Doomsday prediction says world ends in weeks
Scientists have predicted that doomsday is approaching before the end of 2026 - and alarmingly, one of them has already proved accurate about AI. As if existence wasn't challenging enough with the cost of living crisis and a brutal job market, a decades-old prediction about the looming end of civilisation has re-emerged.
TL;DR
- Scientists predicted in 1960 that civilization could end on November 13, 2026, due to overpopulation.
- The prediction is based on examining patterns of exponential population expansion in Western civilization.
- The global population has increased from roughly three billion to approximately 8.3 billion since the study.
- One of the study's authors, Heinz von Foerster, accurately predicted potential dangers of AI in a 1995 interview.
- Von Foerster argued against assuming AI 'thinks' like humans, calling such assumptions dangerous.
- Concerns exist about people relying on AI for human-like interaction and romantic relationships.
- The study's authors believed the world's end would result from overpopulation, not nuclear conflict or natural disasters.
- Thomas Malthus had earlier proposed in 1798 that humanity would exhaust its food supply.