SEARCH IN THE GALAXY

Randy0, it's in poor taste to write pseudocode for a killer robot, don't you know that? Some of us actually build gadgets for a living. I think the origins of the Laws of Robotics were about Asimov talking with engineers that were pissed off about stories of killer robots, and engineers talking about how they build machines. The Laws of Robotics were originally about how engineers believe a robot should behave, and then, if robots reach a point that they are able to believe stuff, then the robots themselves should believe the Laws of Robotics. But hey, I appreciate that people who work in software have stopped taking responsibility for what their software might do. I think that the Emperor thought that Zephyr Halima could still be dangerous after discredited. She told Demerzel she had coached the Emperor well, so she probably suspected the vision wasn't genuine. And charismatic as she is, she would probably gain popularity again even after some discrediting. I think invoking the Zeroth Law for Demerzel is totally appropriate because it's a fundamental part of the character of Demerzel. The assassination then would be following the Zeroth Law and a command from the Emperor, that clearly has some rather high priority in her programming. There is good reason to think that Demerzel has some modified version of the Laws of Robotics, with obeying commands from the Emperor somewhere above the First Law, and it's unclear where that protocol stands in relation to the Zeroth Law. As for the Third Law, it explains why Demerzel reveals herself to Zephyr Halima: it's to make herself a little more comfortable. It's clear that following her assassination command makes her feel rather conflicted. I'm pretty sure she would have done it anyway (tricking herself by putting herself in danger is probably not logical enough for a robot), but by putting herself in danger and then eliminating the threat straight away it's easier to carry out the assassination.

My best guess at the kind of bomb that could be small enough to be hidden in somebody's body and still cause that kind of damage is some sort of antimatter bomb. I think the bombers didn't get detected because the Empire is falling. If everything was all right in the Empire, the attack wouldn't have succeeded, but because there were problems, the bombers found the cracks in the system, whatever they were. And actually, that's more or less what Hari Seldon says.

You are assuming that a personality AI is better than a live human being. I think it's an inferior version to a live human being, and the argument between Raych and Hari Seldon just before Raych killed Hari may have been an indication of that (maybe his brain was being taken over by the AI, and his reactions were no longer quite like Hari). If AIs are inferior, the genetic dynasty makes sense. And Hari Seldon probably didn't want to make a clone of himself, on the grounds that he didn't want to start another genetic dynasty. With inferior AIs, it also makes sense that a copy of Cleon with downloaded memories is used only for emergency replacement, and not as the usual method of continuing the dynasty. There is no reason to think that swapping organs is a viable method to extend life much longer than the normal human lifespan. It may not be possible to reverse brain aging, in which case, swapping organs would be pointless. It's reasonable to assume that interstellar trade happens at a rather low rate, since there is only so much stuff that can be worth transporting between stars. So having wildly varying tech levels between planets is quite understandable, assuming that each planet has different levels of different resources. It does nobody any good to have information, if your planet doesn't have the stuff you need to implement the knowledge. Besides, in the case of Synnax, it seems that something went pretty awry with their religion.

I think you folks are giving the writers more credit than they deserve. I believe they're simply making it up as they go. Think about this, Halima was completely defeated at the end of the episode but yet, Cleon still decided to assassinate her. Ask yourself, what could be the outcome of that move on her home planet? ... a lot of people will develop conspiracy theories that Cleon had her taken out by some mysterious aneurysm producing drug (now, a verified factoid). I mean Cleon arrives and even before he leaves the surface in his spaceship, Halima dies. What a coincidence?! And along with that, others will pose the idea that Cleon had various versions of himself, walk different parts of the spiral so that the real Cleon only walked the final 10 miles which any person in reasonable health could achieve. Instead of the above, if Halima returned home in embarrassment, she'd have to revamp her ideas about the nature of souls and that 'The Universe' could manifest at will, regardless of human preconceptions. In essence, that would have been Cleon's greatest victory, both politically and from a ecumenical p.o.v. Did the writers even conceive of that? I would doubt it.

I love the books, and I also love the show. I love all of Asimov's books and I'm not afraid to knock him off his pedestal. His first Foundation book especially is little more than a skeleton. There is a 50 year gap between "The Psychohistorians" and "The Encyclopedists". What do y'all think happened in 50 years?? A hell of a lot. That's why it took 4 episodes to portray it on the show. Then another 30 or so years till the next chapter, "The Mayors". Oh, and the conflict with Anacreon? The 'Encyclopedists" chapter ends with Terminus quivering in terror of Anacreon and waiting to watch Seldon's Time Vault message. THEN there is a gap of How many years?? The next scene we see, is Mayor Salvor Hardin talking with a bunch of politicians about things that have already happened: Hardin engineered a coup, gave nuclear tech to the kingdoms of the Periphery, and established a religion & priesthood to keep all of this tech under control of the "Holy Foundation". Excuse me, but what kind of novel skips over the most dramatic action so it can 'recap' it later? No kind. Only a serialized collection of pulp stories that probly appeared over months in the early 50s, which is what the first book Foundation really is. What I'm saying is, thank you Apple TV and Goyer for making this into a Real Story with characters, action, drama etc. If this series were a faithful rendition of the book, critics would be howling to the sky.

Asimov’s family cashed out.

I don't see a massive problem with different Cleons of different ages having different tolerance to risk. People change as they age and with different life experiences. I don't think Brother Dawn intended to kill himself. Once we learned that he's colorblind, it makes more sense. I think he was trying to see the garden design but he couldn't because he's colorblind, and that upset him, and then he fell by accident. Strictly speaking, we are told that the replacements would be good enough to be Empire, not that they are as good as one raised from birth. Brother Dawn is a mutant, and clearly his mutations go beyond being colorblind, he mentions several differences and he makes it clear that he finds it hard to be like his brothers. He must think that his DNA, at least in the parts that affect his brain functioning, is quite different from his brothers, and his replacement is free from mutations. So, by replacing him, they'd have a Brother Dawn that is an identical clone, with the memories of the previous Brother Dawn. He clearly thinks that having the correct DNA is more important than having the right memories in order to be Empire. We don't know yet what his brothers think. I think it's unlikely this Brother Dawn is the Mule because the Mule should be happening later in the future. I suppose it could be a future mutant Brother Dawn, though I'd find it disappointing too. He was a more impressive character in the books by coming from nowhere. Having inside knowledge on how the Empire works would make him less impressive. But I gather that teen villains are a fashionable concept these days. The point about Halima is off-topic for this thread, I'll write my answer on the Laws of Robotics thread.

I wholly agree. That speech last night oozed hatred for all that disagreed with the speaker. It’s intent wasn’t to bring people together or heal, its purpose was to divide. And the 1939 link was spot on: the lighting, the staging, the camera angles, the timed clenched fists and podium pounding suggested his team carefully studied game film from 1939.

Is there a spoiler here!?

In the books there is no alien intelligent life, but they allow for alien non-intelligent life. Presumably the reason alien life is rare in planets where humans live is because they've been terraformed. As for interstellar spaceships, they are very durable (there is a specific mention of a ship that has been drifting in space for three centuries and is still in good condition), and retaining knowledge of how to operate them doesn't mean that the barbarians retained knowledge of how they work in any detail. That still leaves open the question of what jump ships used as an energy source for travelling, which is never answered in the books.

I find faithfulness to the book a moot point. I have only heard positive things about the Empire story, including from die hard book fans, and that is made up stuff. You yourself say you wish it was more faithful yet you liked Cleon's story.