And there's nothing wrong with that. They bring back to mind events, ideas, people that swept past our attention and would otherwise not have been recalled. Predictions are a different matter. As we all know, predictions look at the present to try to anticipate the future. But suppose the climate's changed dramatically so that one day isn't like another.
Snow is followed by hail is followed by a tropical heat wave is followed by a rain of frogs.
At that point, predictions based on the present are worse than useless. They can serve the purpose of tranquilizing us against the fact of change. And that, of course, is how matters stand at the turn of the Millennium. We have never experienced a period of such rapid change. And the Web has introduced a fundamental discontinuity.