{"id":79396,"date":"2024-12-31T06:00:56","date_gmt":"2024-12-31T11:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=79396"},"modified":"2024-12-21T22:13:26","modified_gmt":"2024-12-22T03:13:26","slug":"checking-our-predictions-for-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2024\/12\/checking-our-predictions-for-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Checking Our Predictions for 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There were 99 comments on Your Predictions for 2024<\/a>, some of which were in the nature of conversations rather than predictions, but some of you submitted long lists of the latter.\u00a0 I thank you.\u00a0 You exhibited much wisdom, even when you were wrong, or sometimes especially when you were wrong.<\/p>\n

I confess that I wickedly used the AI search engine Perplexity<\/a> to check your predictions, and it only hallucinated once, as far as I know.\u00a0 Lisa predicted that 2024 would be the hottest year on record.\u00a0 Me: \u201cWhat was the hottest year on record?\u201d\u00a0 Perplexity: \u201cThe hottest year on record was 2023.\u201d\u00a0 Me:\u00a0 \u201cWhat about 2024?\u201d\u00a0 Perplexity:\u00a0 \u201cThe hottest year on record was 2024.\u201d\u00a0 I did cross check the answers the old-fashioned way by clicking Perplexity\u2019s sources, which often aren\u2019t the best.\u00a0 If I thought you were wrong when you were really right, blame it on AI.<\/p>\n

I admit this because AI featured in a lot of your predictions.\u00a0 It would mess up the election, some of you thought.\u00a0 It really didn\u2019t.\u00a0 It would wreak other kinds of havoc.\u00a0 It hasn\u2019t really progressed as far as people had assumed it would, so that\u2019s a relief.<\/p>\n

Skyorrichegg deserves some acclaim for getting AI to make predictions for this contest!\u00a0 He gave parameters according to what we were looking for and narrowed down the prompts, resulting in some truly fascinating prophecies.\u00a0 AI believes that in 2024, people will begin to have conversations with plants \u201con a deep and emotional level.\u201d\u00a0 A smartphone App will predict users\u2019 needs before they themselves know what they are.\u00a0 Insect protein will become popular, with culinary experts raving about the unique flavors and textures of insect cuisine.\u00a0 A new Protestant denomination will use AI to interpret the will of God. Peace will be restored to Russia and the Ukraine when hackers disable the weapons of both sides.<\/p>\n

Let us get to the winners\u2019 circle. . . .<\/p>\n

I want to start giving a prize for the best prediction that didn\u2019t come true.\u00a0 That would go to Steve Bauer, who predicted that \u201cJesus will return on Monday, November 4, at 11:59 p.m., putting the Great Tribulation to an end.\u201d\u00a0 Unfortunately, that did not occur.\u00a0 It would have spared us the election.\u00a0 So the Great Tribulation will continue.<\/p>\n

I also want to give a special prize for a non-human participant.\u00a0 Skyorrichegg\u2019s AI predictions did include an item that didn\u2019t exactly come true, but was sort of close.\u00a0 The AI prediction was that the Catholic church would make plans for a monastery on the moon.\u00a0 I asked my AI and it told me that while this didn\u2019t happen, in 1967, a theologian named Terence J. Mangan and an architect named Mark Mills, a protege of Frank Lloyd Wrights, drew up plans for a chapel on the moon.\u00a0 Think that this could be a case of two Artificial Intelligences conspiring together against humanity, I checked, and sure enough, as reported by America: The Jesuit Review<\/a>, this happened and the results were published in the November 1967 issue of the Liturgical Arts Journal<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 This was in 1967, not 2004, not a monastery but a chapel, but that\u2019s a pretty good guess for an inanimate object.<\/p>\n

Speaking of politics, that topic dominated the predictions, as we would expect.\u00a0 Most were wrong.\u00a0 My projections that Biden would win and that the Democrats would also take the House and Senate were exactly wrong, with the opposite outcome being the case.\u00a0 Almost everyone predicted that Biden would win the election.\u00a0 There were, however, some good predictions.\u00a0 Wassup402 predicted that Biden would not be the Democratic nominee.\u00a0 Lars Walker predicted that \u201cPres. Biden will withdraw from the race, to be replaced by a younger, more vital substitute,\u201d but then he had to go on to say that that the resulting ticket would \u201ceasily\u201d defeat Donald Trump.\u00a0\u00a0Tom Herring predicted that both Biden and Trump would have health issues or die, and that the Democratic nominee would be Kamala Harris.\u00a0 That was a good prediction, spoiled only by going on to say that she would run against Nikki Haley and win the election, since the abortion issue will outweigh the border issue.<\/p>\n

Kerner had a cluster of predictions that came true, along with some that didn\u2019t.\u00a0 The Republicans did take the Senate; Javier Milei is still the president of Argentina; Claudia Sheinbaum was elected Mexico\u2019s first female president; and Republicans are shifting to an anti-war, non-interventionist position.<\/p>\n

So all of those mentioned as being in the winners\u2019 circle, congratulations.\u00a0 There were, however, two contestants who did so well that we\u2019re going to have to split the Gluten Free Award among them (which is easy because it doesn\u2019t have any material existence).<\/p>\n

Lisa, who describes herself as \u201ca longtime reader\u201d made 5 predictions.\u00a0 And every one of them came true!\u00a0<\/em> With no misses!<\/p>\n

(1) Yes, 2024 is the hottest year on record.<\/p>\n

(2) Yes, the 2024 election went rather smoothly, with AI-generated misinformation not really a factor.<\/p>\n

(3) Yes, 40,000 Palestinians would die in the war with Israel.\u00a0 Actually, 44,000.<\/p>\n

(4)\u00a0 Yes, China did not invade Taiwan.<\/p>\n

(5)\u00a0 Yes, American fossil fuel output reached its highest point ever.<\/p>\n

Some of her predictions were projections from earlier trends, but when I try that, I always get something wrong, so let\u2019s join in congratulating Lisa!<\/p>\n

But the other recipient of the Gluten Free Award made a more unlikely prediction, something none of the rest of us expected, but that nevertheless came true; something with all the odds against it happening; an event that took place despite unprecedented obstacles:\u00a0 Donald Trump won the election.<\/p>\n

RayRay was the only<\/em> prognosticator who predicted that Trump would win!\u00a0 Some contestants wanted him to win, but just didn\u2019t think it was possible.\u00a0 RayRay knew.\u00a0 And he was right.\u00a0 For that, I think all would agree that RayRay deserves his share of the Gluten Free Award for 2024!<\/p>\n

If you know Lisa and RayRay, plus the other honorees, please let them know and spread the word.<\/p>\n

Come back tomorrow to make your predictions for 2025!<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Photo by RDNE Stock project via Pexels, Public Domain, https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/photo\/a-man-s-face-of-victory-holding-his-trophy-7005500\/<\/em><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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