Scientists predicted ‘Friday 13 November 2026’ would be ‘doomsday.’ Should you be worried?

Alan MacEachern, Western University In 1960, Science, one of the world’s leading science journals, published an article with an unambiguous title: Doomsday: Friday, 13 November, A.D. 2026. It predicted that on this future date — just over a month from today — the human population would approach infinity and effectively annihilate itself. The outlandishness of the claim landed the article widespread public attention. More surprisingly — because its underlying research and math seemed sound — it also received careful and sustained scientific attention. The authors — Heinz von Foerster, an Austrian-American professor and cybernetics expert and two of his students, Patricia M. Mora and Lawrence W. Amiot — argued that human populations are exceptional and might grow beyond an exponential rate, at an ever-increasing one. “Our great-great-grandchildren will not starve,” they argued.

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