Want to know what kind of potential calamities could be looming for next year?
One famous astrologer has you covered. Keep watching to learn about the bleak
predictions Nostradamus had for 2022. For centuries, the more superstitious
corners of popular culture have been obsessed with the prophecies of a 16th-century French astrologer
and soothsayer known by his Latinized name: Nostradamus. Four and a half centuries after their
publication, the soothsayer's quatrains, or poems with four stanzas, are still analyzed and debated.
Believers say at least some of his predictions have come true,
such as poems that supposedly predicted the Great Fire of London or the death of Henry II of France.
Skeptics point out that prophecy is an inexact "science" and that Nostradamus' writings are
vague enough that you could look at some of his poems and tie them to just about anything,
even unruly apprentices. "I'm going to leave now."
"Wait!" "What?"
"Okay, now go." "Okay. Bye!"
"Buy Apple stock." Regardless of your take on the seer's purported
prophetic abilities, it does appear that his poems mention a few things that, looked at in the right
context, we may have to deal with in 2022. Part of one Nostradamus quatrain appears to
reference food shortages, and it's a rather bleak prediction that ends with cannibalism.
"So high the price of wheat/That man is stirred/His fellow man to eat in his despair."
There have been famines throughout the world on several occasions since Nostradamus wrote
these words, so he could have been talking about anything, or nothing. However, it does bear noting
that several factors are working together right now that could be pointing to food shortages,
if not outright famine. Inflation is becoming a problem in the U.S. and Europe. Europe,
in particular, is dealing with the economic repercussions of Brexit and supply-chain issues.
This has all, at least partially, been caused by the COVID-19 pandemic and has
led to food shortages in some places. So far, these food shortages have been
more of a giant inconvenience than an actual famine. However, the global supply-chain
issues are far from being solved, and things may well get worse before they get better.
Two other bleak predictions from Nostradamus are far worse than just food shortages and famine.
Indeed, two of his prophecies could point to the worldwide extinction of humanity and
possibly a slow, painful, and gruesome end for at least some of us. These dark
predictions come from this quatrain: "For 40 years the rainbow will not
be seen/For 40 years it will be seen every day/The dry earth will grow more parched/And
there will be great floods when it is seen" This poem could be interpreted as a prophecy about
a worldwide drought brought on by nuclear winter. "What? Nostradamus. What are you seeing?"
"War…and the cost of war…" Meanwhile, another line …
"Fire do I see that from the sky shall fall" … points to an asteroid impact and the resultant
effects on human life. Indeed, potentially cataclysmic asteroids are zipping past Earth
all the time. And it's a matter of when, not if, one capable of causing a mass extinction
event will strike. For now, however, NASA is not predicting any major asteroid impacts or
near misses for 2022. But they are keeping their eyes on a space rock that's expected to be coming
a little too close for comfort in 2029. While wars, famines, and meteor impacts
were all things long before Nostradamus had put pen to paper, there's another possible threat
that he couldn't possibly have seen coming: the rise of artificial intelligence. For decades,
the idea of computers and robots gaining sentience and wreaking havoc has been a staple of science
fiction plots. But Nostradamus may have seen it coming centuries earlier. The prophet wrote:
"The new sage with a lone brain sees it: By his disciples invited to be immortal"
Which could be a warning about AI. Maybe it’s no coincidence that everyone's
favorite real-life comic-book supervillain Elon Musk has lately branched out into making robots.
Meanwhile, relying too much on AI has already caused real-life problems. Such as passengers
of Teslas not actually driving their cars and instead relying on its self-driving feature.
Which, for the record, is neither foolproof nor intended to be used as a replacement for a human
driving the car. This valuable, but misused feature has already led to fatal accidents.
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