Fantasies and Realities of Psychohistory

It was as if two separate worlds in a science fiction novel met each other for the first time last September. The occasion of the meeting was the inauguration of the Psychohistory electronic mailing list (the Psychohistory List). (A subscriber to a mailing list can, by e-mail, send messages to, and automatically receives messages from, the other multiple members of the list, usually on a specific topic.) At first it seemed the two worlds spoke the same language, but it soon became apparent that common meanings eluded them. Nowhere was this clearer than in the use of the word “psychohistory.” To some it meant understanding individuals and groups based on feelings, historical patterns, psychological theories, and psychoanalytic concepts. To others it meant the prediction of human mass behavior based upon mathematical principles. After working for 30 years to help create, define, teach, build, research, and write the history of organized psychohistory, I participated in this encounter with keen interest.