``... Giles Foden on how Bin Laden may have been inspired by Isaac Asimov's Foundation..''
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By co-incidence, I just finished re-reading the entire Foundation series out absolute crushing boredom with everything, including Gould, for the pleasure of pure escape and the chance of getting inspired to go back to Gould. I haven't yet, and picked up David Goines, The Free Speech Movement instead.
So, the point is I can say that if bin Laden used The Foundation trilogy as inspiration (instead of the obvious Qur'an), there is something seriously wrong the man---beyond his other more obvious flaws. What was relevant about the Foundation was the haunting familiarity of the over confidence and elitist disregard in ruling circles in the imploding Empire towards its own obvious eclipse. They were just too big and important to fall. And, let's admit that the idea that scientific experts of any sort are going to save civilization is equally arrogant and idiotic. I guess that's why they call it science fiction...
In the basic plot, the foundation is set at the perimeter of the galaxy on Terminus, and populated with physical scientists. At the opposite end of the galaxy, that is at its center is Trantor, the imperial city-planet where a second foundation is established in the imperial university and library, populated by scholars, psychologists and social theorists---the opposite intellectual pole of the physical sciences. Both are charged according to psycho-historical theory of Hari Seldon with re-establishing civilization beyond the fall of the Empire, from two separate dialectics with historical events---the material and spiritual or psychological. Both are threatened by a third force, the Mule, a psychic mutant who sweeps over the collapsing empire overthrows the patriarchical rule of the first foundation, and is finally defeated in secret by the second foundation through mind altering techniques.
The psycho-history of Asimov's novels is modeled on statistical mechanics applied to human events which can used to predict general directions---the completely ratio-mathematical schematic of human society as a dynamical system in time. A quasi-religious cult (predictably) develops over this system on Terminus, the first foundation planet of physical scientists, but there are no psychohistorians or psychologists on Terminus who understand the mathematical material developed by Seldon. On the other hand, on Trantor there are only scholars and social historians, experts in psychohistory who have undergone extensive life long training in mind studies, including memorizing the entire Seldon plan and who can through a series of subtle physical clues, read minds and influence events. The second foundation is a secret society that lives through the fall of the Empire. They revert to a low level of technological development and live as farmers and traders in scap metal---metal taken from the ruins of their imperial planet.
The dominant themes in Asimov's Foundation novels are Hegelian, the dialectic of highly rationalized spiritual and material forces that create history and civilization and are the intellectual roots of Empire.
Now I am pretty sure bin Laden isn't a Hegelian, and I am even more certain that Asimov wasn't a Moslem. Therefore I am also pretty certain the two have nothing in common. So, it seems more than reasonable to think there is no parallel between The Foundation and al Qaida.
I agree with this which appears later in the article cited,
``Many readers of Gusev's original website posting disagreed with its thesis entirely. `Asimov's story hinges on a secular extrapolation of human history based on mathematics,' says John Jenkins, an expert on the author. `It's an idea which would make a Muslim extremist cringe.'''
Chuck Grimes