XPost: alt.fan.tolkien, rec.arts.books.tolkien, alt.books.cs-lewis   
   From: bredband.net@ojevind.lang   
      
   "Troels Forchhammer"  skrev i meddelandet   
   news:Xns9C668C5184798T.Forch@147.243.252.16...   
      
   [snip]   
      
   > There is a philosophical discussion in this as well -- one on whether   
   > the universe is deterministic (though chaotic) or random. If we   
   > believe that human behaviour is fundamentally deterministic, then it   
   > is much easier to accept psychohistory as a viable idea. But at least   
   > I think that we cannot, at this point, rule it out as impossible the   
   > way we can with his positronic brains or his particular idea of   
   > hyperspace.   
      
   I rule it out as impossible in the same way that I say that the pyramids in   
   Egypt and South America were not built by aliens. I can't prove it, but I   
   don't need to. Anyway, Asimov wrote three enjoyable novels based on his   
   idea. I just wish he had left it at that, just the way I wish Ursula K. Le   
   Guin would have refrained from writing sequels to her Earthsea trilogy.   
     I do think, however, that Asimov believed rather too intensely that   
   society could be shaped in a "rational" way by using "scientific" thinking   
   and exterminating religion. That positivist belief, very much a product of   
   the 19th century and Auguste Comte, still enjoyed some supprt in Asimov's   
   youth (John Wyndham was another adherent), but it's pretty much superseded   
   by now. Rationality isn't what it used to be.   
      
   Öjevind   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)