If student life is constantly portrayed as being some kind of hell on earth, where most students are depressed with no one to help them, this creates a self-fulfilling prophesy making students feel worse and reluctant to seek help.
But it's Mitchell, already fragile from the Box Tunnel 20 and Lia's prophesy, that looks set to be pushed over the edge completely by his old mentor's return.
Over the past half century, Moore's Law has held up remarkably well though nowadays it is more an industry target than a prophesy, and therefore a self-fulfilling one at that.
But judging from past events, it seems to me that those who want to prophesy the imminent end of America's unique global role have a harder case to make than those who think we will limp on for a while, making a mess of things as usual.DIA: In the book, you say that Protestantism encouraged capitalism, leading to dynamic, open societies in both Britain and America, which allowed them to thrive.
(Some senior Tories prophesy that theirs will be the most unpopular administration in history after six months).
Yet, as a racist bombing at a Moscow market last month and a near-pogrom against Caucasians in a northern town this week both suggest, Russians are ill-disposed towards the new immigrants their economy increasingly needs.Some, including Mr Putin, have gone so far as to prophesy the death of the nation itself.
THE voices of those who prophesy doom in Libya are becoming ever louder.
But the fashion for prophesy never seems to die.
The new rules in America envisage imposing losses on all creditors (but not depositors).Yet the worry remains that if all creditors face the risk of loss in a crisis, they will start a run, creating a self-fulfilling prophesy.
Never prophesy, especially about the future, as the saying goes.
As the doubters prophesy, their coalition could well fall apart long before then.Still, at their serendipitously sunny press conference, in the garden of Number 10 on May 12th, the optimism was almost irresistible, and so (apologies) were the nuptial metaphors.
