You might as well ask why the same man sprints safely across an obstacle course in the day, and falls over the furniture in his room at night. - Isaac Asimov

When Hari Seldon established the Foundation here, it was for the ostensible purpose of producing a great Encyclopedia, and for fifty years we followed that will-of-the-wisp, before discovering what he was really after. By that time, it was almost too late. When communications with the central regions of the old Empire broke down, we found ourselves a world of scientists concentrated in a single city, possessing no industries and surrounded by newly created kingdoms, hostile and largely barbarous. We were a tiny island of atomic power in this ocean of barbarism, and an infinitely valuable prize. 'Anacreon, then as now, the most powerful of the Four Kingdoms, demanded and actually established a military base upon Terminus, and the then rulers of the City, the Encyclopedists, knew very well that this was only a preliminary to taking over the entire planet. That is how matters stood when I … uh … assumed actual government. What would you have done?

Os Emocionais forneciam a energia... Odeen explicava (pulsando, enquanto isso, de modo que seus sinais eram precariamente compreendidos), os Racionais, a semente e os Paternais, a incubação.

She said, "I was just guessing."

He said, "No, you weren't. Whatever it was, it wasn't just guessing."