Friday, November 13, 2026: "Doomsday" according to scientists' calculations. It sounds like the title of a sci-fi thriller, but it's a real science article from 1960 in a science magazine. Its authors, the cyberneticist Heinz von Forster and two of his students, analyzed 24 estimates of the Earth's population over about 2,000 years. And they discovered a strange thing: the population grew not only fast, but faster and faster - hyperbolically. They took this curve forward - and got infinity. And the "demographic singularity" point was the date November 13, 2026 (and yes, it's a Friday!). Hence the catchy title of the article: "Doomsday: Friday, November 13, AD 2026". The most memorable sentence from the piece: "Our great-grandchildren will not die of hunger." They will suffocate to death." There was talk of monstrous population density - that there would be so many people that there would literally be no room left. The solution proposed by the authors was a global reduction in the birth rate. What is in reality? Beginning in 1993, growth began to lag behind this curve. The model turned out to be too simple: it did not take into account the demographic transition, the economy, technology and how society itself changes its habits. It turns out that "the end of the world" will not happen. But the idea that population growth is linked to knowledge sharing and innovation still inspires researchers.

Friday, November 13, 2026: "Doomsday" according to scientists' calculations. It sounds like the title of a sci-fi thriller, but it's a real science article from 1960 in a science magazine. Its authors, the cyberneticist Heinz von Forster and two of his students, analyzed 24 estimates of the Earth's population over about 2,000 years. And they discovered a strange thing: the population grew not only fast, but faster and faster - hyperbolically. They took this curve forward - and got infinity. And the "demographic singularity" point was the date November 13, 2026 (and yes, it's a Friday!). Hence the catchy title of the article: "Doomsday: Friday, November 13, AD 2026". The most memorable sentence from the piece: "Our great-grandchildren will not die of hunger." They will suffocate to death." There was talk of monstrous population density - that there would be so many people that there would literally be no room left. The solution proposed by the authors was a global reduction in the birth rate. What is in reality? Beginning in 1993, growth began to lag behind this curve. The model turned out to be too simple: it did not take into account the demographic transition, the economy, technology and how society itself changes its habits. It turns out that "the end of the world" will not happen. But the idea that population growth is linked to knowledge sharing and innovation still inspires researchers.