The Partial Success and Bright Prospects of Psychohistory

As a historian, I find depictions of the future tell me more about the past and their prognosticators, than about the future. What lies before us will be built from the raw materials of the past and assembled in the cauldron of the human imagination. Thus, when I saw Star Wars in the 1970s, I thoroughly enjoyed identifying the historical raw materials combined with technology that made up the film which soon became a cultural sensation. In publishing the political predictions of talented colleagues, I am intrigued at how their own personalities, values, and voting patterns are reflected in their educated and often correct guesses. I assume readers will do the same with my prognostications. You will find that you will learn more about the history of psychohistory than of its future.