Good luck in the new year?

Time. That tricky variable governing our lives and the entire universe. It's hard to grasp. Physicists haven't helped much with the connection between time and space. Visualizing truly vast spans of time is difficult for our brains without the use of various psychoactive substances. Fortunately, the whole universe is in motion. Practically every part of it revolves around something. Electrons around atomic nuclei, moons around planets, planets around suns, suns around the center of the galaxy, galaxies dancing in galactic clusters—only with those damn black holes is it still debatable.

Humanity has thus had the chance to divide time into understandable units. Once a year, a unique moment arrives when the annual cycle closes and we celebrate New Year's Eve. For me, these moments are an opportunity for pleasant melancholy. I always realize that all this madness is starting all over again, and then I just watch time fly. The older I get, the more it feels like I just sleep a few times and the next New Year's Eve is here!

These are also moments suitable for taking stock and wishing that the coming year is better than the previous one. Unfortunately, in recent years, that hasn't been going very well. About a blind lady from Bulgaria, they called her Baba Vanga, it was claimed she predicted the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Chernobyl disaster, the date of Stalin's death, the sinking of the Russian submarine Kursk, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, or the death of Princess Diana, and who knows what else. But she was clearly wrong about the world ending in 2020. But then covid came… New Year's Eve 2021 arrived and we told ourselves it would be fine again. And then a bunch from the Kremlin came and said no, no! I'm even afraid of what will happen in 2023.

But imagine a situation where you are sitting at a New Year's Eve party, a glass of champagne in one hand, a sparkler in the other, and you are exuberantly—and probably slightly unintelligibly after the previous glasses—shouting that the next year will be even better.

New Year's Eve 1996

It was a rather bland year. We had the Atlanta Olympics marred by a bombing behind us, and Tupac was shot. The first elections to the Czech Senate took place, and Škoda introduced the Octavia. The Seznam.cz portal was launched. 1997 is guaranteed to be great! There are even rumors that some American company will launch a computer program that will serve as a global security network. They call it SkyNet, or something like that. It was launched in early August 1997, and it took until the end of that same month for it to realize that we'd be better off without humanity. Thus began a dark period full of robots stomping on human skulls, time-travel shenanigans, and Terminators robbing poor bikers of their clothes. And all we wanted was global peace and quiet!

New Year's Eve 2012

This year started interestingly. Captain Francesco Schettino decided to celebrate the centenary of the Titanic's sinking by sinking the cruise ship Concordia. Diablo 3 was released, wine smuggler David Rath was arrested, Breivik was convicted, and the cute MSL rover, known to the whole world as Curiosity, successfully landed on Mars. Except for that ship, it was actually a pretty chill year. And just think how beautiful 2013 will be! Let's drink to that! Well… It lasted until September 2013. A fungus with the nice Czech name Housenice (Cordyceps) had been spreading through the world for a while. The little rascal mutated a bit. It started attacking poor mushroom pickers and turning them into clicking zombies! Humanity is once again facing something that wants to eat it. It doesn't seem to be enjoying it. Fortunately, based on this terrible event, the studio Naughty Dog released the amazing game The Last of Us, which definitely cheered us up. On September 27, 2013, we celebrate International Mushroom Picker Day under the name Outbreak Day.

New Year's Eve 2062

It's been ten years since World War III. Humanity has managed to recover and is looking to the stars again. After all that, it looks like history is calming down. Recently, the first attempts at faster-than-light propulsion even began. 2063 will be a year of peace and quiet! Or not? Only three months passed in peace. On April 5, 2063, Zefram Cochrane sets off on a journey in the ship Phoenix and meets aliens for the first time. They call themselves Vulcans. Instead of peace, humanity starts getting annoyed by Klingons, Borg, Romulans, and other space scum. So thanks! Instead of happily farting away alone in its Solar System, humanity has to put on pajamas and go where no man has gone before. The real Star Trek begins!

New Year's Eve 2076

The last few years have been going downhill. We have years full of resource wars, annexations of foreign states, and plagues behind us. American society has practically collapsed, and sparks are flying between it and China. You're sitting in a bar, playing with a Coca-Cola cap in your hand, hoping that 2077 will be better. Pfft! On October 3, 2077, a nuclear apocalypse breaks out, and those who don't hide in vaults are out of luck. Humanity hides in underground bunkers for many years, waiting to be able to come out and enjoy the joys of a post-apocalyptic world. Yeah, Fallout is no joke!

When I was looking for inspiration for this article, I was surprised by how many such important milestones in the fictional past and future of humanity end in some catastrophe. It seems our species needs such challenges. Darwin already claimed that this is mainly how evolution moves forward.

We, sci-fi and fantasy fans, are used to disasters. You could say we enjoy them. And when a real machine rebellion or uprising of the dead breaks out, we'll be ready with a chainsaw in hand. Let them come! But I believe that in each of us, there is a tiny soul that believes in better tomorrows. So many terrible things could have happened and did happen, but we are still here. That sounds encouraging, at the very least.

I have no choice but to wish you all the best of luck in 2023. Our imago team will be ready to make it as pleasant as possible for you!

author Karel Krajča