In 1964, the great science fiction writer Stanisław Lem published his philosophical magnum opus Summa Technologiae. But it wasn't translated into English (from Polish) until two years ago.

Lem's book is an exhilarating take on the future of humanity. It jumps from idea to idea throughout science and technology, with such sections as "The Statistics of Civilizations in the Universe," "Experimental Metaphysics," and "Cyborgization."

And in one section, Lem explores the use of mathematics in various academic disciplines:

The general trend to introduce mathematical thinking into various sciences (including disciplines that did not previously use any math tools, such as biology, psychology, and medicine), is slowly extending to the humanities. For now, we have had some rare efforts in language studies (theoretical linguistics) and literary theory (the application of information theory to the study of literary texts, especially poetry).

While perhaps I am reading far too much into Lem's writing, I do see some tiny hints of mathematical and computational approaches to the humanities, often called digital humanities. Which makes me wonder what other ideas Lem's Summa Technologiae prefigures. In addition, there must be other such examples of early visions of the digital humanities. If you know of others (other than psychohistory), please note them in the comments.