When people thought the Earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the Earth was spherical they were wrong. But if you think that thinking … - Isaac Asimov

Por ello, con el tiempo, los griegos tendieron a dividir a todo el mundo en dos grupos: ellos, los grecoparlantes, y los extranjeros, los que no hablaban griego. Para los griegos, los extranjeros parecían proferir sílabas sin sentido, que eran como decir "bar-bar-bar-bar" por el significado que tenían (al menos para los griegos). Así, los griegos llamaban a todos los que no eran griegos barbaroi, que significaba algo así como "gente que habla de manera extraña".

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?

Em algum lugar nas entranhas do armário (talvez a criação mecânica mais universalmente popular da inventividade humana), um barman entrou em ação... um barman não humano cuja alma eletrônica misturava as coisas não por medidas, mas por contagem de átomos; as proporções eram sempre perfeitas e ele não poderia ser comparado a ninguém de carne e osso, por maiores que fossem suas habilidades artísticas.