They input the data into a computer, which then analyzes it and suggests how things might shake out. "Human beings are generally similar creatures," the programmer said, "and in social aggregates, behave similarly."

Now, suggesting that humans are generally similar may seem counter-
intuitive, given the utter unpredictability of our friends and family who seem to exist only to confound us. But I know exactly what the programmer means.

Which is where the raspberries come in.

Based on reams of inputted data, I could reasonably assume that my mother would bring a perishable food item to the family get-together. Further, I could expect that said foodstuff would be given me to take home. Finally, I might have known that I couldn't decline it.

All of this, I could predict.

What I hadn't done was analyze the data to assess the potential for disaster.

Could the global-disaster predictor be modified for home use so that we could identify beforehand run-ins with family and friends, and avert them?

I hope so, but I'm not so sure.

Years ago, Bob Dylan said that you don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. I'd go further and suggest that not only do you not need a weatherman, you don't even want one; he'd probably give you all the climactic variables but never correctly identify which way the wind was, in fact, blowing.