight, Senator Bliss Wagoner, secretly behind the spindizzy and the antiagathics;

in Blish's The Seedling Stars, Jacob Rullman, inventor of pantropy, the science of human adaptation to extraterrestrial environments;

in Blish's Haertel Scholium, Adolph Haertel and also Thor Wald, inventor of the Dirac transmitter;

in Poul Anderson's Psychotechnic History, Valti and Fourre;

in Anderson's Technic History, Nicholas van Rijn, leader of the independents in the Polesotechnic League, and David Falkayn, discoverer of Mirkheim and Founder of Avalon;

in Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium future history, John Christian Falkenberg, mercenary.

Wells' Philip Raven dreams an "Outline of the Future" whereas Asimov's Hari "Raven" Seldon predicts the future. Raven's dreamed text includes a chapter on Karl Marx and Henry George.

Star Trek And The Future Histories

David Birr explains this bizarre cover image in a comment here.

Star Trek TV series, films and novels have become a future history and a cultural reference point. When I told a friend about a "reality storm" in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman, he remarked that that sounded like something out of Star Trek, then laughed when I told him that one of the characters had said that that sounded like something out of Star Trek.

A narrator in Robert Heinlein's The Number Of The Beast compares the bridge of Lazarus Long's spaceship to the bridge of the Enterprise - although I would prefer not to refer to The Number Of The Beast.

Isaac Asimov scientifically advised Star Trek. James Blish adapted episodes as short stories and wrote the first Star Trek novel. At a Memorial evening for James Blish in London, Charles Monteith of Faber and Faber described Blish's Cities in Flight future history as "a higher and greater Star Trek."

Larry Niven adapted a Known Space story as a Star Trek animated episode. Niven and Jerry Pournelle place a Chief Engineer from New Scotland on a Navy spaceship and say that this ethnicity is common among Engineers.

If Kirk were in Intelligence and Vulcan were in the Klingon Empire, then Star Trek would parallel Poul Anderson's Flandry series. Many sf stories about spaceship crews exploring extrasolar planets could be adapted as Star Trek episodes.

Addendum: Are Moties like intelligent tribbles?

Master Of Future Histories And A Few Questions

Poul Anderson wrote not only a robot story in his Psychotechnic History but also a US Robots story for Isaac Asimov's future history. Thus, of the seven future histories mentioned in the previous post, Anderson:

wrote two (Psychotechnic, Technic);
contributed to three (Asimov's, Niven's, Pournelle's);
addressed issues from two (Heinlein's, Asimov's) -

- and also wrote several other future histories. This gives Anderson a preeminent position as a future historian.

Regarding the issue that I raised concerning the locations of Alderson Points in Niven and Pournelle's The Mote In God's Eye (London, 1979), maybe the giant star had expanded to encompass the Point? However, the star is merely as big as the orbit of Saturn whereas the Points are described as located far from either stars or large planets.

Mote contains unexpected humor:

"'Let's go make first contact with an alien, Mr Renner.'
"'I think you just did that,' said Renner. He glanced nervously at the screens to be sure the Admiral was gone.'" (p. 110)

Is it appropriate that, as human beings approach first contact, some italicized passages present an alien pov? Is it appropriate that, in one such passage, the omniscient narrator informs us:

"The Engineer knew enough about the warship already to scare the wits out of Captain Blaine if he'd known." (p. 114)?

A passage on pp. 59-61 presents Blaine's pov:

"...Rod thought..." (p. 60);
"...Rod felt a wild internal glee..." (p. 61).

However, the same passage also informs us:

"...[the scanners] also showed several odd black silhouettes against that white background. Nobody noticed..." (p. 59)

Nobody, not even Rod, noticed? So this is the omniscient narrator again. Is his presence appropriate?

(Yet again: a large round number of posts near the end of a month. Do I take a break till Mar 1st or maintain the pace with the posts? We will find out.)

A Vast Space

I am mentally hovering over a vast conceptual space occupied by seven future histories written by six American sf authors. Beginning with Poul Anderson's monumental History of Technic Civilization and his earlier, shorter but surprisingly substantial Psychotechnic History, we look back to Anderson's predecessors, Heinlein, Asimov and Blish, and forward to his successors, Niven and Pournelle.

There are other future historians and other future histories by Anderson. However, these seven series can be considered as a group because four were edited by John W Campbell, two were written by Anderson and the last two incorporate collaborative writing, including contributions by Anderson. Anderson's Psychotechnic History addresses Heinleinian immortality and multi-generation interstellar spaceships and Asimovian robots and predictive social science. Pournelle's future history culminates in two novels co-written by Niven, with advice from Heinlein.

