The program structure of the Eighth General Assembly is similar to the past two Assemblies. Issue areas are clustered into six broad "spheres": Biosphere, Sociosphere, Technosphere, Econosphere, Politisphere, and Futuresphere. The first five represent issues while the last deals with ways to plan for and manage change. The boundaries of each sphere are flulid since futures issues are by nautre interdisciplinary and cannot be tightly categorized.
This structure is disigned to give you the option of concentrating on your primary field of interest, or attending sessions dealing wiht other topics. In this way, you can design your own schedule to maximize the benefits of attending the Assembly. A program of this type is well suited to retaining a specialized focus while exploring new and challenging topics in other fields.
Supersessions on broad topics are also featured at the 1996 Assembly. The supersessions feature well-known representatives from the private, public, and nonprofit sectors and from academia speaking on the most-important topics facing people, organizations, and world leaders today and tomorrow.
The Biosphere covers the range of issues that concern humans and their relationship with their home environment. Issue areas for concurrent sessions include:
The Sociosphere takes into consideration those issues that result rom human interaction, expression, and thought. Topics range from habitats (how we cope with a sometimes hostile environment) to our different means of expression (the arts), to our instruments of passing on our culture through socialization (the family, education, and religion and values).
The Technosphere involves those issues surrounding the tools that humans have devised to help us survive and prosper. Since technological developments often drive chnge in many other areas, the Assembly deals primarily with the effects these developments will have in the future, not just the developments themselves. Issue areas include:
The Econosphere includes those aspects of human relations concerning exchanges of money for goods and services and issues of production and consumption. Issue areas include:
The Politisphere includes the various aspects of governance, leadership, power, idology, and relations between and among governments. Issue areas are:
The Futuresphere is the sixth area of concentration of the Assembly. This section of the program is targeted not only toward those directly engaged in futures research, but also those who use or benefit from its results.
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