It is pretty easy to "predict" the past, you know...
Only if you don't have to calculate the past. Since we weren't around 2000 years ago and since the backup technology was much more primitive then, we don't really have the numbers for 2000 years ago. That means that we have to calculate or, "predict" if you wish, the numbers. I believe that 2000 years ago, during the reign of Pontius Pilate and his friend Biggus, we only had an early version of NetBackup and LTO 1 tape which cannot be read any more. GPS records from those days are also not very reliable. So we don't have the records and we do need to "predict the past", as you've succinctly put it.
Don't be silly, those people have got nothing to do with science. They simply usurped science and call *you* the "un-scientific" one if you dare arguing anything in their fear mongering rhetoric.
Spot on! The purpose of those articles is to scare the population into giving more power to the government, who will "rescue us". We allegedly need to be rescued from our earnings and freedom and I am sure that the government will oblige, if the population is scared enough. In my opinion, big government is much scarier than the climate change.
"Though a program be but three lines long, someday it will have to be maintained." -- The Tao of Programming