^.. TIMELINE FOR THE ROBOTS AND FOUNDATION UNIVERSE Isaac Asimov The Foundation and Robot series of books, written by Isaac Asimov are one of my favorite science-fiction series. Others favorites include The Rama Series [ Clarke], Ender Series [Card], Hom ecom ing Series [Card], and the best of the best, The Gap Series [ Donaldson]. However, Asimov has a special knack for gripping your attention and holding it for a long period of time. I think this is because all his novels are simple and straight forward; they tell a story instead ofexplaining the theories behind the technologies and/or ideas in the story. That, in my opinion, is where most writers falter. Asimov just tells a great, exciting, and interesting story. The Second Foundation Trilogy, written by Bear, Brin, and Benford is a very good read too since it explains a lot left to the imagination in the original Foundation books. However, they fail to capture the essence of Asimov's Foundation books. I remember reading the first three Foundation books and then discovering that Asimov has passed away and so t he story wil l not continue. I was sad. Perhaps one of the reasons I really liked this series was R. Daneel Oliva w [R. = Robot]. He/It was first introduced in The Naked Sun and he played a role in almost every Foundation novel. How can one not help but love t hi s e te rn al hum an servant who worked for hum anity's s ake from 3200 C.E to 25251 C.E and onwards. The Robot novels before The Naked Sun deal t with issu es rela ted to the T hr ee Laws Of Roboti c s : (1) A robot may not injure a human being, or through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm, (2) a robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law, and (3) a robot must protect its own existence as long as such pr otec tion does not c onfl ict with the F ir st or Second Law. T hese t hr ee laws are deepl y ingrain ed and embedded into the positronic brains of each robot. They cannot be disobeyed. Daneel and Giskard,another robot, introduced the Zeroth Law around 3700 C.E that states, 'A robot may not injure humanity, or through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.' This, naturally, led to a modification of the First law as follows, 'A robot may not injure a human being, or through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm, except where that would conflict with the Zeroth Law.' These modifications, thought of as blasphemous by some, led to the Robotic Civil Wars between the Calvinians, strictly adhering to the original three laws, and the Giskardians, robots who had adop ted the Zeroth Law. I hope you can see how vast this Robots and Foundation universe is. I highly recommended reading the entire series although I wonder which book would be the best to start off with = ) Date Events R elated Books 1982 C.E Birth OfSusan Calvin. Incorporation of U.S. Robots and Mechanical Men. I, Robot 2007 C.E Susan Calvin begins to work for U.S. Robots. Later becomes chiefrobopsychologist. I, Robot Early 21st C A social and technical renaissance flourishes on Earth. Development of positron ic robots, c ontrol led by the Thr ee Laws of Robotics. Hyperatomic Drive allows first successful interstellar journey. Throu gh an acc id ent, Joseph Schwartz is sent on a time journey 10,000 years into the future. The Complete Robot I, Robot Pebble In The Sk y 2064 C.E Death ofSusan Calvin. Humanity begins colonizing several planets including Aurora. The first chaos outbreaks affect civilization, breaking down confidence. On Earth, citizens cluster underground, ban robots from cities. Spacers lose empathy. Relations between Earth and Spacer Worlds deteriorate. I, Robots Foundation's Triumph The planet Solaria [the last Space world] settled from the planet 04-12-2010 TimeLine for the Robots & Foundatio… www.sikander.org/foundation.php 1/7
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8/8/2019 TimeLine for the Robots & Foundations Universe
The Foundation and Robot series of books, written by Isaac Asimov are one of my favorite
science-fiction series. Others favorites include The Rama Series [Clarke], Ender Series [Card],Homecoming Series [Card], and the best of the best, The Gap Series [Donaldson]. However,
Asimov has a special knack for gripping your attention and holding it for a long period of time. I
think this is because all his novels are simple and straight forward; they tell a story instead of
explaining the theories behind the technologies and/or ideas in the story. That, in my opinion, is
where most writers falter. Asimov just tells a great, exciting, and interesting story.
The Second Foundation Trilogy, written by Bear, Brin, and Benford is a very good read too since
it explains a lot left to the imagination in the original Foundation books. However, they fail to
capture the essence of Asimov's Foundation books. I remember reading the first three Foundation
books and then discovering that Asimov has passed away and so the story will not continue. I
was sad.
Perhaps one of the reasons I really liked this series was R. Daneel Olivaw [R. = Robot]. He/It was
first introduced in The Naked Sun and he played a role in almost every Foundation novel. How can
one not help but love this eternal human servant who worked for humanity's sake from 3200 C.E
to 25251 C.E and onwards.
The Robot novels before The Naked Sun dealt with issues related to the Three Laws Of Robotics :
(1) A robot may not injure a human being, or through inaction, allow a human being to come to
harm, (2) a robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would
conflict with the First Law, and (3) a robot must protect its own existence as long as such
protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. These three laws are deeply ingrained
and embedded into the positronic brains of each robot. They cannot be disobeyed. Daneel andGiskard, another robot, introduced the Zeroth Law around 3700 C.E that states, 'A robot may not
injure humanity, or through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.' This, naturally, led to amodification of the First law as follows, 'A robot may not injure a human being, or through
inaction, allow a human being to come to harm, except where that would conflict with the Zeroth
Law.' These modifications, thought of as blasphemous by some, led to the Robotic Civil Warsbetween the Calvinians, strictly adhering to the original three laws, and the Giskardians, robots
who had adopted the Zeroth Law.
