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Oct. 9th, 2008 01:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stevenehrbarThis is set after Foundation's Edge, contemporaneously with Foundation and Earth. It won't make sense unless you're rather familiar with the former.
"The problem," First Speaker Stor Gendibal said, "is that Preem Palver fatally miscalculated."
Delarmi, across the table, manifested the slightest hint of impatience; a hint that, to the minds around the table, clearly said, "Obviously, or else the First Foundation would not have developed these devices. Get on with it an explain."
Gendibal smiled. "In fact, the reason for miscalculation is precisely because of the whole orientation of the Second Foundation to mentalics instead of physics. Since we think of mentalics as separate and superior, we are not prepared to notice where physics impinges on it, except where it makes itself blatantly clear. And as a result, we have used this set of equation matricies to represent the Mule." Gendibal lit up a section of the Prime Radiant.
"What do you mean?" Delarmi asked. "The Mule's power was mentalic, not physical, and his entire rise was proof that the mentalic was superior to the physical. If there were a physical component to his power, the equations would not fit into the observed pattern."
"Of course. What we failed to note properly, however, was that the Mule's mentalic powers were not fully innate, but partly derived from the Visi-Sonor. If we substitute the following set of equations that account for that fact in place of the mentalic constants used, like so—" he twisted his wrist "—then look at the results."
After a few minutes of silent contemplation by the whole table, Leonis Cheng was the first at the table to speak. "Of course. That explains it. The First Foundation, with its physical orientation, would remember a physical device was critical to the Mule, and was directly involved in emotional control. Knowing that, they would fear that others could develop such devices and use them for mentalic control, even without the Mule's gifts. The menace was not extinguished with what they believed to be the end of the Second Foundation, but was ongoing, since anyone might develop such a device."
"Leading them to continue their researches and develop the improved mentalic devices the First Speaker just discovered on his trip. An interesting discovery," concluded Delarmi.
Gendibal bristled. "Merely interesting? It will require swift and careful work to stop them. If their capacities in menatlic technology develop at the rate their other technology does, they will destroy the Seldon Plan more througlhly than the Mule could have unchecked!"
Delarmi nodded. "A grave threat, if there was any Seldon Plan left to save."
Around the table, Speakers gasped. Gendibal looked severely at Delarmi and said, "Explain yourself."
Delmari inclined her head in acknowledgement. "I shall. You just brought up the rate of advancement in their other technologies. That is the source of the threat." She held up her hand. "Hear me out. First Speaker Gendibal, you yourself brought the necessary fact to our attention. The Foundation now possesses ships capable of traveling at least ten thousand parsecs an hour. The result is that the effective physical size of the Galaxy, measured in time, has collapsed by a factor of ten in any direction; a factor of a thousand, then, in terms of social density. If we include this increased speed into the Seldon Equations, like so—"
Delarmi pressed a few buttons in sequence. The Prime Radiant, on display in the center of the table, immediately exploded in Deviation Blue.
"There is no way to recall gravitic technology. The basics are too widely-published. We would need to suppress its application to spacecraft not just in the Foundation Federation, but throughout the galaxy (so it could not be used to fight the Federation), for the next five hundred years. That would require literally tens of thousands of Speaker-class mentalists, which we do not have and have no possibility of recruiting without such an effort itself disrupting the Seldon Plan just as badly. The Seldon Plan is flexible, but it is not infinitely so, and it cannot adapt to a thousand-fold increase in effective social density. It is shattered beyond recovery."
The room stared.
Gendibal was the first to speak. "Perhaps. That does not, however, mean we cannot create a new plan, combining psychohistory and mentalics, to achieve much the same ends as the Seldon Plan. It merely means we will take longer to do so, perhaps thousands of years more. But if the First Foundation retains knowledge of mentalic technology, it undermines the very axioms of psychohistory and makes mentalics useless. It will be difficult to act appropriately without an effective Plan to guide us, but we still must act, to gain the opportunity to develop a new plan."
"The problem," First Speaker Stor Gendibal said, "is that Preem Palver fatally miscalculated."
Delarmi, across the table, manifested the slightest hint of impatience; a hint that, to the minds around the table, clearly said, "Obviously, or else the First Foundation would not have developed these devices. Get on with it an explain."
Gendibal smiled. "In fact, the reason for miscalculation is precisely because of the whole orientation of the Second Foundation to mentalics instead of physics. Since we think of mentalics as separate and superior, we are not prepared to notice where physics impinges on it, except where it makes itself blatantly clear. And as a result, we have used this set of equation matricies to represent the Mule." Gendibal lit up a section of the Prime Radiant.
"What do you mean?" Delarmi asked. "The Mule's power was mentalic, not physical, and his entire rise was proof that the mentalic was superior to the physical. If there were a physical component to his power, the equations would not fit into the observed pattern."
"Of course. What we failed to note properly, however, was that the Mule's mentalic powers were not fully innate, but partly derived from the Visi-Sonor. If we substitute the following set of equations that account for that fact in place of the mentalic constants used, like so—" he twisted his wrist "—then look at the results."
After a few minutes of silent contemplation by the whole table, Leonis Cheng was the first at the table to speak. "Of course. That explains it. The First Foundation, with its physical orientation, would remember a physical device was critical to the Mule, and was directly involved in emotional control. Knowing that, they would fear that others could develop such devices and use them for mentalic control, even without the Mule's gifts. The menace was not extinguished with what they believed to be the end of the Second Foundation, but was ongoing, since anyone might develop such a device."
"Leading them to continue their researches and develop the improved mentalic devices the First Speaker just discovered on his trip. An interesting discovery," concluded Delarmi.
Gendibal bristled. "Merely interesting? It will require swift and careful work to stop them. If their capacities in menatlic technology develop at the rate their other technology does, they will destroy the Seldon Plan more througlhly than the Mule could have unchecked!"
Delarmi nodded. "A grave threat, if there was any Seldon Plan left to save."
Around the table, Speakers gasped. Gendibal looked severely at Delarmi and said, "Explain yourself."
Delmari inclined her head in acknowledgement. "I shall. You just brought up the rate of advancement in their other technologies. That is the source of the threat." She held up her hand. "Hear me out. First Speaker Gendibal, you yourself brought the necessary fact to our attention. The Foundation now possesses ships capable of traveling at least ten thousand parsecs an hour. The result is that the effective physical size of the Galaxy, measured in time, has collapsed by a factor of ten in any direction; a factor of a thousand, then, in terms of social density. If we include this increased speed into the Seldon Equations, like so—"
Delarmi pressed a few buttons in sequence. The Prime Radiant, on display in the center of the table, immediately exploded in Deviation Blue.
"There is no way to recall gravitic technology. The basics are too widely-published. We would need to suppress its application to spacecraft not just in the Foundation Federation, but throughout the galaxy (so it could not be used to fight the Federation), for the next five hundred years. That would require literally tens of thousands of Speaker-class mentalists, which we do not have and have no possibility of recruiting without such an effort itself disrupting the Seldon Plan just as badly. The Seldon Plan is flexible, but it is not infinitely so, and it cannot adapt to a thousand-fold increase in effective social density. It is shattered beyond recovery."
The room stared.
Gendibal was the first to speak. "Perhaps. That does not, however, mean we cannot create a new plan, combining psychohistory and mentalics, to achieve much the same ends as the Seldon Plan. It merely means we will take longer to do so, perhaps thousands of years more. But if the First Foundation retains knowledge of mentalic technology, it undermines the very axioms of psychohistory and makes mentalics useless. It will be difficult to act appropriately without an effective Plan to guide us, but we still must act, to gain the opportunity to develop a new plan."
