HARI SELDON... born in the 11,988th year of the Galactic Era; died 12,069. The dates are more commonly given in terms of the current Foundational Era as -79 to the year 1 F.E. [...]
... The best existing authority we have for the details of his life is the biography written by Gaal Dornick who, as a young man, met Seldon two years before the great mathematician's death. The story of the meeting ...
— ENCYCLOPEDIA GALACTICA, 116th edition, published in 1020 F.E.
First published in Foundation (1951), by Isaac Asimov. This Science Fiction Short Story is an expansion of the first scene in "The Encyclopedists". It is the first story in The Foundation Trilogy and the last chronologically. It introduces the audience to a still-living Hari Seldon and explains how he set the stage of Year 1 in the Foundation Era.
Gaal Dornick has completed his doctorate in mathematics from his home planet, Synnax, and received an invitation to join Dr. Hari Seldon's project at the University of Trantor. So he travels to Trantor, the capital city/planet of the Galactic Empire. Once there, he tries to see the sights, running into obstacles due to most Trantorians simply not caring about the world outside of the city. Eventually, he finds a tower designed for looking out across the vast expanse of metal domes that covers the world.
While sightseeing, Gaal meets Jerril, and they discuss Raven Seldon, and the way Trantor thinks of him as a doomsayer thumping about the collapse of the Empire. Bothered by the insults being lobbed at his future employer, Gaal goes back to his hotel room, where he finds Dr Seldon waiting for him. They discuss Psychohistory, a branch of mathematics that the two of them can use to predict sociological events, such as the future of Trantor. Dr Seldon demonstrates to Gaal that due to the current conditions of the Empire, Trantor will inevitably become more specialized, until it is destroyed by internal conflicts. Now that he has confirmed for Gaal the reason why everything about "Raven Seldon" is being investigated, he departs, implying that he expects to see Gaal at the University of Trantor tomorrow.
Gaal Dornick, however, is awoken by the hotel desk clerk calling to inform him that he is under arrest by the authority of the Commission of Public Safety. They interrogate him about Dr Seldon and predictions of the collapse of galactic civilization. He meets briefly with Lors Avakim, a lawyer, who explains that his current conditions had been anticipated, and even engineered, by Dr Seldon and the psychohistorical project. Gaal is amazed, since Psychohistory is normally limited to things on the scale of Absurdly Huge Population or more. Hari Seldon, however, is very, very good at psychohistory.
Both Dr Seldon and Dornick are on trial, the results of which seem a crushing defeat to Gaal, as everyone associated with Seldon's project (including women and children who know nothing of psychohistory) face exile from Trantor within the next six months. They are sent to the most remote habitable planet in the entire Milky Way; Terminus. There, the project may continue to develop their Encyclopedia Galactica.
In addition to adaptations of Foundation (1951), "The Psychohistorians" can be found as an Audio Adaptation in William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy Read Four Science Fiction Classics (1979).
"The Psychohistorians" provides examples of:
- Absurdly Huge Population: Based on the Encyclopedia Galactica entry on Trantor, the planet is the capital of the Galactic Empire and the population is in excess of 40 billion. It is also fed by the daily combined output of 20 farm planets.
- Apocalypse Anarchy: Seldon tells Linge Chen that while Trantor won't fall for centuries more, should Chen execute him, the spreading rumors about the future demise will make the people tear the Empire apart in decades at most.
- Cassandra Did It: Hari Seldon is taken to court due to his claims that the Galactic Empire is falling apart and will completely collapse within a few centuries. The charge is disloyalty and attempt to incite trouble. The punishment is exile to the farthest planet in the galaxy, exactly what he wished.
- City Planet: Trantor, capital of the Galactic Empire, has every landmass covered by a single interconnected city (making it one of the first depictions of a planet-wide city). Because its population is in the tens of billions, it depends on outer worlds for food. Fleets of ships deliver produce from twenty different farm planets."Its urbanization, progressing steadily, had finally reached the ultimate. All the land surface of Trantor, 75,000,000 square miles in extent, was a single city. The population, at its height, was well in excess of forty billions." — Encyclopedia Galactica
- Courtroom Episode: This Short Story is broken into chapters with two dramatically different "trials", taking place one after the other.
- Chapter 6: For three days, the prosecution, represented by the Commission's Advocate, harshly questioned Dr Seldon. It's implied that other evidence was given (explicit that Gaal Dornick provides almost zero information as a witness), and for all three days the courtroom is restricted to a select group who would all be hostile to the famed psychohistorian. When Dr Seldon, through charisma alone, intimidates the Advocate into briefly believing psychohistory's prediction of ruin, a recess is called.
