The New York Times has just recently released a slew of articles for their anniversary issue of the Science Times news section (the first was published on November 14th, 1978). The common theme of these articles (there are at least 12 of them) is the future of science—predictions for what’s coming up. The section is titled “What’s Next” and the articles discuss possible upcoming discoveries and advances in a number of fields, including medicine, physics, computing, earth and planetary science, mathematics, and material science. This is a great draw for readers because it is a blend of real science and hopeful fantasy. By peering into an unknowable and unpredictable future, the science writers at the Times provide articles filled with excitement, imagination, and possibility—all things that would engage any reader.
A wrap-up article to this “What’s Next” Science Times section is written by James Gorman and is titled “And Now, Predictions We’ll Back 100 Percent.” It’s a fun, humorous piece about what will definitely not happen in 2011, and it fits in perfectly after all the other articles about the scientific predictions in various fields. This one is kind of like comic relief and also puts everything into perspective by underlining a key point: they are just predictions! In a way, with this article the Times is saying, “Take all this with a grain of salt.” Gorman’s first sentence reads, “It’s a fool’s errand to make precise predictions about the future. Even the famously prescient often fall on their faces.” He goes on to give examples of predictions that have been hilariously off-track; and he makes his own predictions for what won’t happen in 2011—and they can’t be argued with: they include the expectation that human beings will not evolve much in 2011, Neanderthals won’t be cloned, and no humans will be conceived in space.
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