A WaPo science writer forecast the technology of 2026 in 1976. wapo.st/4wssB3v

I recognize Rutte's approach from advice for dealing with dementia patients: you just have to live in their imagined worlds as necessary.

Futurist at the movies microreview: "A Scanner Darkly," which came out 20 years ago today.

Futurist at the movies microreview: “A.I.”, which came out 25 years ago. This was the best futurist film of 2001—and one of the bleakest movie visions of the human future.

I suspect 2036 is way too early for a self-sustaining AI population. asteriskmag.com/issues/14/ho...

US racial-ethnic demography under 3 immigration scenarios

Happy 250th to the United States!

Futurist at the movies microreview: "Terminator 2," which came out 35 years ago today.

With net-zero immigration, the US population would begin falling and be down to 312 million by 2051. www.brookings.edu/articles/how...

Futurist at the movies microreview: "The Tomorrow War," which came out 5 years ago today.

Futurist at the movies microreview: "I'm Your Man," which came out 5 years ago today. It was one of the better futurist films of 2021.

If the US goes into Cuba, "fallout from an ill-considered intervention could include state collapse, an even more calamitous humanitarian emergency and further waves of emigration, with consequences that are hard to calculate." #Cuba #future www.crisisgroup.org/stm/latin-am...

Yesterday was likely the hottest day in France since the last interglacial (125,000 years ago). There is going to be some terrible human news from this… #NothingToSeeHere #MoveRightAlong

Futurist at the movies microreview: "The Door into Summer," which came out 5 years ago today.

The exit dilemma for strongmen: "Once you have dismantled institutions, enriched yourself and your cronies, and bent the law to your will, you cannot simply lose an election and retire to write your memoirs." foreignpolicy.com/2026/06/19/o...

Futurist at the movies: "Logan's Run," which came out 50 years ago today. Imperfect as entertainment, this is still a highlight of 1970s futurist films.

"Governments across the world are already acting on a shared diagnosis: the United States is no longer reliable, and reducing long-term dependence on Washington has become a strategic imperative." www.foreignaffairs.com/guest-pass/r...

Techno-libertarians encroach on the sovereignty of small states including Caribbean islands -- www.economist.com/the-americas...

Futurist at the movies microreview: "The Food of the Gods," which came out 50 years ago today. This is the worst film adaptation of H.G. Wells that I'm aware of.

Google AI doesn't actually know where Trump's proposed arch will be. (The site is in Washington DC, on Columbia Island.)

Switzerland voted on whether to limit its population to 10 million, opting for "no" www.bbc.com/news/article...

Some characters in "Disclosure Day" greatly exaggerate the impact of learning that aliens exist, but the movie itself depicts only momentary fascination, which would indeed occur. foreignpolicy.com/2026/06/12/d...

Futurist at the movies microreview: "Disclosure Day"

"The United States and Israel fought Iran, and China won. America’s setback with Iran has widened a lane for China to assert greater influence and leadership on the world stage." www.brookings.edu/articles/how...

Futurist at the movies microreview: "Earth vs. the Flying Saucers," which came out 70 years ago today.

Given that “Disclosure Day” is said to be a kind of companion to “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” here’s my microreview of Spielberg's first alien film. It rates as the overall best futurist movie of the 1970s.

A detailed scenario for the climate change-driven geography of habitability in 2100. interaktiv.morgenpost.de/klimawandel-...

Futurist at the movies microreview: "Awake," which came out 5 years ago today.

This was AI's best attempt at drawing me a green woolly mammoth 4 years ago.

"Jack Clark, an Anthropic co-founder, thinks there is a 60% chance that, by the end of 2028, an AI system will be capable of creating its own successor with no human involvement." www.economist.com/science-and-...

"India, where more than 90% of women get married and only 33% work, is seeing fertility slump, too." www.economist.com/briefing/202...

Futurist at the movies microreview: "Greenland 2: Migration." Depicting the 5-year aftermath of a giant comet impact, the movie is not as good as the first in every dimension.

"AI exposure—and related potential political anxiety—concentrates in Democratic-leaning places: Sixty-two of the 100 most AI-exposed U.S. counties went “blue” in the 2024 presidential election." www.brookings.edu/articles/ai-...

Foresight ignored: years of war games predicted Iran closing the Straight of Hormuz if attacked -- www.nytimes.com/2026/06/02/u...

Futurist at the movies microreview: "Into the Forest," which came out 10 years ago today, and is one of the better futurist films of 2016.

"Cuba would be harder than Venezuela to reconstruct, both politically and economically." "Every option is fraught. A deal big enough to satisfy Messrs Trump and Rubio looks hard to achieve; military action may fail to accomplish what diplomacy has not." www.economist.com/the-americas...

"A more radical option is to offer workers direct stakes in the progress of AI. One way to do this would be to spread ownership of the companies developing the technology more widely, whether by handing out shares or through sovereign-wealth funds." www.economist.com/finance-and-...

Futurist at the movies microreview: "A Quiet Place 2," which came out 5 years ago today.

“Not only can our military not save American democracy, it can’t even save itself from democracy.” foreignpolicy.com/2026/05/22/u...

Futurist at the movies microreview: "X-Men: The Last Stand," which came out 20 years ago today.

Trump could blunder into a complex, messy, and possibly bloody situation in Cuba -- foreignpolicy.com/2026/05/22/c...

Futurist at the movies microreview: "Escape from the Planet of the Apes," which came out 55 years ago today.

If the construction company plays its cards right, it can switch midway to the arch demolition contract.

Futurist at the movies microreview: "Melancholia," which came out 15 years ago today.

Futurist at the movies microreview: "Master of the World," which came out 65 years ago today.

"By 2100, 46% of all people under 25 are projected to live in Africa, compared with 39% in Asia." www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

Futurist at the movies microreview: "Outland," which came out 45 years ago today.

"If political violence committed in the president’s name is not only tolerated but actively rewarded, it could take this already bleak timeline somewhere much, much darker." www.nytimes.com/2026/05/21/o...

Futurist at the movies microreview: "Escape from New York," which came out 45 years ago today. Many American cities are doing better than they were in 1981; the chance of great power war dropped since then, but is now rising again.

I encountered one of the surviving crew members of the Nostromo.