The Oldest Simulation: Eschatology as Strategic Foresight

The Oldest Simulation: Eschatology as Strategic Foresight argues that modern forecasting, whether in finance, intelligence, or corporate strategy, has a structural blind spot because it ignores long civilizational cycles and the motivational power of end-times belief. The book shows how ancient eschatological texts from Jewish, Christian, Islamic, South Asian, East Asian, and secular "end of growth" traditions encode recurring patterns of rise, crisis, and transformation, then proposes a hybrid framework that overlays these patterns onto quantitative models to better anticipate phase transitions such as revolutions, collapses, and systemic shocks. Written for analysts, graduate students, and serious general readers, it treats eschatology as "legacy code" for human foresight and lays out both the methodological tools and the ethical cautions needed to use this code responsibly in contemporary strategic thinking.