Isaac Asimov
Psychohistory / Foundation — the recursion (b)
A 'psychohistory engine' forecasting collapse, steered by a hidden Second Foundation, with the Mule as the unmodeled black-swan — the engine's own structural mirror. Parked self-referential synthesis-candidate; Asimov was a secular rationalist, held at (b).
Also in The Apex in Literature & Philosophy
C.S. LewisThe Conditioners / Abolition of Man (b)J.R.R. TolkienThe Machine / the One Ring (b)Frank HerbertThe Butlerian Jihad (b)Philip K. DickThe Black Iron Prison / VALIS (b+a)Rudolf SteinerAhriman / the machine-swarm (a)Martin HeideggerGestell / standing-reserve (b)Michel FoucaultBiopower / the Panopticon (b)Friedrich NietzscheThe Last Man (b)