The chief protagonist of the story is mathematician and psychologist Hari Seldon. He invents the science of psychohistory and uses it to predict that the Galactic Empire will fall apart within a few hundred years. His efforts to shorten the resulting dark ages through his Foundation succeed in preserving human civilization and technological advancement. Although the living Seldon appears only in the first story of the book, he reappears after his death on video in most of the following stories to accurately describe current crises. His advice helps the inhabitants of the future navigate the troubles he predicted. When major problems confront the Foundation, they’re called Seldon Crises in his honor. Seldon symbolizes the voice of scientific reason in a galaxy beset by violence and threatened by a general loss of respect for advanced technology. Seldon also embodies the uncertainty principle, which theorizes that a self-aware population becomes unpredictable. To ensure the accuracy of his predictions and the success of his plan, Seldon obscures the true purpose of the Foundation and withholds his specific predictions for the Foundation’s future. In this way, Hari Seldon also becomes a metafictional proxy for Asimov himself, as he shapes the