Blogs

SpaceX Space Cadets Set Their Sights On Libertopian Mars

The good folks at io9 ask: Could SpaceX Land the First Humans On Mars? I would like the short answer to be: "Don't Bet On It." But chances are that all of us taxpayers will indeed be strong-armed into precisely that bet by the same neoliberal incumbent elites who have ruinously looted

When Countries Go Bankrupt

In December 2006, Britain made its final payment of $84 million on a $4.34 billion loan from the U.S. that was made all the way back in 1945. Germany wasn’t the only country to go bankrupt after WWII. This money allowed Britain to stave off its total collapse after devoting almost all its resources to the war for over half a decade....To put this in perspective, $4.34 billion in 1945 is roughly equivalent to $140 billion today, an amount that was double the size of Britain’s economy at the time.

5 Driving Forces That Shape the Future of Work

An enjoyable experience of scanning more than 70 trends related to work and entrepreneurship made me conclude that there are five driving forces shaping the future of work: technological developments, globalization, demographic shifts, social trends, and paradigmatic changes.

A Futurist’s Summer Reading List

As the summer heat comes blasting across the country, it’s a perfect time to relax in a beach chair by the pool and read a book. Luckily, the World Future Society has a Summer Reading List to help you pick the perfect read. As a bonus, you can come to the WorldFuture 2012 conference in Toronto this July and meet these authors!

Futuring Fact and Fiction

“I think envisioning the future is very much at the root of what we do as science-fiction writers,” said Steve Wilson, author of the SF science-fiction audio series The Arbiter Chronicles. “We look at the world today and pick our own piece of it—say, technology—and what it will do Earth, or to society, or to us as humans.”

E-Health Futures for Bangladesh

Can e-health transform the nature of the Bangladeshi health system? If so, how? And who can deliver this vision? To answer this question, the Bangladesh Ministry of Health, and Bangladesh Enterprise Institute in collaboration with the Rockefeller Foundation promoted a three-day foresight workshop on the futures of digital or e-health. This continues Bangladesh’s leadership in the ehealth area. Participants came from a number of areas – e-health start-ups, hospital directors, leading physicians, professors of public health, e-health practitioners, international e-health experts, Ministry of Health directors and digital information/business providers.

more WFS blogs

The Futurist

In the Current Issue:

  • A Thousand Years Young
  • Engineering the Future of Food
  • Unlimiting Energy’s Growth
  • The Future of the Commercial Sex Industry
  • Anticipating an “Anything Goes” World of Online Porn
  • To Predict or to Build the Future? Reflections on the Field and Differences between Foresight and La Prospective

Interviews

THE FUTURIST Interviews Brian Merritt, Founder of Compose the Future

On Saturday, July 28, WorldFuture 2012 conference attendees and innovation-loving Torontonians will have the opportunity to see how open-source innovation will shape our world through the social network platform ComposeTheFuture. The start-up’s founder, Brian Merritt, answered a few questions for us about ComposeTheFuture, which will be officially launched during Futurists: BetaLaunch at WorldFuture 2012.

THE FUTURIST Interviews Ozzie Zehner, Energy Policy Scholar, on the Future of Global Energy Supply

in

Solar panels, wind turbines, and other renewable-energy options aren’t as sustainable as you may think, according to Ozzie Zehner, University of California-Berkeley visiting scholar. In his new book Green Illusions: The Dirty Secrets of Clean Energy and the Future of Environmentalism (University of Nebraska Press, 2012), he cautions against placing too much faith in “clean energy.”

THE FUTURIST Interviews Tomas Brückmann On Creating a Chemical Free Future For Farming

in

As the world’s farmers strive to produce more food, they rely on ever-increasing quantities of pesticides—which includes products to kill weeds, insects, and any other organisms that might threaten crops. Environmental groups warn that the extra food comes at a heavy cost, however, of severe harms to the health of farmers, consumers, and ecosystems everywhere.

World Future Review

In the Current Issue:

  • Revolt of the Global Middle Class
  • Establishing a New Information Paradigm
  • Will Psychological Disorders Afflict Uploaded Personalities?
  • Nuclear Energy After Fukushima
  • Occupy Booklists! Best Futures-Relevant Current Affairs Books of 2011
  • Wishful Thinking: A Serious Risk Factor in Planning and Strategy?

Reviews of New Books

The Future of God in the Global Village: Spirituality in an Age of Terrorism and Beyond

Image of The Future Of God In The Global Village: Spirituality In An Age Of Terrorism And Beyond
Author(s): Thomas R. McFaul
Publisher: AuthorHouse Publishing (2011)
Binding: Paperback, 208 pages
List Price: $18.04

Religion thrives at the start of the twenty-first century, despite a plethora of predictions that it would die out a century ago, according to retired religion professor Thomas McFaul. In The Future of God in the Global Village, he looks at the myriad faith traditions that flourish today and the reasons for their continuing strength.

Forces of Nature: Our Quest to Conquer the Planet

Image of Forces of Nature: Our Quest to Conquer the Planet
Author(s): Barry A. Vann
Publisher: Prometheus Books (2012)
Binding: Hardcover, 342 pages
List Price: $26.00

Human population trends have always been at the mercy of Earth’s climate, says geographer Barry A. Vann. Since prehistoric times, nomadic people have migrated to where food and water were plentiful. When scarcities made hunting and gathering no longer an option; then they would settle and commence farming.

The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined

Image of The Better Angels of Our Nature: Why Violence Has Declined
Author(s): Steven Pinker
Publisher: Viking Adult (2011)
Binding: Hardcover, 832 pages
List Price: $40.00

Humanity is becoming more peaceful, and the proof is all around us, asserts Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker. In The Better Angels of Our Nature, he retraces the last few millennia of human history to show a clear evolution across the globe away from violence, war, and exploitation, and toward nonviolence, compassion, and equality.

Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think

Image of Abundance: The Future Is Better Than You Think
Author(s): Peter H. Diamandis, Steven Kotler
Publisher: Free Press (2012)
Binding: Hardcover, 400 pages
List Price: $26.99

In Abundance: Why the Future is Better Than You Think, (Free Press, February 21) Peter Diamandis and Steven Kotler offer a vision of the future that’s truly awesome in both the most traditional and modern understandings of the word; it’s as big as it as awe inspiring.

Learn about the future of ...

Earth

THE FUTURIST Interviews Ozzie Zehner, Energy Policy Scholar, on the Future of Global Energy Supply

Solar panels, wind turbines, and other renewable-energy options aren’t as sustainable as you may think, according to Ozzie Zehner, University of...

Futuring

A Futurist’s Summer Reading List

As the summer heat comes blasting across the country, it’s a perfect time to relax in a beach chair by the pool and read a book. Luckily, the...

Humanity

The Unbearable Stasis of "Accelerating Change"

Eric and I got haircuts yesterday afternoon, and while I was waiting I flipped through magazines.

Sci/Tech

E-Health Futures for Bangladesh

Can e-health transform the nature of the Bangladeshi health system? If so, how? And who can deliver this vision? To answer this question, the...

Governance

When Countries Go Bankrupt

In December 2006, Britain made its final payment of $84 million on a $4.34 billion loan from the U.S. that was made all the way back in 1945....