Chapter 5 Chapter Four

There was another short silence, but that was only because the thought itself was silent.And Seldon's heart was surging with thoughts at the moment. Yes, it is true.His wife does have an uncanny understanding of robots.Seldon had been puzzled by this for years, and at last had to put the thought to the back of his mind.If it hadn't been for Itur Demmerzel—the robot—Seldon would never have met Dors.Because Dors was working for Demozel, and it was Demozel who "assigned" Dors to Seldon eight years ago to protect him as he fled the various parts of Trantor.Even though she was now his wife, his good wife, his "other half," Seldon was still puzzled by Dors' strange connection to the robot Demerzel from time to time.Seldon really felt that this was the only area of ​​Dors's life that was not his—nor welcome.And this usually led to the most painful question in his mind: Did Dors stay with Seldon out of obedience to Demerzel's orders, or because she really fell in love with Seldon?He wanted to believe the latter, but... he and Dors were living happily together, but it had a price, it was conditional.The conditions were far from being harsh enough to describe. They were not established through bargaining, but a tacit understanding.Seldon knew he could find in Dors all that a wife could give.Of course, he had no children, and he never expected to have one, nor did he really want to, to be honest.He already had Ricky, who was emotionally no different than his son, who seemed to have inherited all the Seldon DNA—and maybe a little more.His only concern about Dors was the fear that the tacit understanding that had maintained their peaceful and peaceful life for so many years would be destroyed.He felt a faint but growing resentment about it.But he immediately put aside all these doubts.

He has long been accustomed to her role as his protector, and there is nothing wrong with continuing to do so.After all, it was he who shared the same home, the same table, the same bed with Dors—not Itul Demmerzel. Dors' voice called him back from his reverie. "I said—are you angry, Harry?" He was slightly taken aback, Dors's voice actually echoed, and he realized that he was too absorbed in his thoughts, and somewhat ignored her existence. "I'm sorry, darling. I'm not angry.—No mean to be angry. I was just thinking about how to answer what you said." "About robots?" she asked indifferently. "You say I don't know as much about robots as you do. Show me how to answer?" He paused, then added flatly (a bit of a risk, he knew), "I didn't mean to offend you. "

"I didn't say you didn't know about robots. If you're going to quote me, please do so. I'm saying you don't know about robots. I'm sure you know a lot about robots, maybe more than I do, but Knowing and understanding are two different things.” "Well, Dors, it's infuriating that you're deliberately paradoxical. Paradox always comes from intentional or unintentional ambiguity. I don't like paradox in scientific research, and I don't like it in everyday conversation, unless it's Just for fun, but I'm sure that's obviously not the case at the moment."

Dors smiled sweetly and pursed her lips happily: "Obviously, paradox will make you angry, and it's really fun to look like you are angry. Okay, let me explain slowly. I didn't mean to make you angry. " She stepped forward to pat his hand, and Seldon realized (with embarrassment) that his hand had unconsciously clenched into a fist. Dors continued, "You keep talking to me about psychohistory, so let's talk about psychohistory. You always know that, don't you?" Seldon cleared his throat and said, "I know everything about you. The project is secret—by its very nature. Psychohistory can only be used if the population it works on knows nothing about psychohistory. Knowing works, so I can only speak to Hugo and you on this topic. For Hugo, psychohistory is pure intuition. He is brilliant, but too aggressive and easy to go astray, so I have to play Cautious character, pull him back from time to time. But in fact, I also have aggressive thinking, which makes me see the problem more comprehensively, and even”—he couldn’t help laughing—“I guess what I said is about one sentence Didn't understand either."

"I know I'm your sounding board, and I don't mind.—I really don't mind, Harry, don't try to change your behavior for it. I don't understand your mathematics, it's normal. I Just a historian—not even a historian in the scientific sense. The effects of economic change on political development are the subject of my present research—” "Yes, I'm your sounding board when it comes to history, don't you realize? When the time comes, I'll need your knowledge to perfect psychohistory, so I don't think you'll be of much use to me. Indispensable."

