It’s the end of the world as we know it, per a physicist’s 1960 prediction

Physicist Heinz von Foerster predicted in a 1960 paper that population growth would eventually reach a breaking point, with people “squeezed to death”. The predicted date was 13 November 2026, but global population did not continue growing exponentially, and the forecast did not come to pass.

Von Foerster’s projections matched population trends for a time, but growth slowed after the post-war baby boom and his model later became less accurate. By around 1993, global population was falling behind his forecasts; today’s birth rate is slightly less than half its 1960 level. His prediction followed a long history of failed doomsday forecasts, including claims by Thomas Malthus that population growth would outstrip food supplies.