In Isaac Asimov’s famous Foundation series an central and intriguing role is played by the so-called science of Psychohistory. Quoting Wikipedia: “Psychohistory is a fictional science in Isaac Asimov’s Foundation universe which combines history, sociology, and mathematical statistics to make (nearly) exact predictions of the collective actions of very large groups of people, such as the Galactic Empire”.

As so many things from science fiction that seem to come to life, lately (see mobile phones, the Internet and tons of other gadgets), psychohistory doesn’t seem to be so far fetched anymore.

I’ve recently finished reading the brilliant Guns, Germs and Steel book by Jared Diamond and the thought that kept circling around my head was: “This is so psychohistory”. And in a sense is, Diamond argues at one point, same as Asimov in his books, that the actions of individuals are lost in the sea of actions by the masses.

If you ever wondered why Eurasia became the center of power on our planet, want to understand what influences the development of societies or you just are a geek that would like to see how psychohistory looks in real life, read Guns, Germs and Steel, it’s a fascinating book.

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During the winter holidays I’ve started reading “In Praise of Slow: How a Worldwide Movement Is Challenging the Cult of Speed” * by Carl Honore. The book itself is well written but not a masterpiece. The ideas  Carl talks about are most likely not new to you (slow food, slow cities and so on). But it’s still an interesting read and something I would recommend for everybody to take a look at. There are many little things that you can take away from it.

Among the ones that stuck in my mind is something that has nothing to do with the subject of the book. It’s actually a fact. Here it goes. Have you ever thought why many battles or duels were held at sunrise, in the not-so-distant history of mankind? Well, if you think about it, when you have no clock you need some common, distinguishable moment of the day. And sunrise is one such moment. Cool fact, isn’t it?

Somewhat related to this is the idea that clocks can be oppressive. There is a story in the book about a fellow who became obsessed with his very precise clock. And this fellow calmed down a little when he changed that clock to an old wind-up clock. Armed with this small revelation I turned with the face to the wall a couple of clocks, in my house, that were really aggressive with their bright red numbers. And you know what? It has some effect. I always know the time but the red devilish glow of the clocks doesn’t haunt me so much anymore. Try it yourself! Put away some of the clocks you look at all the time and see what happens.

*The book has an Amazon affiliate link. So if you buy the book through the link in this post I’ll actually make my first cents with this blog :).

Thanks for reading and please subscribe to za Geex for more! ză Geex ( Smile & Explore ) - Stories, thoughts and interesting facts as seen by Liviu Lica