Seldon Crisis
A personal exploration of Isaac Asimov's Foundation epic, including commentary and analysis. Occasional posts with experts on related topics, essays, readings, and more.
Recent Episodes
Asimov and Reason
May 31, 2023
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…
AI and Humanity, a conversation with GPT-4
May 3, 2023
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 …
Aurora and Hope
March 15, 2023
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 nota…
Future Visions with Kim Stanley Robinson
Feb. 28, 2023
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…
Mapping the Galaxy with Kevin Jardine
Dec. 31, 2022
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 so…
The Human Future in Space with Robert Zubrin
Dec. 24, 2022
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.