- Chapter 7: After yesterday's disruption of the courtroom, Dr Seldon and Gaal are in a room alone with the five judges from the trial. They insist that there is no trial, and offer cigarettes to demonstrate a friendly atmosphere. Make no mistake, though, Chief Commissioner Linge Chen is the one who dictates policy through a Puppet Emperor. Chen and Seldon come to a mutual understanding; Hari Seldon accepts exile for himself and his project, and they don't execute anyone.
- Distant Sequel: A Short Story added retroactively when Foundation (1951) was published, this begins the timeline of the Foundation Era at -2 Foundation Era, compared to 50 F.E. of "The Encyclopedists". Year 1 is when the planet Terminus is colonized by the Foundation.
- Domed Hometown: Trantor's topmost layer is completely domed over, and ironically creating habitable areas; plant life has even managed to gain a foothold on the surfaces of the artificial structures. Everybody just chooses to live in enclosed sectors. This is inherited behaviour from their ancient ancestors on Earth, as depicted in The Caves of Steel.
- Encyclopedia Exposita: This story expands the role that the Encyclopedia Galactica plays, providing excerpts from the entries for Hari Seldon, Trantor, Psychohistory, and The Commission of Public Safety. It also establishes the book as the objective pursued by everyone sent to Terminus.
- The End Is Nigh: Hari Seldon predicts the collapse of the Galactic Empire, within 300 years (500 in the earlier publications). Despite the centuries between then and now, Seldon believes this is happening quickly, because after those 300 years will be 30,000 years where the galaxy is a feudal disaster.
- Fling a Light into the Future: Dr Seldon convinces Chief Commissioner Linge Chen that the project his people are working on is to produce an encyclopedia and publish it across the galaxy before the fall of the Galactic Empire, so that the collapse would not mean the loss of scientific knowledge, giving humanity a headstart on putting things back in order. During "The Encyclopedists", however, Seldon reveals that it was a lie used to trick everyone into being moved to Terminus so that they can form the core of a second galactic empire.
- Flying Car: The taxi Gaal uses to arrive at the Luxor hotel can fly vertically as well as accelerate in the air. It's used to indicate that events are taking place in the far future, when such antigravity transportation might be common.
- If My Calculations Are Correct: Hari Seldon gives Gaal Dornick a bunch of calculations that show events over the next three hundred years. His maths proves that the capital planet-city Trantor, and by proxy, the Galactic Empire, will fall within that timeframe. Several mathematical terms are thrown around, but the details are left vague enough that Seldon's specific calculations unexplained. Dornick, who normally needs things explained to him, is capable of verifying the calculations for himself, and it turns out Seldon is right.
- Ignored Expert: The Commission of Public Safety, led by Chief Commissioner Linge Chen, don't believe Hari Seldon's claim that the Empire is falling apart under its own bureaucracy and puts him on trial for treason. They come to a compromise; the government won't prosecute Seldon for treason, and Seldon accepts exile to the furthest habitable planet in the galaxy, for himself and everyone in his project. Later works Retcon this slightly; only his project is exiled, they don't want Seldon to leave their sight.
- Informed Attribute: Gaal Dornick supposedly has a backwoods accent, but it's not shown in the text. Other stories in Foundation Series use a Funetik Aksent to show characters speaking with unusual diction or speech patterns.
- Kangaroo Court: Zigzagged. Hari Seldon's trial is a media circus where the entire courtroom was packed with a hostile crowd, but the "kangaroo" part comes when the trial is interrupted midway through by the Committee of Public Safety. They weren't sure they'd get a favorable verdict even with the court rigged as it was, so they ended the trial and instead brought Seldon in to "discuss the safety of the state," and threatened him with extrajudicial execution to force him and his followers into exile.
- Layered Metropolis: Trantor, the capital of the Galactic Empire, is a planet so coated with layers and layers of city that most of its inhabitants live their entire lives without ever seeing sunlight."Trantor is tunneled over a mile down. It's like an iceberg. Nine-tenths of it is out of sight. It even works itself out a few miles into the sub-ocean soil at the shorelines." — Jerril
- Magpies as Portents: Raven is a type of corvid (the same family as magpies), and is also an (archaic) adjective for doom. This story is the first to nickname him Raven Seldon (first in publication order) because of his prediction that the Galactic Empire will collapse."Hari's the one I mean. They call him Raven. Slang, you know. He keeps predicting disaster." — Jerril, agent of the Commission of Public Safety.
- Malicious Misnaming: Hari Seldon's political opponents call him Raven Seldon because he predicts the collapse of the Galactic Empire.
