August 2, 2008

Peter Turchin as Hari Seldon

Razib at GNXP offers a useful summary-review of Peter Turchin's ambitious "War and Peace and War," in which Turchin offers three theories to explain much of human history. I offer my thoughts in the GNXP comments.

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Yesterday assman recommended Peter Turchin's oeuvre..."

Oh dear God I thank you for everything within one degree of Steve Sailer :-)

The best part? Slightly over my (too big) head; never even heard of cliometrics before. I go read now.

They may not have taught me shit from shinola, baby boomers, but I'm catching up quickly.

Anonymous said...

The important question is: does Turchin's theoretical framework explain the fall of the Galactic Empire and the rise of the Foundation?

I think it does, to some extent. Seldon puts the encyclopedists (the seed of what will become the Foundation) on a marginal planet near the outskirts of the galaxy, a planet surrounded with less advanced -almost barbaric- systems that pose a constant threat. Meanwhile, the center of the Empire -the city of Trantor- quickly drifts into decadence and irrelevance.

Maybe Seldon read Turchin?

Anonymous said...

:::sound of crickets:::

azzul said...

good job