Consider that in the late 1990s when I wrote these predictions there was no Wikipedia, no social networks, no blogs, very primitive search engines that few people used, no usable language tools, very primitive and expensive mobile phones, and so on.

FORBES: Ray Kurzweil Defends His 2009 Predictions

Thus, after noting the Estonian language's "primitive cast, " Mr. Theroux turns his attention to Lord Monboddo, an 18th-century sage who believed that apes were essentially humans without the power of speech, enjoyably esoteric information that tells us little about Estonia but a lot about Mr. Theroux's magpie mind.

WSJ: Book Review: Estonia