The once-respected journal Science predicted, in 1960, that the world would end today, November 13, 2026.
Written by Austrian American physicist Heinz von Foerster alongside researchers from the University of Illinois, the study analyzed historical demographic trends to conclude that world population growth was hyper-exponential.
“At this date human population will approach infinity if it grows as it has grown in the last two millennia,” the paper said.
“Our great-great-grandchildren will not starve. They will be squeezed to death.”
Birth rates have since plummeted, and here we (just about) still are.
I’ve lived through predictions of mass starvations, the upcoming Christian Rapture, nuclear winter, the hole-in-the-ozone-layer, the Halley’s Comet collision wipe-out, ice-age and coastal inundation expected disasters, the Y2K bug obliterations, the Mayan calendar document end-of-the-world, and the imminent Greta Thunberg climate-change apocalypse.
And yet, here we still are.
Hope to see you on the other side, tomorrow morning. DM me if you think you won’t make it, and we’ll hold hands and sing kumbaya together.
FWIW, I wrote a post on ricochet.com almost ten years ago, the last time this was (supposedly) a serious issue, and about the clowns who were promoting it. It’s hidden behind the paywall now. If I can get it up and running here, I will, and will link to it when I do.
