Psychohistory (fictional) - Asimovian Psychohistory and Similar Concepts in Other Fiction

Asimovian Psychohistory and Similar Concepts in Other Fiction

• Asimov's ideas figure prominently in Donald Kingsbury's novel Psychohistorical Crisis, a re-imagining of the world of Isaac Asimov's Foundation trilogy, set after the establishment of the Second Empire.

• In Fantastic Four #542, Mister Fantastic, involved in the Marvel Universe's Civil War event, reveals his real reason for supporting the superhero registration act which prompted the Civil War — his development of a working version of Isaac Asimov's fictional psychohistory-concept. Mister Fantastic's application of this science indicates to him that billions will die in escalating conflicts unless the act becomes law.

• In Ghost Rider 2099 #1, a group of AIs predict that human society (and therefore the global network the AIs exist in) will crash in 2113. One of them mentions that Asimov conceived the idea of such a mathematical model.

• The concept of psychohistory also appears in the Legend of the Galactic Heroes (銀河英雄伝説, Ginga Eiyū Densetsu) by Yoshiki Tanaka.

• The Technocore, the AI civilisation in Dan Simmons's novel Hyperion, is capable of statistically predicting future events to a very high degree of accuracy.

• The novel House of Suns by Alastair Reynolds features a device called the "Universal Actuary", which aims to predict the future of civilisations in a manner very similar to psychohistory. As the limits of slower than light travel prevent any interstellar civilisations from lasting very long, one of its most important uses is to determine how much longer a given civilisation will last.

• In The Country of the Blind, Michael F. Flynn creates competing groups of psychohistorians.

• In the 'Shattered Glass' universe of 'Transformers: Timelines', Megatron uses math to predict the future in what is likely a reference to Asimov.

• In the episode Statistical Probabilities of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine where a think tank uses maths to predict the future in a manner likely to be a reference to Asimov.

• In the novel Preserver (Star Trek) by William Shatner the science of psychohistory is used, and mentioned by name, by scholars at outpost Memory Alpha. Memory Alpha was shown in the Star Trek: Original Series episode The Lights of Zetar, although psychohistory was never mentioned in the episode.