Isaac Asimov
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Foundation_SeriesThe first four stories were collected, along with a new story taking place before the others, in a single volume published by Gnome Press in 1951 as Foundation. The remainder of the stories were published in pairs as Foundation and Empire (1952) and Second Foundation (1953), resulting in the "Foundation Trilogy", as the series was known for decades. In 1981, after the series had long been considered the most important work of modern science fiction, Asimov was convinced by his publishers to write a fourth book, which was Foundation's Edge (1982).[2] He followed this with a sequel, Foundation and Earth (1983) and five years later prequels Prelude to Foundation and Forward the Foundation. During the lapse between sequels and prequels Asimov tied in his Foundation series with his various other series, creating a single unified universe of his most known works.
The premise of the series is that scientist Hari Seldon spent his life developing a branch of mathematics known as psychohistory, a concept devised by Asimov and Campbell. Using the law of mass action, it can predict the future, but only on a large scale; it is error-prone for anything smaller than a planet or an empire. It works on the principle that the behaviour of a mass of people is predictable. And the quantity of this mass tends to be very huge (like equal to the population of the Galaxy). The larger the mass the more predictable is the future. Using these techniques, Seldon foresees the fall of the Galactic Empire, which encompasses the entire Milky Way, and a dark age lasting thirty thousand years before a second great empire arises. To shorten the period of barbarism, he creates two Foundations, small secluded havens of art and science, on opposite ends of the galaxy. The focus of the trilogy is on the Foundation of the planet Terminus. The people living there are working on an all-encompassing Encyclopedia, and are unaware of Seldon's real intentions (for if they were, the variables would become too uncontrolled). The Encyclopedia serves to preserve knowledge of the physical sciences after the collapse. The Foundation's location is chosen so that it acts as the focal point for the next empire in another thousand years (rather than the projected thirty thousand).
While the plot is superficially derived from the fall of Rome, it draws on a much deeper level from later historical events. The Foundation's story closely follows the 19th century narrative of Manifest Destiny, while stories of the Mule in Foundation and Empire draw on Europe's experience with Hitler and Nazism. The Foundation series is not obviously "about" Manifest Destiny or Nazism, but much of the stories' thematic resonance has its source in those events.
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Foundation slides gradually into oligarchy and dictatorship prior to the appearance of the galactic conqueror, known as the Mule who was able to succeed through an empathic/telepathic ability, but, for the most part, the book treats that change as being necessary in Hari Seldon's plan, rather than mulling over whether it is on the whole positive or negative.
The book also wrestles with the idea of individualism. Hari Seldon's plan is often treated as an inevitable mechanism of society, a vast mindless mob mentality of quadrillions of humans across the galaxy, and many in the series struggle against it only to fail. However, the plan itself is reliant upon cunning individuals like Salvor Hardin and Hober Mallow to make wise decisions, and capitalize on the trends. The Mule, a single individual with remarkable powers, topples the Foundation and nearly destroys the Seldon plan with his special, unforeseen abilities. In order to repair the damage the Mule inflicts, the Second Foundation deploys a plan which also turns upon individual reactions. Hari Seldon himself hopes that his Plan will "reduce 30,000 years of Dark Ages and barbarism to a single millennium." Psychohistory is based on group trends, and cannot predict with sufficient accuracy the effects of these individuals, and the Second Foundation's true purpose was to counter this flaw.
Asimov never found a solution for a stable and constantly-evolving society with the exception of a single organism called Gaia. The issue of death (of society) surfaced at every step. Gaia was a single organism - humans, planet, other beings all forming one mind. Gaia was the only stable solution shown in series.
All in all...interesting mind-experiment there - and good reading.
