[Spoiler alert, Hyperion series]
That sounds totally lifted from the Hyperion series, but maybe the idea is earlier than that, does anyone have a proposed source for that idea that's earlier than 1989?
"The power to destroy a thing is the absolute control over it." - Frank Herbert, Dune
What a godamn waste.
Highly recommend the trilogy! Great story, amazing characters, pretty great gameplay (especially after #1), and overall an immersive journey. I wasn't bothered at all by the ending, personally.
Not complaining, though, since [heresy incoming] they seem to have said "what if we took B5's setting but tweaked it to make it better" and then did it.
In Arthur C. Clarke's "2001: A Space Odyssey", the alient Monoliths influenced human evolution and later decided to terminate the human race instead.
In Fredrick Pohl's Heechee series, humans stumble upon abandoned alien technology and use it without understanding how it works.