Whatever psychohistory's origins, this fake discipline has nevertheless been influential for many fans of the genre. In February 2019, when Elon Musk's SpaceX launched its Falcon Heavy rocket into space, it contained an Arch storage system that had the "Foundation" series inside. The Arch Mission Foundation said it had been inspired to preserve knowledge, much like the Foundation (via The Verge), because of Asimov's works.
Notable people have also named psychohistory as influences. "If you read other genres of fiction, you can learn about the way people are and the way society is," economist Paul Krugman said to the audience at a world science fiction convention (via the New Yorker), "but you don't get very much thinking about why are things the way they are, or what might make them different. What would happen if?"
Meanwhile, historian Ray Smock wrote about politician Newt Gingrich, as reported by The Atlantic, "Newt found his role model not in his stern stepfather, but in a historian from another planet, a great historian and teacher who thought really big galactic-size thoughts" — because he liked he idea of 'one man shaping the destiny of entire civilizations.'"
