4 things that will go faster in 2026 — and 5 things that will go slower

We're placing bets on who hits the gas next year, who taps the brakes, and who spends another year stuck behind the world’s longest red light

Six Flags

2025 was… a year. The economy proved it can sprint in one lane and stall in the next — sometimes in the same breath. AI technology sped up; so did concerns about an AI bubble. Trade spent 2025 doing that anxious little pre-price-hike shuffle — the WTO explicitly called out U.S. import “front-loading” ahead of tariff hikes as a reason trade held up this year, even as it sees 2026 slowing sharply. The U.S. and China spent the year flirting with embargo-level tariff rates, then repeatedly reached for the pause button. Meanwhile, the inflation data couldn’t keep a clean pace: CPI was a better-than-expected 2.7% year over year in November, but the federal shutdown forced the first-ever cancellation of October’s CPI release — a very literal slowdown. 

And other corners of the economy moved like they were dragging a carry-on with one broken wheel. Employers announced about 1.17 million job cuts through November, even as hiring plans fell to 497,151 — down 35% year over year — which is how you get a job market that isn’t “crashing,” exactly, but does feel like it’s doing the slowest lap of its life.

Meanwhile, culture found its own accelerants. Seemingly, every man got a podcast microphone — and a ring light as video podcasts went mainstream. Taylor Swift released more album variants than ever. And just for good measure, people’s belief in tiny green visitors is up; nearly half of Americans now say aliens have visited Earth, and the “not sure” crowd has basically evaporated — down from 48% in 2012 to 16% today.

2025 set the pace — and now Quartz’s reporters are placing bets on who, in 2026, hits the gas, who taps the brakes, and who spends another year stuck behind the world’s longest red light. Rollercoasters will chase new top speeds. Formula 1 will accept slower lap times. And hovering over 2026 will be the same thing hovering over 2025: AI. The tech will keep muscling its way into anything and everything, but the public’s patience might finally start enforcing a speed limit of its own. Next year, some things will go faster on purpose; others will go faster by accident; some will go in reverse; and some will barely budge at all — and we’ll be here timing everything.

— Shannon Carroll

Faster: Rollercoasters

Rollercoasters can be deceptively slow. Theme parks sometimes use staging to make a ride that's fairly sluggish seem ridiculously fast. (Disney World's Space Mountain, for example, only reaches a top speed of 27 mph, but seems much faster due to lighting effects and the track layout.) In 2026, though, Six Flags is putting the theoretical pedal to the metal with Tormenta Rampaging Run, which will reach a top speed of 87 mph and feature a 285-foot vertical drop at a gasp-inducing angle of 95 degrees.

Six Flags isn't alone. Universal Studios Hollywood will open up Fast & Furious: Hollywood Drift, which will go as fast as 72 mph, making it the fastest coaster at any Universal park — topping the Jurassic World VelociCoaster at Islands of........

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