|
 A magazine of forecasts, trends, and ideas about the future. January-February 2001, Vol. 35, No. 1 |
|
Online Indexes: Top 10 Forecasts From Outlook 2000 Report
|
About This Issue The Major Trends Shaping the Future Last summer, members of THE FUTURIST's Reader Panel were surveyed on what should be the lead story for the January-February 2001 issue--the first issue of the twenty-first century. The winner: A special report focusing on the major trends that will shape the world in the next two decades. To meet this request, we turned to two long-time FUTURIST contributors: forecaster Marvin J. Cetron, president of Forecasting International Ltd., and science writer Owen Davies, a former editor at Omni magazine. They had already been working on a complete update of their ongoing study of key trends. The result is a major new report, "50 Trends Now Changing the World," to be published by the World Future Society in January 2001. It is from this report that this issue of THE FUTURIST presents the first of two excerpts; here, we focus on the trends in economics and society, values and concerns, energy, and the environment. (See page 30 in the print edition.) In the March-April 2001 issue, we will focus on trends in technology, the labor force, management, and institutions. The complete report will also be available as a separate publication and may be ordered from the Futurist Bookstore for $8 ($6 for Society members), catalog number R-2369. Examining such long-term trends forces us to look beyond the present so that we may think about the future and its betterment. But we must also look beyond the present toward the past, for without a strong cultural memory, we risk losing the futures that societies have been building, notes classics professor and consultant Stephen Bertman. In this issue, Bertman examines the potentially devastating impact of "cultural amnesia" that is occurring in the United States. (See "Cultural Amnesia: A Threat to Our Future," page 46.) Ignorance of history is becoming rampant and could undermine democracy, he warns, as society increasingly focuses on the present and loses sight of the sacrifices and commitments that made freedom and prosperity possible. To order the print edition of the November-December 2000 issue of THE FUTURIST ($4.95 plus $3 postage and handling) or to become a member of the World Future Society . Send comments about our web pages to: webmaster@wfs.org |
