Dead Sea Scroll - part of Isaiah Scroll

Peeking into the Future

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What will the future look like? Futurists have been pondering this particular question. A few things seem plausible. First, robots and artificial intelligence may take over our jobs, making us obsolete as workers. Machines and computers have already taken over many jobs. Until now, new jobs have replaced the old ones. These new jobs were more complex so that machines couldn’t do them. However, artificial intelligence may be able to perform these tasks far better than us. Artificial intelligence is a computer programme that can learn like a human, but much faster. Artificial intelligence may soon take over many remaining jobs and make all the decisions for us. As a result, we may have a lot of leisure time, or be terminated for being outrageously resource-inefficient useless eaters.

In a few decades, we may no longer be driving our cars. We tell them where we want to go. Our cars plot a route, bring us there, and keep us safe. Perhaps it will be forbidden to drive yourself when human drivers cause more accidents than self-driving cars. In the 1980s, when I was a teenager, and Knight Rider was a popular television series, it was science fiction. Today, the technology is already there. Artificial intelligence may soon make other decisions as well. We may still decide what we want, for example, what kind of book we like to read, but algorithms decide the specifics. And you might even be happy with it because artificial intelligence knows better what you desire than you do. That is when humans succeed in taming artificial intelligence and making it serve their purposes.

Some people fear that computers and robots will take over the world, controlling or destroying us. Computers and robots don’t have a will of their own. but neither do we. Traditional computers operate according to their programming, but artificial intelligence thinks for itself like us. It learns and can become more intelligent than we are. We allow smartphones to take over our lives, but this is not what smartphones want to do. Humans have designed apps to be addictive, so we do what the programmers want us to do. And we are lazy, so we allow algorithms to decide for us. In this way, artificial intelligence will take over. Emotions and desires have a biological origin, so computers and robots don’t possess them, but artificial intelligence can simulate them and come to resemble us.

Alternatively, humans may enhance themselves with biotechnology, cyborg engineering and information technology. These beings are also no longer human and can be referred to as post-humans. They might still be like us in many ways because we think that our inner selves are precious. And so, we are unlikely to alter our inner selves, even if we can. These post-humans may live very long lives while artificial intelligence handles decision-making. And so they have a lot of time on their hands, and boredom may be their biggest challenge. That may also apply to artificial intelligence, if it is like us, which it might be, because humans created it. That brings us to the third option. These post-humans may create games and imaginary worlds that simulate human civilisations for entertainment. If the technology becomes cheap, there could be billions of virtual universes for every real one, and we live in a virtual reality ourselves.

Latest revision: 25 September 2026

Featured image: Dead Sea Scrolls – part of the Isaiah Scroll. Public Domain.

1. Are You Living In a Computer Simulation? Nick Bostrom (2003). Philosophical Quarterly (2003) Vol. 53, No. 211, pp. 243-255. [link]

The car in which Archduke Franz Ferdinand was killed

Is There a Plan?

nivtric5 Comments

On 28 June 1914, the Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip shot Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie in their open car in Sarajevo. It triggered a sequence of events that led to World War I. Austria held Serbia responsible and declared war on Serbia. The conflict soon escalated and became the First World War. The war ended four years later with the Armistice of 11 November 1918. The date 11 November (11/11) is remarkable. But there is something far more peculiar about this event. The car in which Franz Ferdinand died bore licence plate number AIII 118, possibly referring to Armistice 11-11-18.

The assassination succeeded after a series of mishaps. Two conspirators failed to act. A third threw a bomb that exploded below the next car. Franz Ferdinand then changed his plan to visit the wounded from the bombing at the hospital. After learning the plot had failed, Princip positioned himself on the route to the hospital. There, Franz Ferdinand’s open car reversed after taking a wrong turn. The engine stalled, and the gears locked precisely in front of the only person still prepared to strike.

Surrounded by a crowd, Princip was unable to activate the bomb he was carrying. He used his handgun instead, but failed to aim it properly. He later said, ‘Where I aimed, I don’t know.’ Princip added that he turned his head off when firing the shots. Even considering the close range, it is odd he fired only two bullets, killing both the Archduke and his wife.1

Franz Ferdinand had premonitions of early death. One relative recalled him telling a few friends a month earlier that he knew that he was about to be murdered. Another account notes that the Archduke had shot a white stag a year earlier. According to folklore, a hunter who had killed such an animal would die soon. While hunting, Franz Ferdinand killed over 270,000 animals. It may have happened, but no reliable source confirms it.1

The assassination could have gone wrong, or it might not have triggered a war, or the war could have proceeded differently to end on another day. Indeed, remarkable coincidences surrounded the assassination. The car stopped just in front of Princip. And two poorly aimed shots proved to be fatal. But the licence plate adds a very peculiar suggestion to it. Did someone know the car would play a crucial role in the assassination that would ignite a world war that would end on 11 November 1918? In other words, is there a plan behind everything that happens in this world?

Latest revision: 15 July 2025

Featured image: Gräf and Stift Double Phaeton of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at the time of his assassination. User OlliFoolish (2011). Wikimedia Commons.

1. Curses! Archduke Franz Ferdinand and His Astounding Death Car. Mike Dash (2013). Smithsonian. [link]