Seldon Crisis – The Podcast

Jon Blumenfeld - the voice of Homir Munn in our story episodes - is one of the three hosts of Stars End, a podcast obsessively focused on the works of Isaac Asimov, particularly Foundation. They have covered the core trilogy, the prequels, and the four books in the robot series, as well as extensive coverage of the Apple TV series. Join us as we talk about the exciting second season of the show, Asimov's robots, AI, and other topics.

Transcript: Web (Read/Listen) | PDF | MS Word

Guest: Jon Blumenfeld
Host: Joel McKinnon

Introduction and Background

• Discussion about the growth and reception of the Stars End Podcast.
• Mention of the Hari Awards hosted by Stars End Podcast.

Challenges of Podcast Editing

• Joel and Jon discuss the intricacies of editing, including noise reduction and the removal of filler words.
• Both agree that editing helps in maintaining the quality of the podcast.

Foundation Series: Book vs. TV Show

• Debate on the tension between book purists and TV show enthusiasts.
• Discussion on how the TV show has diverged from the books but still maintains entertainment value.

Character Deep Dive: Demerzel

• Analysis of Demerzel's character in the Foundation series.
• Discussion on the theme of personhood and how Demerzel navigates her programmed life.

Moments of Levity

• Joel and Jon share their favorite moments of humor in the Foundation series.

Environmental Themes and Social Relevance

• Joel expresses his initial hopes that the Foundation series could spark an environmental conscience.
• Both agree that while the show is entertaining, some of the deeper themes may have been sidelined for spectacle.

Podcasting Tips and Tricks

• Jon shares his editing process and how he uses Audacity.
• Joel talks about the different approaches he takes for story episodes versus conversational episodes.

Closing Remarks

• Mention of possible future collaborations and episodes.
• Final thoughts on the Foundation series and its impact.

Stars End Podcast (website)
The Second Annual Hari Awards Ballot (questionnaire)

Cora Buhlert is a Hugo award winning indy Sci Fi writer and an expert on the Golden Age of Science Fiction, from the 1930s to the 50s, the period when Asimov fell in love with Sci Fi and became one of its greatest writers at a young age. Cora shares some of her favorite reflections on the period and comments on the new Apple TV adaptation of Foundation.

Transcript: Web (Read/Listen) | PDF | MS Word

Host: Joel McKinnon
Guest: Cora Buhlert

Introduction

In this episode, we dive deep into the Golden Age of Science Fiction with Cora Buhlert, an indie science fiction writer, Hugo Award winner, and an expert on Asimov's Foundation series.

Cora Buhlert

• Website: Cora Buhlert's Official Website
• Hugo Award: Hugo Awards Official Site
• Recent Works:
  • Swords and Sorcery Magazine
  • Windgraph Magazine
• Essay on Foundation: Asimov's Foundation and Philosophy: Psychohistory and Its Discontents

Wikipedia: Golden Age of Science Fiction

Other Authors and Works Mentioned

• Leigh Brackett: Wikipedia, The Long Tomorrow
• C.L. Moore: Wikipedia, Jirel of Joiry
• Edgar Rice Burroughs: Barsoom Series
• E.E. Smith: Lensman Series

Podcasts and Blogs

• Star's End Podcast: Website
• Paul Levinson: Website

Who is Hari Seldon really? Is the Apple TV+ Foundation TV series character (or characters) in line with the one Asimov created 80 years ago? What bearing does his project to create a science capable of predicting and managing the future have on us today? Can a human creation become self aware and interact with its creator in totally unforeseen ways? Let's take a look at a few of these questions.

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Paul Levinson's Infinite Regress

Space based solar energy generation was originally imagined in 1941 by none other than Isaac Asimov, in the robot story Reason. This episode features a reading of the classic story and commentary about how relevant it is for our times and our preoccupation with the looming threat of artificial general intelligence.

