# Nostradamus As A Psychohistorian (Yes Its a Crackpot Theory) **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 11, 2011, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostradamus-as-a-psychohistorian-yes-its-a-crackpot-theory/574262 "2011-03-11T03:05:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostradamus-as-a-psychohistorian-yes-its-a-crackpot-theory/574262/1 "2011-03-11T03:05:31Z")
What if Nostradamus was not really an occultic prophet but rather a Hari Seldon like psychohistorian who developed an elaborate system of calculation for calculating the probabilities of everything and thus succesfully predicted the history of the future? This also explains Nostradamus’ occasional mistakes (ie the quatrain supposedly predicting September 11th being set in 1999). No I’m not endorsing this idea but just throwing it out. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostradamus-as-a-psychohistorian-yes-its-a-crackpot-theory/574262/2 "2011-03-11T03:18:14Z")
Okay…so what? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostradamus-as-a-psychohistorian-yes-its-a-crackpot-theory/574262/3 "2011-03-11T03:18:23Z")
Throwing it out is a good idea. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostradamus-as-a-psychohistorian-yes-its-a-crackpot-theory/574262/4 "2011-03-11T03:20:53Z")
That might be a fun idea for a novel, but for an actual idea, it would have to take into account both that Nostradamus thought he was engaged in fortunetelling and also that his quatrains don’t really make much sense or predict anything. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostradamus-as-a-psychohistorian-yes-its-a-crackpot-theory/574262/5 "2011-03-11T03:29:22Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > That might be a fun idea for a novel, but for an actual idea, it would have to take into account both that Nostradamus thought he was engaged in fortunetelling and also that his quatrains don’t really make much sense or predict anything. Actually, the idea first came as something for a story. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostradamus-as-a-psychohistorian-yes-its-a-crackpot-theory/574262/6 "2011-03-11T03:30:36Z")
Here’s the 1999 quatrain, btw…it’s 10:72 > [@](#): > > L’an mil neuf cens nonante neuf sept mois > Du ciel viendra un grand Roy deffraieur > Resusciter le grand Roy d’Angolmois. > Avant apres Mars regner par bon heur. or, as best as I can translate: In one thousand nine hundred ninety nine years and seven months. From the sky will come a great and terrible king. He will resurrect the great king of Angolmois (the Mongols?) Before and after, Mars rules for a good hour. Ok, so what exactly does that mean? It’s not overwhelmingly clear. You could read it as meaning that the King of the Martians will take over the earth and bring Genghis Khan back to life, if you want to. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostradamus-as-a-psychohistorian-yes-its-a-crackpot-theory/574262/7 "2011-03-11T03:42:52Z")
Well if I wrote the story I would have Nostradamus mean this (again, not that I believe this): In one thousand nine hundred ninety nine years and seven months: Means September (March being often the month the year started with in the Roman calendar, which Nostradamus may have used to confuse people) and 1999 shows that he as a psychohistorian was slightly off From the sky will come a great and terrible king: A gigantic plane, might be seen as metaphorically a “terrible king” especially when it crashes into buildings… He will resurrect the great king of Angolmois (the Mongols?): The desire of Bin Laden to create a Caliphate stretching from “Spain to Indonesia” Before and after, Mars rules for a good hour: War in general ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostradamus-as-a-psychohistorian-yes-its-a-crackpot-theory/574262/8 "2011-03-11T03:48:58Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > What if Nostradamus was not really an occultic prophet but rather a Hari Seldon like psychohistorian who developed an elaborate system of calculation for calculating the probabilities of everything and thus succesfully predicted the history of the future? Wouldn’t he have to have made some successful predictions for this to be true? ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostradamus-as-a-psychohistorian-yes-its-a-crackpot-theory/574262/9 "2011-03-11T04:17:14Z")
> [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](#): > > Wouldn’t he have to have made some successful predictions for this to be true? Apparently after an event, you can twist his words into a perfect prediction. ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2011, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nostradamus-as-a-psychohistorian-yes-its-a-crackpot-theory/574262/10 "2011-03-11T04:42:19Z")
He was the opposite of an historian. Brilliant!