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Why, he wondered, did so many people spend their lives not trying to find answers to questions—not even thinking of questions to begin with? Was there anything more exciting in life than seeking answers?
“The Imperial forces must keep their hands off, but they find that they can do much even so. Each sector is encouraged to be suspicious of its neighbors. Within each sector, economic and social classes are encouraged to wage a kind of war with each other. The result is that all over Trantor it is impossible for the people to take united action. Everywhere, the people would rather fight each other than make a common stand against the central tyranny and the Empire rules without having to exert force.”
It seems to me that no sane man wants to uphold an Imperial system that maintains itself by fostering mutual hatred and suspicions.
Hummin said, “Surely, you mean why it did this, what its motives were.” “Perhaps, but with you sitting across from me,” said Seldon, “I find it difficult to use the inanimate pronoun.
If the time comes when you are able to set up some device that may act to prevent the worst from happening, see if you can think of two devices, so that if one fails, the other will carry on.
