Happy New Year to you. 2025 is a square number, 45 squared to be exact. The last time that I wrote about the mathematical properties of a New Year was in 2017, the most recent year that was prime. 2027 is the next time that the year will be a prime number.

The last year that was also a square was 1936, or 44 squared. This means that until yesterday anyone who was alive the last time that the year was a square is 88 or older. Today everyone who is still breathing has lived during a year that is a square.

Next in line is 2116, 46 squared, 91 years from now. How many of us will be around then? According to this recent piece from the Guardian, Professor Geoffrey Hinton (“the godfather of artificial intelligence”) has modified his assessment of the risk that AI poses to humanity, upwards: there’s a “10% to 20%” chance that AI could lead to human extinction within the next three decades.

Just so you know, these words were typed by a human, at 6.30pm UK time on 1 January 2025, and posted to WordPress within an hour. I spent the afternoon watching football on my laptop, Leeds United drawing 1-1 at home to Blackburn to stay top of the Championship. BBC Radio 2 was playing in the background, the Top 40 Elvis Presley songs as voted by listeners. The Top 3: “If I Can Dream”, “In the Ghetto”, and “Suspicious Minds” at #1. The songs at #1 and #2 were recorded within a few days of each other, in January 1969. “If I Can Dream” was recorded less than six months earlier. It’s the eighth day of Hanukah, and the last of the Hanukah candles has just burnt out.