Scientists predicted 'Doomsday' for tomorrow in 1960 study warning of a future where humanity 'annihilates itself'

An ominous date scientists labeled 'Doomsday' more than six decades ago is now just one day away.In 1960, Austrian physicist Heinz von Foerster and his colleagues published a paper in the journal Science that identified November 13, 2026 as the endpoint.Their equation suggested that the number of people on Earth would approach infinity if the accelerating growth they identified continued unchecked. That impossible result illustrated the consequences of extending the trend indefinitely.The researchers examined 24 estimates of the world’s population spanning nearly 2,000 years, finding that the time needed for the population to double had grown increasingly shorter.Their argument was unsettling: humanity’s ability to cooperate, develop technology and feed more people could help its numbers grow even faster.‘Our great-great-grandchildren will not starve to death,’ the researchers wrote. ‘They will be squeezed to death.’The researchers called the date 'Doomsday' because, in their model, it marks the point when the population grows without limit and 'annihilates itself.'They called the time remaining before that point 'dooms-time' and rewrote their equation to describe population growth as that countdown runs out.In 1960, Austrian physicist Heinz von Foerster and his colleagues published a paper in the journal Science that provocatively placed humanity's 'Doomsday' on November 13, 2026The paper, titled Doomsday: Friday, 13 November, AD 2026, states: 'At this date, the human population will approach infinity if it grows as it has grown in the last two millennia.' The warning emerged during a period of mounting concern that population growth could overwhelm food supplies and intensify competition for resources. Von Foerster and his co-authors, Patricia M Mora and Lawrence W Amiot, suggested that humanity's ability to cooperate helped explain why its numbers had increased so rapidly.When it was published in 1960, just over three billion people lived on Earth. Today, that figure stands at approximately 8.2 billion, an increase of more than five billion.However, the annual global population growth rate has fallen from a peak of roughly 2.2 percent in 1963 to about 0.84 percent in 2026, a decline of approximately 62 percent, using the historical Census Bureau peak and Worldometer's current growth estimate.At the 1960s rate, the population would double about every 32 years. At today's rate, doubling would take roughly 83 years.However, von Foerster's prediction has resurfaced as the deadline approaches.To test their theory, the researchers applied it to the entire human population, which they considered the best long-term example of a group whose members communicate and work together. The paper is titled Doomsday: Friday, 13 November, AD 2026, and states: 'At this date human population will approach infinity if it grows as it has in the last two millennia'They reasoned that a larger population could bring more people together to solve problems, develop technology, and support further growth. Under that argument, humanity's expanding numbers could help it overcome constraints that would otherwise limit its size.They collected 24 independent estimates of the world's population spanning nearly 2,000 years, from the time of Christ to 1958.Using global totals helped reduce distortions caused by migration, wars or other changes affecting individual regions.The team removed estimates that appeared to have been copied from the same sources and then used a statistical method to find the curve that most closely matched the remaining data.They reported that the model followed the historical population figures with a margin of error of approximately seven percent. On paper, the population would then surge toward infinity, an impossible mathematical endpoint he called 'Doomsday.'When the curve was extended into the future, however, it pointed to late 2026 as the moment the population would theoretically reach infinity.The calculation carried an uncertainty of about five and a half years, meaning the widely publicized November 13 date was far less precise than it appeared.The prediction drew coverage from Time and The New York Times and even appeared in the Pogo comic strip. Its reach extended beyond the headlines, with the equation cited in textbooks on genetics, ecology and population studies from the 1960s through the 1980s, according to Western University historian Alan MacEachern.The researchers argued that their projection was still noteworthy because it required extending the historical trend only slightly beyond the available data.