30 years ago, 12 Monkeys warned us about global pandemics and information overload

We haven’t quite caught up with the future of 12 Monkeys just yet. The Terry Gilliam-directed movie extends as far as around 2035, 40 years after its Dec. 29, 1995 release, and still another decade off from this, its 30th anniversary. But maybe we’ll catch up soon. In 12 Monkeys, a virus is strategically released in 1996 and quickly wipes out much of the world’s population. Survivors are forced underground, sending imprisoned “volunteers” to the uninhabited surface to collect samples. Our closest equivalent is the COVID-19 pandemic that began in 2020 and has since been mitigated but not exactly beaten. Given the speed of its spread, the next one probably still has time.