This makes the seven series sound like a single series. However, they remain seven distinct timelines. Common themes are:

(i) near future technological advances and social changes;
(ii) a period of interplanetary travel;
(iii) an FTL drive;
(iv) extrasolar colonization;
(v) interstellar imperialism;
(vi) the rise and fall of civilizations.

Heinlein, leading the way, concentrated more on (i) and (ii), reaching (iii) and (iv) only at the end of his original five volume Future History. (I do not accept any later volumes as valid continuations.)

Within this larger context, let me address two specific issues within Niven and Pournelle's The Mote In God's Eye (London, 1979). On p. 16, First Lieutenant Cargill, complaining about Engineer Sinclair's exaggerated Scottish accent, accuses him of speaking normally when he gets excited whereas, on p. 92, Cargill says that he sometimes cannot understand Sinclair when the latter is excited. So which way round is it?

P. 32 informs us that tramline end points are far from large masses whereas p. 97 informs us that the Alderson Point (presumably the same thing?) to a large star is within the star. (A spaceship's force field enables it to enter the star.)

Five First Empires

(i) After the Fall of the Galactic Empire, the Second Foundationers plan to build a Second Empire in a mere thousand years. If they succeed, then the fallen Empire will be renamed the First.

(ii) Donvar Ayeghen, President of the Galactic Archeological Society, refers to excavations in the ruins of Sol City, Terra, and to Manuel Argos, the Founder of the First Empire.

(iii) Galactics who have come to evacuate Earth fly among the ruins of Sol City, capital of the legendary First Empire.

(iv) When Leonidas IV proclaims the Second Empire of Man in 2903, the Empire that had ended in 2640 becomes the First.

(v) The Terran Federation is succeeded by the First Galactic Empire.

(i) = Isaac Asimov's Foundation future history.
(ii) = Poul Anderson's History of Technic Civilization.
(iii) = Anderson's Psychotechnic History.
(iv) = Jerry Pournelle's CoDominium future history.
(v) = H Beam Piper's Terrohuman Future History.

Future Histories Overview

Some future histories I am unfamiliar with and would welcome input:

Cordwainer Smith;
H Beam Piper;
Marion Zimmer Bradley.

The ones that I do know divide into four groups:

British
Wells
Stapledon
Aldiss
RC Churchill (not well known)

Campbell-edited
Heinlein
Asimov
Blish
Anderson

An American sequence (overlapping with "Campbell")
Heinlein
Anderson (2)
Niven
Pournelle

Anderson's later future histories
six or seven

The magnitude of Poul Anderson's contributions is evident from these lists.

Relationships Between Future Histories

Maybe two groups of future histories overlap? On the one hand, Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, James Blish and Poul Anderson were four Campbell-edited future historians. On the other hand, five particular future histories (maybe) form a literary sequence:

Heinlein, the Future History;
Anderson, the Psychotechnic History;
Anderson, the Technic History;
Larry Niven, the Known Space History;
Jerry Pournelle, the CoDominium History.

Anderson:

modeled the Pschotechnic History on the Future History;
made Rhysling from the Future History a guest in the Old Phoenix;
wrote one story set in the US Robots period of Asimov's future history;
wrote three stories set in the Man-Kzin Wars period of the Known Space History;
wrote one story set in the War World period of the CoDominium History.

Heinlein advised Niven and Pournelle on the first of their joint novels set in the CoDominium History. Niven and SM Stirling contributed separately to War World whereas Pournelle and Stirling contributed jointly to the Man-Kzin Wars. And I may have missed some details here.

Addendum: I did:

 Pournelle and Stirling contributed jointly to the Falkenberg period of the CoDominium History;
Niven adapted a Known Space story as a Star Trek animated episode and Alan Dean Foster adapted the episode as a prose story.

What Is A Weapon? II

One character argues that collective consciousness is necessary to unite humanity against extragalactic invaders but why should beings capable of intergalactic travel invade? As Alan Moore’s character, Skizz, says:

“When technology…has reached…a certain level…weapons are redundant. When you already have…all that you need, then…why fight?”

-copied from here. 

I have copied this passage from the Science Fiction blog in order to back up the point about technology and weapons. Skizz also says, although I am not about to look up the reference at this time of night, that his people have instruments that militaristic Earthmen would regard as weapons.

My point here was that I thought that Alan Moore displayed greater insight than Isaac Asimov. Moore, Niven and Anderson all make observations that break down the distinction between technologies designed to be used as weapons and technologies powerful enough to be used as weapons even though there intended purpose was, e.g., transport. Niven makes this point with both a car and a spaceship. Pretty smart stuff. 

