More unsubstantiated ramblings. Please, for once, can we get something that can be proved/disproved? This nonsensical bullshit is on par with theology.
I would suggest, as a kind of an amusing game in possible scenario ideation, to assume that the people who wrote and published this article are running with the presumption that people already know these things are happening. So the main goal of this, therefore, would not be to enlighten an ignorant audience.
We “know” that news are orchestrated. They’re not really news because they’re often planned weeks or months in advance. We “know” that the media is there to shape public opinion. But what could they write to appeal to our biases? Perhaps make a subset of us feel righteous, angry, or smug, on a given day? Play to our vices just to play with us and keep us occupied and entertained?
Think about every person who posts something like “panem et circenses,” as a response, and imagine the smugness they feel at being so clever, has been a planned-for response from the people setting it all up.
Judging by the comments here the article in question was intended to elicit a strong emotional response out of readers. A reflex that predominantly swings towards controversial.
Does Neal Stephenson have an orb of seeing? I haven’t read any of his works or predictions but if he can tell the future then that’s worthy of a scientific study, I would posit. Wouldn’t be called predictions then, I suppose.
Not sure if he’s the only one who wrote about possible future outcomes with the tropes listed in the article. But then they wouldn’t be called tropes either, I suppose.