Suppose we, meaning the human race, survive climate change, pandemics, and nuclear proliferation. What then? I’m talking about the long run.

We’ve got a faction who think the Earth would have been better off had we not survived – as if the rest of the ecosystem wouldn’t suffer from the radioactivity or the infections that killed us off.

My June 28 column on the Middle East drew a comment concerning Palestinians ejected from their homes by the post-WWII influx of European Jewish refugees to what’s now Israel. Eighty years after the fact, descendants of those displaced still feel much anger.

The year is 2028. After Congress voted that he need not heed Supreme Court decisions, Donald J. Trump declared himself king.

A Facebook friend opined that Los Angeles protesters could “turn LA into another Portland.” I expand for you my rejoinder to his post:

In 2025 it’s hard to argue that social media are not to blame for much antisocial and suicidal behavior among preteens and teens (e.g., Orben and Matias 2025). The harms of online bullying, deepfake nudes, and fringe conspiracies, all present on social media, were exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic, years in which young people were buried in their screens.