The Future: "like the present only longer"

Wikipedia tells that: January (in Latin, Ianuarius) is named after the Latin word for door (ianua), since January is the door to the year and an opening to new beginnings. The month is conventionally thought of as being named after Janus, the god of beginnings and transitions in Roman mythology, but according to ancient Roman farmers' almanacs Juno was the tutelary deity [guardian, protector, patron] of the month.


In the mythology of ancient Rome, Janus, god of new beginnings was associated with doors and gates, and first steps. Janus is usually depicted as having two faces, looking in opposite directions. In one legend, Saturn bestows upon him the ability to see both the past and the future.

"I have seen the future and it is very much like the present, only longer."

~Kehlog Albran, The Profit

Predictions, predictions...how many come true? Not many, in my experience, at least not in the time scale of a year. Over a period of 5 or 10 years, some of the wider ranging ones come true, but in a mere 12 months, it's unlikely. Narrower predictions, relating to individuals, "celebrities", politicians are often just good guesses; most of us could take a stab at such predictions, if sufficiently interested.

For a fun read, prediction-wise, try the following: Man Claiming to Be Time Traveler Makes Fascinating Predictions About 2019,
by Sherene Buffa. Some of the predictions stretch much further into the future than 2019 - it's all very sci-fi.

Lots of it is quite silly, but I rather like one prediction for 2019: that there will be more UFO sightings which cannot be dismissed as fake, or as weather balloons, or whatever.

Be prepared for UFO sightings in January 2019
Noah specifically states that HUGE, massive UFO sightings will start to hit in the new year. And they do not look fake — which is why we will begin to believe what we see.

The "time traveller" also claims that the biggest snowstorm in history will hit the Midwest in February. He says multiple cities will be “wiped out” by this storm. Well, winter is winter, climate change threatens, so this prediction isn't too way out. Travelling to the future wasn't strictly necessary to predict something of this nature.

We can only hope that this claim of the time traveller does not come true:

On November 3, 2020 — President Trump will serve a second term in office.

For a more level-headed piece on future, far-flung, possibilities do go read the answer written by Robert Blevins, at Quora to this question:

What is something that is science fiction today that we could see in the next 20 years?