- Monster of the Week: Taking place when Seldon is still alive, he invites a mathematician to discuss his psychohistory and sneaks in a private nocturnal meeting with the man. This prompts Chief Commissioner of Public Safety, Linge Cheng, to imprison, then exile, Seldon to stop his schemes.
- Naïve Newcomer: This story replaces a part of "The Encyclopedists" and introduces Gaal Dornick so that someone unfamiliar with Trantor politics can be used to ask questions of the other characters. He's especially useful to introduce the audience to psychohistory, a branch of mathematics whose broad strokes is pivotal to understanding the plot of the Foundation series.His name was Gaal Dornick and he was just a country boy who had never seen Trantor before.
- Now You Tell Me: Gaal Dornick gets mildly inconvenienced when the elevator he's in goes through such rapid deceleration that he lifts off of the floor. Everyone else read the sign which instructs you to tuck your feet under the railing to catch yourself from flying upwards.
- Orwellian Retcon: In addition to replacing the first scene in Foundation (1951), small changes were made to the text after the 1970s printings; the most easily noticed is the five centuries before the fall predicted by Seldon becoming only 300 years.
- Prequel: This Short Story was added retroactively when Foundation (1951) was published, to begin the Foundation series at -2 Foundation Era, compared to 50 F.E. of "The Encyclopedists". Year 1 is when the planet Terminus is colonized by the Encyclopedia Foundation.
- Puppet King: The Emperor isn't named, because they're unable to directly affect the plot. Chief Commissioner Linge Chen, of the Commission of Public Safety, is the true power behind the throne. This has to be explained to Gaal Dornick, because he's from a backwater planet, and initially assumed he could rely on a hearing with the Emperor to escape unjust political imprisonment.
- Reassigned to Antarctica: Dr Seldon is coerced into accepting exile for his Encyclopedia Galactica project. They have six months before being shipped off to Terminus, a Metal-Poor Planet on the edge of the Milky Way.
- State Sec: The Commission of Public Safety is run by Chief Commissioner Linge Chen. They effectively have control over the Emperor, and therefore, the Empire. In this story, they're The Antagonist to Dr Seldon and his team, viewing them as a disruptive influence to the Empire. The conflict is resolved by the Commission exiling Dr Seldon and his team from Trantor, to the farthest known habitable planet in the galaxy.
- Terra Deforming: Trantor has converted every available landmass into a single interconnected city (making it one of the first depictions of a planet-wide city). Due to a lack of agrarian areas, Trantor depends on regular shipments of food.
- Thanatos Gambit: Dr Seldon implies to the Audience Surrogate, Gaal Dornick, that everything has been taken into account, and he explicitly states that his death is not going to be disruptive to achieving his goals. He isn't executed, but his doctors say he will only live for one-two more years, and his plan will take a thousand years."There is probability of 1.7% that I will be executed, but of course that will not stop the project. We have taken that into account as well." — Dr Hari Seldon
- Trespassing to Talk: Dr Seldon is waiting in Gaal's hotel room when the latter returns from sightseeing. The discussion serves a multilayered purpose; Dr Seldon is able to explain to Gaal about what the maths of psychohistory says about the future of Trantor, and by extension, the Empire. It also instigates the Commission of Public Safety to arrest Hari Seldon because he's holding clandestine meetings with future employees. (It also lets Gaal ask Dr Seldon to explain things so the audience gets exposition.)
- Ungovernable Galaxy: Dr Seldon has identified, through his psychohistory, that the current Galactic Empire is collapsing due to the accumulating unmanageable social pressures.
- Unwitting Pawn: Dr Seldon invited Gaal Dornick to Trantor with the offer of a job, and snuck into his hotel room to talk in order to trigger the actions of the Commission of Public Safety and arrange to have his project exiled to the remote planet Terminus.
- The Watson: Gaal Dornick gives plenty of Exposition for the audience, but because he's recently arrived to Trantor, the capital city/planet of the Galactic Empire, dozens of things has to be explained to him by the other characters, like why Trantorians don't like the outside, why the Emperor won't see a provincial citizen, or why Dr Seldon is known as Raven Seldon.
- We Will Spend Credits in the Future: A tenth-credit payment is mentioned when Gaal is dropped off at the Luxor Hotel.
- Xanatos Gambit: Hari Seldon deliberately causes the Empire to arrest him and banish his organization to the furthest planet from Trantor, capital of the Galactic Empire. Exactly as Seldon had wanted (although three or four other places were predicted with less confidence, his innermost circle were planning on using any of them).
- Your Days Are Numbered: Seldon tells Gaal (and the audience) that the doctors believe he has less than two years before he will die of old age.
