Musk's most frequently mentioned SF series. In a 2018 tweet he stated "Foundation Series & Zeroth Law are fundamental to creation of SpaceX." In a 2017 Rolling Stone interview he said: "The lesson I drew from it is you should try to take the set of actions that are likely to prolong civilization."

Marcus Aurelius cited Sophocles' tragedy Oedipus Rex in Book 11, Chapter 6 of his Meditations, quoting the anguished cry "O Cithaeron!" — the mountain where the infant Oedipus was abandoned, and toward which he cried out after learning the tragic truth of his fate. Marcus used the reference to illustrate that even the heroes of tragedy endure the suffering of destiny. Just as actors on stage accept their doomed roles, so too must we accept the adversity that comes to us as part of nature's order. Written during a period when war and plague ravaged the empire, and when the emperor himself faced relentless hardship, the lesson was not mere literary appreciation but existential consolation.

Akio Morita shared a deep personal bond with Michael Jackson. Jackson dedicated a special shield on his 1995 album "HIStory" to Morita and personally delivered it. Records show Morita attended Jackson's concerts at Yokohama Stadium in 1987 and Tokyo Dome in 1992 and 1996, and Jackson regarded Morita as both a teacher and a friend.

Akio Morita attended Wagner's monumental opera cycle "Der Ring des Nibelungen" at the Bayreuth Festival. While the festival typically spans six days, Morita would attend just one performance before departing, yet his passion for classical music was genuine. Along with his long friendship with Herbert von Karajan, Morita traveled between Salzburg and Bayreuth to enjoy opera, and Wagner's epic work held special significance for him.

George Soros directly referenced Frank Knight's work in his 2014 lecture, noting that the distinction between risk and uncertainty was an important reference point in forming his theory of reflexivity. The distinction between quantifiable risk and unquantifiable uncertainty was reflected in Soros's market analysis methodology.

George Soros was deeply influenced by Popper's critique of historicism. This work, which refuted the claim that immutable laws govern history, played a decisive role in helping Soros break free from the ideological dogmatism of both Marxism and market fundamentalism.

George Soros directly cited Popper's work on scientific methodology in his 2014 lecture, explaining that the concept of falsifiability was central to forming his own philosophy of fallibility. Soros applied Popper's claim that empirical truth cannot be known with absolute certainty directly to his analysis of financial markets.

George Soros read this book while attending Karl Popper's lectures at the London School of Economics and described the experience as a "revelation." Popper's argument that no philosophy or ideology can be the final arbiter of truth became the foundation of Soros's investment philosophy and philanthropic mission. The Open Society Foundations itself takes its name from this work.

George Soros encountered Lionel Robbins's work during his time at the London School of Economics. Soros critically reexamined Robbins's framework, which defined economics as the science of allocating scarce resources, in developing his theory of reflexivity, arguing that human fallibility fundamentally undermines the premises of economic theory.

George Soros cited Robert Merton's concept of the self-fulfilling prophecy as a key precursor to his own theory of reflexivity. Merton's insight that social expectations shape reality contributed to Soros's theorization of feedback loops in financial markets, where bias moves prices and prices in turn reinforce bias.