Going Hyper

When fictional characters travel in a jet plane, the technical parameters of their journey are laid down by factors external to the fictional text whereas, when an sf writer invokes "hyperspace," he can say what he wants. Thus:

in Poul Anderson's History of Technic Civilization, travelers take time to cross interstellar distances faster than light and cannot communicate by hyperspatial pulses across more than a light year;

in Anderson's For Love And Glory (New York, 2003), travelers take no time to jump across even greater distances and can communicate between planetary systems by hyperbeam;

Isaac Asimov, Larry Niven and others have their different versions of hyperspace - indeed, Niven rightly raises further questions about his version later in the Ringworld series.

In FLAG, a spaceship melodiously says:

"Stand by for hyperjump,'" (p. 88)

- and, in Ensign Flandry, a ship's captain announces:

"'Stand by for hyperdrive. Stand by for combat. Glory to the Emperor.'" (Young Flandry, p. 172)

But they are talking about different kinds of hyperspace.

Reason

Intelligent beings have biologically based motivations but also:

experience;
reason;
the ability, indeed the necessity, to learn from experience, instruction and reflection;
the ability to change their environment with hands and brain and thus to change themselves in the process (in fact, that is how we became human);
the ability to practice psychophysical disciplines of various kinds.

In Poul Anderson's Brain Wave, an increase in intelligence enables human reason to win its long war against animal instincts. Isaac Asimov's Daneel Olivaw reasons his way beyond the First Law of Robotics. (Daneel is an artificial, not a biological, intelligence but, by the same token, there are some parallels.)

So I think that some of the homo servus in SM Stirling's Drakon would be able, perhaps quite dispassionately, to reach the conclusion that the Domination, incapable of reform, should be overthrown - and they would be well placed to sabotage it.

A Symbol Of Freedom

In American science fiction, the ultimate symbol of freedom is interstellar flight. Characters dissatisfied with life on Earth or in the Solar System or just wanting a new start leave:

Slower Than Light

Robert Heinlein
Methuselah's Children (FTL return)
Time For The Stars (FTL return)

Poul Anderson:
The Rustum History
Tales Of The Flying Mountains
Harvest Of Stars
The Boat Of A Million Years

SM Stirling
The Stone Dogs

Robert Siverberg
Tower Of Glass

Faster Than Light

Poul Anderson
The Psychotechnic History
The Technic History

James Blish
Cities In Flight
The Seedling Stars

Isaac Asimov
The End Of Eternity (a bad time travel novel)

Tower Of Glass ends:

"Krug is at peace. He departs forever from Earth. He begins his journey at last."
-Robert Silverberg, Tower Of Glass (St Albans, Herts, 1976), p. 206.

As far as I can remember without rereading the entire novel, Krug has lost everything on Earth and has no guarantee of finding a habitable planet on his arrival in another planetary system. However, like "Le Matelot," quoted in Anderson's Trader To The Stars, it is enough that he is on his way.

Addendum: Anderson's Kith History shows STL interstellar traders but not how they got out of the Solar System in the first place.

Frankenstein And The Future II

Here, I indicated a literary sequence from Mary Shelley through Stapledon, Wells and Heinlein to Anderson and Stirling. Here, I illustrated this sequence with the theme of scientific changes to humanity. However, I also posted at 4.00 AM and thus forgot some links in the sequence:

Asimov
Robots, humanoid AI's, are programmed against harming or disobeying human beings because of the "Frankenstein Complex," the fear that conscious artifacts will destroy their creators. Giant robotic "Brains," controlling the global economy, phase themselves out because they regard self-determination as the greatest human good. However, their successors, the Georges, plan eventual control of society by the best and most intelligent, namely themselves. (Programmed not merely to protect and obey any human being but also to assess which individuals are worthiest of protection and obedience, they come to discount the difference between flesh and metal: Robotics becomes Humanics.)

Foundation: Seldon's psychohistorical Plan will not only restore civilization but also change human nature by ensuring that a mentally powerful clique permanently rules society.

Robots and Foundation: Free robots are secretly behind Seldon and also behind a further transformation of humanity into a collective consciousness.

Blish
In Blish's shorter future history, as in Stapledon's future history, human beings are artificially adapted to inhabit other planets.

Anderson
In Anderson's first future history, human beings gain direct control of basic cosmic forces by artificially mutating their brains.

Notes
(i) We have added Asimov and Blish to the list.
(ii) Although Asimov is the least accomplished of these authors in literary terms, his ideas are logical and dialectical and cannot be summarized in a single sentence.
(iii) Anderson, of course, appears twice, represented by his first and last future histories.
(iv) SM Stirling's The Stone Dogs is a rich text that will require considerable time to appreciate it fully.