@lprubin reminded us about Asimov's Foundation series, so here is a quote from Wikipedia which is related to your question: "With the Galactic Empire in fatal

@lprubin reminded us about Asimov's Foundation series, so here is a quote from Wikipedia which is related to your question: "With the Galactic Empire in fatal decline, Hari Seldon, inventor of the science of psychohistory, predicted a 30,000 year interregnum of barbaric Dark Ages until the rise of a New Empire. So Seldon created a plan to shorten this interregnum from 30,000 years to 1,000 years."