Chapter 19 Chapter Thirteen

Once again they were speeding through the tunnel.The question that had been ringing in his mind for an hour, Seldon decided to make it into a real voice. "Why do you say that the Galactic Empire is about to perish?" Hummin turned to look at Seldon. "As a journalist, all kinds of statistics poured in on me from all directions until they overflowed my ears. And I was allowed to publish only a small part of them. Trantor The population of the United States is plummeting, from almost 45 billion people twenty years ago. "This phenomenon is partly due to a decrease in the birth rate. In fact, the birth rate on Trantor has never been high. When you travel around Trantor, if you pay attention, you will find that there are not many children on the road, and the large population is almost Disproportionate. Even if you don't take that into account, the population is still shrinking every year. And then there's the immigration factor, with far more people moving out of Trantor than coming in."

"Since it has such a large population," said Seldon, "it is no wonder." "But it's still unusual because it's never happened before. Also, trade is at a standstill across the galaxy. People think it's because there aren't any rebellions at the moment, because everything is calm and peaceful. Centuries of misery are over. Yet political struggle, insurgency, and unrest are signs of a certain vitality; today it is a state of general exhaustion. There is calm on the surface, but not because of People are really content, or society is really prosperous, but because they are tired, they have given up."

"Oh, I don't know," Seldon said skeptically. "I'm well aware. The anti-gravity facility we just faded into is another good example. We currently have a few smoke lifts in operation, but haven't built new ones. It's an unprofitable investment, Also, no one seems interested in trying to turn it around. The rate of technological progress has slowed down over the centuries, and now it's at a snail's pace; Haven't you noticed such a thing?" "I dare not say that I have ever thought about this kind of problem." "No one thinks about it, everyone takes it for granted. Scientists these days. They like to say that this is impossible, that is impractical or useless. For any deep introspection, they always immediately deny it. Take you as an example , what do you think about psychohistory—it has theoretical value but no practical value, am I right?"

"Right or wrong." Seldon replied in a bored tone. "As far as practicality is concerned, it is useless, but I assure you, it is not because of my waning adventurous spirit. In fact, it is really useless." "At least this," Hummin said with a bit of sarcasm, "is the impression you get from being in the decaying atmosphere of the entire empire." "This atmosphere of decay," said Seldon angrily, "is your own impression. Is it possible that you are mistaken yourself?", Hummin didn't answer right away, and seemed lost in thought.After a while, he said: "Yes, I may be wrong. I just draw conclusions based on intuition and guesswork. What I need is a practical technology like psychohistory."

Seldon shrugged, not taking the bait.He said, "I don't have the technology to give you that. But suppose you're right, suppose the empire does go downhill and eventually disappears and falls apart. But then all of humanity will still exist." "Under what circumstances, man? For nearly twelve thousand years, Trantor has been largely at peace under a strong leader. There has been some upheaval in the past - mutinies, local civil wars, and numerous natural and man-made disasters ——However, on the whole, from a macro point of view, the world is still considered peaceful. Why is Helicon so supportive of the imperial government? I mean your world. Because it is small, if the empire did not maintain its security, it would be destroyed The neighboring world swallows it."

"Are you predicting total war and anarchy if the empire collapses?" "Of course, generally speaking, I don't like this emperor and this monarchy, but I don't have any alternatives. I don't know what else can keep the peace, and I'm not ready to let go until I have other plans." Seldon said, "You talk as if the galaxy is in your hands. You're not ready to let go? You must have other plans? Who do you think you are?" "I'm speaking in a general, figurative sense," said Hummin. "I'm not worried about Chet Hummin. It may be said that the Empire will survive my death; There may even be signs of progress. Decline does not proceed in a straight line, and it may take thousands of years for the empire to completely disintegrate. As you can imagine, I will be dead by then, and I will not stay Heirs—I am only occasionally emotional when it comes to women, I have no children, and never want them. So, I have no personal concerns about the future—after your speech, I researched you, Seldon, and you Don't have any children."

"I have both parents, two brothers, but no children." He smiled rather weakly. "In the past, I was very infatuated with a woman, but she felt that my obsession with mathematics was even deeper." "yes?" "I don't think so myself, but she wants to think so, so she left me." "Since then, you have no other female companions?" "No, that kind of pain is still unforgettable." "That said, it seems like we can both sit back and leave this problem for generations to worry about. I might have liked to do that before, but I definitely don't now. Because now that I have the tools, I can already Take control."

"What tools do you have?" Seldon asked, but he already knew the answer. "You!" said Hummin. Seldon had expected Hummin to say that, so he wasn't shocked or intimidated.He just shook his head immediately, and replied: "You are too wrong, I am not a suitable tool." "Why not?" Seldon sighed, "How many times do I have to repeat? Psychohistory is not a practical science. It has fundamental difficulties. The time and space of the entire universe is not enough to solve the boring problems that must be faced." "are you sure?" "Unfortunately, that's exactly what it is."

"You know, you don't have to figure out the entire future of the Galactic Empire. You don't have to keep track of every single human being, or even every single world, in detail. All you have to answer are a few questions: Is the Galactic Empire really going to collapse? If the answer Yes, so when will it happen? What will happen to humanity after that? Are there any measures to prevent the collapse of the empire, or improve the situation after that? These are relatively simple questions, at least I I think so." Seldon shook his head, showing a wry smile: "There are countless simple problems in the history of mathematics, but their answers are extremely complicated, or there is no answer at all."

"Is there really nothing I can do? I can see that the empire is going down, but I can't prove it. All my conclusions are subjective, and I can't prove that I am not wrong. Because this prospect is extremely disturbing, people would rather not believe me subjective conclusions, so there will be no rescue action, or even an attempt to soften its impact. And you can prove the impending decline, or disprove that it is impossible." "But that's exactly what I can't do. I can't help you find a proof that doesn't exist. An impractical mathematical system, and I can't make it practical. Just as I can't help you find two numbers that add up to an odd number. an even number, no matter how much you—or the galaxy—need that odd number."

Hummin said, "In that case, you too are part of the mourning; you're ready to accept failure." "What choice do I have?" "Can't you give it a try? No matter how futile the effort may seem to you, what better plan do you have for this life? What higher goal do you have? In your own eyes, what is more worthy of you?" A great ideal to go all out for?" Seldon's eyes blinked a few times quickly: "Ten million worlds, billions of cultures, tens of trillions of people, the interaction of the Ganges coefficient—you want me to make it an order." "No, I just want you to give it a try, just for the tens of millions of worlds. Billions of cultures, and tens of trillions of people. Not for the emperor, not for Demerzel, but for all human beings. " "I shall fail," said Seldon. "Then we won't be worse than now, would you like to try?" For some reason, Seldon actually heard himself say a sentence against his will: "I am willing to try." The direction of his life was determined from then on.