End of the WORLD
Once upon a time, I used to immerse myself in science fiction and envision both wondrous and horrifying futures. It's only natural, isn't it? When you clandestinely read H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds under the covers with a flashlight while your parents believed you were fast asleep. That novel, of course, presented a fantastical vision of the future, with Martians descending upon London to annihilate humanity. Now, some sixty years later, it appears that I am, in a sense, living in that very future, albeit without any Martians. Nevertheless, in case you haven't noticed, our current moment could easily be likened to a scene straight out of a science fiction novel, one that, even at my age, I would prefer not to read in the darkness of night.
