- Encyclopedia Galactica
The "Encyclopedia Galactica" is a fictional or hypothetical
encyclopedia of a futuregalaxy -spanningcivilization , containing all theknowledge accumulated by a society with trillions of people and thousands of years of history.Background
It was first used by
Isaac Asimov in his collection of short stories "Foundation" (1951), where it is central to the first short story, "The Encyclopedists", originally published as "Foundation" in 1942. Various people have since used the same idea, both inscience and inscience fiction . One example of this is when it was used byCarl Sagan in his 1980 book "Cosmos", and his , to refer to a text where hypothetical future civilizations could store all of their information and knowledge. It was also a common fixture in previous incarnations of theLegion of Super-Heroes comic books, [ [http://www.orionsarm.com/eg/index.html Encyclopaedia Galactica] ] and has appeared in theStar Wars Expanded Universe . [ [http://www.holonetnews.com/45/regional/13228_2.html HoloNet News: Duros Dispute Encyclopedia] ]Douglas Adams ' "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy " series frequently contrasted the "Galactica" with the apparently more popular "Guide". For example, the introduction to the first book notes:cquote|In many of the more relaxed civilizations on the Outer Eastern Rim of the Galaxy, the Hitch Hiker's Guide has already supplanted the great "Encyclopaedia Galactica" as the standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom, for though it has many omissions and contains much that is apocryphal, or at least wildly inaccurate, it scores over the older, more pedestrian work in two important respects.
First, it is slightly cheaper; and second, it has the words "DON'T PANIC" inscribed in large friendly letters on its cover.|Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Excerpts (as depicted in Foundation)
* It was inevitable that as a new generation grew, Terminus would become something more than an appendage of the psychohistorians of Trantor. With the
Anacreonian revolt and the rise to power ofSalvor Hardin the first of the great line of...."* The Four Kingdoms-....The Name given to those portions of the Anacreonian province which broke away from the
Galactic Empire in the early years of the Foundational Era to form independent short-lived kingdoms. The largest and most powerful of theses was Anacreon itself which in area...* ...Undoubtedly the most interesting aspect of the four kingdoms involves the strange society forced temporarily upon it during the administration of Salvor Hardin...."
*
Traders -....and constantly in advance of the political hegemony of the Foundation were the Traders, reaching out tenuous fingerholds through the tremendous distances of the Periphery. Months or years might pass between landings on Terminus; their ships were often nothing more than patchquilts of home repairs and improvisations; their honesty was none more than the highest; their daring...* Through it all, they forged an empire more enduring than the pseudo-religious despotism of the Four Kingdoms....
* Tales without end are told of these massive, lonely figures who bore half-seriously, half-mockingly a motto adopted from one of Salvor Hardins epigrams, "never let your sense of morals stop you from doing what is right!" It is difficult now to tell which tales are real and which are apocryphal. There are none probably that have not suffered some exaggeration....With
psychohistoric inevitability, economic control of theFoundation grew. The traders grew rich; and with riches came power....It is sometimes forgotten thatHober Mallow began his life as an ordinary trader. It is never forgotten that he ended it as the first merchant prince....*
Bel Riose -....In his relatively short career, Riose earned the title of " The Last of the Imperials" - and earned it well. a study of his campaigns reveals him to be the equal of Peurifoy in strategic ability and he is superior, perhaps, in how he handled men. That he was born in the days of the decline of the empire made it all the more mpossible for him to equal Peurifoy's record as a conqueror. Yet when he had his chance to do so, he faced the Foundation squarely....* The Mule-....Less is known of the Mule than any character of comparable significance to Galactic History. Even the period of his greatest renown is known to us chiefly through the eyes of his antagonists and, principally, through these of a young bride....It was after the fall of the first foundation that the Mule's constructive regime took shape. After the definite breakup of the first
galactic empire , it was he who first presented history with a unified volume of space truly imperial in scope. The earlier commercial empire of the fallen foundation had been diverse and loosely knit, despite the impalpable backing of the predictions ofpsychohistory . It was not to be compared with the tightly controlled `Union of Worlds` under the Mule.References
External links
*
H2G2 - [http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2 BBC - h2g2 - The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]
* [http://www.slate.com/id/2117942/ Galaxy Quest - Wikipedia is a real-life Hitchhiker's Guide: huge, nerdy, and imprecise. By Paul Boutin] Posted Tuesday, May 3, 2005, at 2:37 p.m. PT on "Slate Magazine ".Paul Boutin comparesWikipedia and the "Encyclopaedia Galactica" ofDouglas Adams ' "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ".
* [http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Dimension/1136/pages/eghome.html Encyclopedia Galactica - A Guide to Asimov's Foundation Universe]
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