> A related trick for predicting the future; things that everyone is worried about are likely to get solved.

Not really. It's because people get used to the fear. So we need a new fear to keep the population in check. Look at HIV. It scared people for 15 years or so, but people get accustomed to it. So we moved to other viruses. The soviet fear was being eroded so we got "terror". But after a while, even terror isn't as scary so they give us new a fear - china. Once that is done, it'll be on to other fears. Fear is the fundamental way to control a population.