When I was a young college student, a weekly newsmagazine ran a terrifying article predicting the disastrous effects we could all expect from the escape of "killer bees" in South America. With vivid details, the writer traced their expected course northward and described the inevitable deaths that would result. So impressed was I by this "prophetic" vision, that I remember wondering if it might not be wise always to remain in the north where the climate is not so hospitable to such bees.
Many years afterward, I saw the first reports of the arrival of those bees in Texas. Contrary to forecasts of the scientific community, the killer bees, while still considered to be dangerous, were now a small threat compared to what had been initially predicted in such a confident and sensational manner. Some reports attribute this to the bees' breeding on their trip north with the more domesticated inhabitants of the Western Hemisphere.
Is this just an example of human prediction gone awry, or is there more involved?