I hope you can see how vast this Robots and Foundation universe is. I highly recommendedreading the entire series although I wonder which book would be the best to start off with =)
Date Events Related Books
1982 C.EBirth Of Susan Calvin. Incorporation of U.S. Robots and Mechanical
Men.I, Robot
2007 C.ESusan Calvin begins to work for U.S. Robots. Later becomes chief
robopsychologist.I, Robot
Early 21st
C
A social and technical renaissance flourishes on Earth. Development
of positronic robots, controlled by the Three Laws of Robotics.Hyperatomic Drive allows first successful interstellar journey.
Through an acc ident, Joseph Schwartz is sent on a time journey
10,000 years into the future.
The Complete
RobotI, Robot
Pebble In The
Sky
2064 C.E
Death of Susan Calvin. Humanity begins colonizing several planets
including Aurora. The first chaos outbreaks affect civilization,
breaking down confidence. On Earth, citizens cluster underground,
ban robots from cities. Spacers lose empathy. Relations between
Earth and Spacer Worlds deteriorate.
I, Robots
Foundation's
Triumph
The planet Solaria [the last Space world] settled from the planet
04-12-2010 TimeLine for the Robots & Foundatio…
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8/8/2019 TimeLine for the Robots & Foundations Universe
3200 C.E Nexon. Decline of the robot-dependent Spacer culture. Later, Han
Fastolfe of Aurora creates the humaniform robot,R. Daneel Olivaw.
The Naked Sun
3500 C.ESpaceTown is established near New York City. R. Daneel Olivaw is
assigned to work with Earthman detective Elijah Bailey.
The Caves Of
Steel
3501 C.E
Elijah Bailey and Daneel Olivaw pursue an investigation on Solaria.
Fastolfe becomes influential in Auroran government and supports
new Earth emigration. Opponents led by Keldon Amadiro wantSpacers to terraform and populate new planets.
The Naked Sun
The Robots of
Dawn
3503 C.EBaley carries out investigation on Aurora accompanied by DaneelOlivaw and Giskard Relentlov - a telepathic robot. Aurora lets
Earth colonize new planets. Giskard suggests Earth folk must build
their new worlds completely without robots.
The Robots Of
Dawn
3505 C.E
The second wave of emigration from Earth begins, led by Ben Baley.
First Settler planet is named BaleyWorld. Number of Settler planets
grows fast. Relations between Settler and Spacer worlds grow tense.
Robots And
Empire
3537 C.E Death of Elijah Bailey on BaleyWorld.Robots And
Empire
3697 C.EKeldon Amadiro and Levular Manamus begin planting nuclear
amplifiers throughout Earth to take revenge for their earlier defeat.
Robots And
Empire
3700 C.E
Death of Han Fastolfe. Population of Solaria vanishes. DaneelOlivaw and Giskard Relentlov formulate the Zeroth Law of
Robotics, to override original Three Laws. Giskard provides Daneel
with telepathic abilities. Amadiro and allies turn on amplifiers to
make the Earth radioactive and inhabitable. Giskard permits this for
Zeroth Law reasons, in order to encourage human dispersal, then
dies because of First Law conflicts. The Great Diaspora (final
emigration) begins. A majority of robots split into two camps.
Giskardians led by Daneel follow the new Zeroth Law religion.
Calvinians think this an outrage. Robotic civil war ensues, mostly
unseen by humans fleeing poisoned Earth. Meanwhile robot ships
operating under Auroran programming cruise the galaxy ahead of the
spreading Settlers, terraforming and preparing planets forcolonization. Meme entities will later claim that this devastated
existing races. Memes escape to the Galactic Core.
Robots And
Empire
Foundation's
Fear
Foundations And
Chaos
3801 C.E
Spacer-colonized planet Inferno is doomed by ecological and cultural
catastrophe. Robots are built to operate under New Laws, giving
them greater flexibility and freedom. Settler specialists help terraform
the planet. Hostility toward New Law robots grows evident. Comet
crashes into the planet. Merging of Spacer and Settler culture
prevents social collapse. The interstellar robot civil war eventually
reaches Inferno. New Law robots are destroyed or go into hiding.
Caliban
Inferno
Utopia
Foundation's
Triumph
11300 C.E
Planet Rhodia and the Nebular Kingdoms led by the noble Hinriad
family shake off rule by planet Tyrann and rediscover democracy.Decadent Spacer worlds slowly die out. Colonization of Galaxycompleted. R. Daneel Olivaw formulates the Encoding Laws, setting
limits to artificial intelligence. Damping effects such as historical
amnesia, brain fever, and Giskardian mentalic persuasion devices areintroduced to fight chaos, Human mind, society and technology
stagnate. Some human and robot groups fight the amnesia.
The Stars Like
DustFoundation AndEarth
Foundation's
FearFoundation's
Triumph
12000 C.E
Trantorian Republic of five worlds becomes Trantorian Confederation,
then later the Trantorian Empire. R. Daneel Olivaw uses early "laws
of humanics" to guide it. Human origins forgotten.
The Currents Of Space
12300 C.E
Half of the inhabited worlds of the Galaxy are part of Trantorian
Empire. Trantor supports rebellion of planet Florina againstoppression by planet Sark.
The Currents Of
Space
12500 C.E
1 G.E
Trantorian Empire becomes the Galactic Empire. Start of Galactic
Calendar.
Arrival of Joseph Schwartz (thrown forward in time during the early
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