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"The primary attraction [of writing sf] is the sheer pleasure of creating something from whole cloth."
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![]() This is the definition of psychohistory in the novel. The word “psychohistory” appeared in Asimov’s short story “Foundation” which was published in Astounding Science Fiction in 1942. Four stories were stitched together and published as a novel in 1951.
A person who studies and applies psychohistory is a psychohistorian.
Here is another quote, taken from the second book in the series, Foundation and Empire:
There are earlier uses of this word in science fiction. For example, in Eric Frank Russell's 1941 story Beyond All Weapons.
The Director’s eyes were dangerous. But I plunged on recklessly.
“Yes, mass hypnotism — that has
been your secret weapon. You may
have deluded most of the world, but
you forget I studied psycho-history
in what you are pleased to call the
Barbaric Era. Earlier dictators than
you fumbled around with the idea of
mass hypnosis. There was a man
named Hitler back in the 1930s and
’40s who used it with some crude
success. But he didn’t know anything about the scientific end of it.
He employed no hypnosis rays or
skillful projections to break into the
unconscious and the subliminal
thresholds. He relied on a raucous
voice and emotional reiterations.
You have been far cleverer. Your
Sunday Assemblies renew your contacts with all the earth, rebathing
the poor dupes in hypnosis rays and
sliding afresh the projectional suggestions of your voice and mind into
theirs.”
I held her tight. “All eyewitness
accounts are like that,” I told her
earnestly. “As the wife of a man
who has devoted most of his life
to the application of psychology to
historical data you ought to realize
that.
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