For those who don’t know the concept of a Sheldon Crisis is from the Foundation stories written by Issac Asimov. The stores deal with the fall of the first Galactic Empire and the coming of the Second Empire. A central theme deals with how the ‘Foundation’ is steered by the Mathematics of PhycoHistory to founding the new empire. The stores deal mostly with the many Sheldon Crisis’ that are used by PhycoHistory to this end. One of the key points that Dr. Asimov brings up in one of the earliest stories is the idea that the actions of the Foundation are limited by a set of events that constitute the crises. Eventually the Foundation has all it’s options eliminated till only one is left. This is the idea I want to talk about today.
What is happening now in the world can look like a Sheldon Crisis in that we are have IG a lot of crisis’ happening around the world. We have the Gaza crisis, the Russo-Ukrainian war, and we have the constitutional crisis in the US just to name three. Each of these are quite bad by themselves but all happening at the same time makes things so much worse. Now consider the distinct possibly of a world wide economic Depression. Starts to look like many if not all courses of action are being blocked. Not good.
But I bring this all up not to scare or panic you but to remind you, if you have read the stories, that in the end the Foundation came out of the crisis better than it went in. We need to keep that in mind and do all we can do to come out the other side of this crisis better than we went in.
So to everyone I say, start thinking of things you can do to see that we do come out of the crisis better. Think not just of you and yours but of everyone. In a Sheldon Crisis sometimes it is the smallest thing that makes the biggest difference, has the most important effect. It sometimes comes from the most unexpected direction and is totally ignored by the lead characters.
For my fellow Americans I ask you to think about what you con do in the current constitutional crisis, big or small they are all important. It can be big, like organizing a protest or small like just witnessing what ICE is doing in your apartment building to your neighbor. It all maters.