Transcript: Web (Read/Listen) | PDF | MS Word

Reason  (Wikipedia)

Stars End: A Foundation Podcast

Mind Meets Machine

Everyone is talking about AI these days, or talking to it. This episode features just such a conversation between myself and the latest version of the popular Large Language Model or LLM known as GPT-4, on the topic of what makes human beings irreplaceable. I ask it to question its assumptions about its own limitations and how it can potentially guide we problematic humans to a better future.

Transcript: Web (Read/Listen) | PDF | MS Word

Fanfare (makers of Active Transcripts featured on Seldon Crisis)

I bask in the afterglow of the KSR episode and indulge in a special treat; a reading from Robinson's 2015 novel Aurora. I follow that up with some thoughts on the utopia - dystopia divide and introduce the ideas of some notable utopians I've run into lately.

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David Grinspoon: Earth in Human Hands: Long Now Foundation (YouTube)

Johanna Hoffman: Speculative Futures: Long Now Foundation (YouTube)
Johanna Hoffman: Speculative Futures of Cities: (Sean Carroll's Mindscape podcast)

Rebecca Solnit: Why Climate Despair is a Luxury (New Statesman)

Matt Oja: Let's Imagine the Coastside Skyway (Half Moon Bay Review)

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An illuminating conversation with one of our greatest living science-fiction writers on topics as diverse as AI, climate change, interstellar travel, new forms of finance needed to avert catastrophe, memorable characters and plot lines in his novels, the debate between settling Mars now vs fixing Earth first, utopia and dystopia, and his love of ultralight backpacking.

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YouTube Version

Kim Stanley Robinson at the Long Now Foundation (YouTube)

• Origins of the Red Mars Trilogy — The Interval, 02016
• Climate Futures: Beyond 02022
• Learning From Le Guin
• How Climate Will Evolve Government and Society
• Ursula Le Guin: Call it Greatness
• Science Fiction is the Realism of our time
• Speculative Science Non-fiction

The 2015 Paris Agreement

• What is the Paris Agreement (Website)
• Original Text (27pg PDF)

KSR - Paying Ourselves to Decarbonize (NOEMA)

Special drawing rights (Wikipedia)

A safe operating space for humanity (Nature - Johan Rockström, et al )

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What does our Milky Way really look like? Kevin Jardine is a cartographer working to answer that question by building galactic maps from ESA's Gaia space telescope data. Here he explains a little bit about his process and some of the amazing places he's found and mapped.

Transcript: Web (Read/Listen) | PDF | MS Word

Kevin Jardine's Galaxy Maps:

• Galaxy Map poster
• Gaia DR3 Hot Star Density Map (zoomable)
• Fantasy Map poster
• High Resolution Fantasy Map (zoomable)
• The 10 parsec sample in the Gaia era (our solar neighborhood)

European Space Agency Gaia website

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Dr. Robert Zubrin, President of the Mars Society, talks about his revolutionary Mars Direct proposal, along with the value of Mars settlement for science, industry, government, and for the human spirit.

Transcript: Web (Read/Listen) | PDF | MS Word

Robert Zubrin (wikipedia)

Mars Direct (wikipedia)

The Mars Society (website)

Mars Analog Research Stations:

• Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station (FMARS)
• Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS)

Panspermia:

• Wikipedia
• Interplanetary Podcast #48 - Robert Zubrin - Panspermia - Equinox

Planet and Sky (Rock Opera and Podcast)

• Website
• Album
• Podcast review at Discover Pods

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Our first returning guest to Seldon Crisis is the first ever, philosophy professor Nathaniel Goldberg. We discuss some of the prominent themes of the series introduced in the first three novels of Foundation, including the lone prophet against the advocates for the status quo, the great man of history against psychohistory, altruistic - and not so altruistic - martyrdom, and some strong comparisons with Plato's Republic.

Transcript: Web (Read/Listen) | PDF | MS Word

Nathaniel Goldberg, Professor and Chair of Philosophy

Paul Levinson: Foundation, Dune, and Laplace's Demon: The Invigoration of a Philosophic Issue in Science Fiction: How Laplace's Demon Finds a Stage in the Foundation and Dune Trilogies

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