<p>Visionary.</p> Photographer: JEWEL SAMAD/AFP/Getty Images Culture
In preparation for my predictions for 2016, I thought I should honor my loyal readers by going back and doing what critics say pundits never do: seeing how well I did on my predictions for 2015, published in this space on Dec. 31 of last year. To my surprise, some of them came true. Alas, not necessarily the happy ones.
Here are those predictions from a year ago and my evaluations of them a year later.
1. I predicted that Bashar al-Assad would still be in power, and that the Iraqi regime would not be able to do very much to reduce its territorial losses. True.
2. I predicted that the price of Bitcoins would not rise significantly against the dollar. This is sort of true: The price fluctuated quite a bit in 2015, but wound up about where it started.
3. I predicted that Magnus Carlsen would lose the chess championship to Fabiano Caruana. False. I had my dates crossed. I will stick with the prediction, but push it into 2016.
4. I predicted that “The Force Awakens” would have a “Star Trek” Easter egg and an extra in some scene with Vulcan ears. I’ve now seen the film twice, and I will confess that this one didn’t come true.
5. I predicted that high-tech valuations would turn out to be a bubble, because startups, even those with great products, would have a harder and harder time gaining the attention of busy consumers. This one only partly came true in 2015, but it still seems likely down the road.6. I predicted that my beloved Washington R-word football team would endure another losing season and finally change its name. I was flat wrong. To the surprise of pretty much everyone, the team is in the playoffs, and winning seems […]