"Excellent. Now we can figure out why you want to live with me--I know it's not just because of my ostentatious good looks--but we'll have a chance to discuss that later, once your subject is out of strict Mathematics problem category, I seem to be able to understand it. Several times, you mentioned a theory that you call minimal necessity. I think I can understand it somewhat. What do you mean -" "I know what I mean." Dors looked aggrieved. "Please, don't be so condescending, Harry. I'm not explaining to you, I'm explaining to myself. You say you're my sounding board, so please act like it. Round game It's supposed to be a level playing field, isn't it?"

"Turn games are fine, but if you're going to accuse me of being superior just because I said a few words—" "Enough! Shut up! - You have told me that the least is crucial in the application of psychohistory, in the attempt to improve the future. You have said that such change is best The subtler, the smaller the better." "Yes," Seldon said urgently, "that's because—" "Don't tell me, Harry. Let me explain. You know the minimum, you and I know it. You have to have the minimum, because all changes, any changes, have countless irreversible side effects .If the change is too drastic, with too many side effects, then there is no doubt that the results will be far from what you planned and completely unpredictable."

"That's right," said Seldon, "that's the nature of the Chaos Effect. The question now is whether there is a way to change it so small that the outcome is reasonably predictable, or whether human history will in any case Inevitably descending into chaos. And it was this question that made me realize for the first time that psychohistory doesn't—" "I know, but I haven't finished my sentence. Whether there is such a small change method is not the key to the problem. The key to the problem is that any change greater than this limit will lead to chaos. The necessary minimum may be Zero, or maybe not zero, but certainly very small anyway—how to find these changes that are tiny but significantly greater than zero will be a rather important topic. I guess that's what you call minimal necessity?"

"Almost," said Seldon, "of course, this problem can be expressed more concisely and rigorously in mathematical language. You see—" "Forgive me," said Dors, "if you know about psychohistory, Harry, you should also know about Demerzir. It seems that you have knowledge but no understanding." , because it is clear that you have never thought of applying the laws of psychohistory to the laws of robotics." Monk Selton Zhang Er was puzzled: "I didn't understand what you meant." "Demerzel also needs to follow the minimum principle, doesn't he, Harry? According to the first law of robots, a robot must not harm a human being. This is the basic law that ordinary robots must obey, but Demerzel is an unusual robot , for him, the zeroth law is more essential, and its priority is higher than the first law. The zeroth law stipulates that robots must not harm the human society as a whole. And this makes him subject to what you encounter in the study of psychohistory The same constraints as you have. Now you understand, don't you?"

"It seems to be starting to understand a little bit." "I hope so. Although Demerzel can change people's minds, he must avoid all kinds of side effects-and yet he is the Prime Minister of the Empire, and there are quite a few side effects that he has to worry about." "So what does he do now?" "Think about it! You can't tell anyone—except me, of course—that Demerzel is a robot because he's tweaked your mind so you don't. But how much? Do you think Don't want to make it public that he's a robot? Think about who's providing you with protection, research funding, and environmental support. Do you want to disrupt that? Of course not. The changes he's making are extremely subtle, Just to keep you from blurting out when you're overexcited or inattentive. The change is minimal, with few side effects. And that's how Demerzel usually runs empires."

"Then what about Qiao Ruonan?" "Obviously his situation is completely different from yours. Whatever his motives, he is firmly against Demerzel. There is no doubt that Demerzel can change his mind, but the price is that it will seriously distort Jo Ruonan nature, with consequences that Demerzel could not have foreseen. Rather than risk harming Joronan, with side effects that could harm other people, or even human society as a whole, he had to let Joronan go, unless he could find a tiny Changing the modus operandi - a tiny change - can improve the situation without harming it. So Hugo is right that Demerzel is at stake." Seldon was silent when he heard this, and seemed lost in thought.After a long while, he said, "If Demozel can't do anything about it, then I have to take action." "Even he can't do anything, what can you do?" "We're in a different situation. I'm not bound by the laws of robotics to force myself to think about the minimum—and first, I have to meet Demerzel." Dors was slightly suspicious: "Is it necessary to meet? It may not be wise to publicize the relationship between the two of you." "Nowadays, in this world, there are not many people who are clean. Of course, I don't have to go to see Demerzir with a lot of fanfare, but it is certain that I want to see him."