Blogs

Today, at WFS2011, I joined members of the Weiner, Edrich, & Brown team on a panel about Youth Trends. I identified three trends related to the internet and social media: Real Names, Reputation, and Regulation. The internet is no longer in its "Wild West" stage of growth; these three themes all fall under the umbrella of increasing accountability.

A bulky research report titled The Global Gender Gap Index has been published annually since 2006 by the World Economic Index. The current 325-page report analyzed the status of women relative to men in 134 nations (out of the world’s 193) in four categories: Health, Education, Economy, and Politics. Every nation was then ranked, from 1-134, in a list of best-to-worst nations for women. What nations were picked in 2010 as the best in the world for women?

Hello! Welcome to the new World Future Society Web site, the work of our art director Lisa Mathias and director of membership Jennifer Boykin. We're also unveiling a new logo reflecting the tremendous renewal we're experiencing at WFS. In the past few months, we've been sharing ideas with our members from around the world on how WFS can be of more value to them and to the general public.

Developing frameworks for new theories in Futures Studies (FS) has been a field of interest among futurists. They make different efforts in finding new ways to deal with this interest.

It’s December of 2010 in Seoul. A woman in her 20’s has taken a seat in the part of the subway reserved for the elderly and physically disabled (noyak chwasŏk). An elderly man approaches, expecting her to relinquish the seat (yangbo) to him. Instead, she refuses. “I’m sitting here—sit somewhere else!” An argument ensues.

As a special for our Futurist readers we can offer invites to the limited beta of G+. To receive an invite leave a comment (or send an email to steve at 1X57.com) with the email you use for a Google account.

Day 2 on Google Plus (G+)

One of the first things you notice about Google Plus (as my friend Bill pointed out) is that it looks a lot like Facebook.

I got the graphic below from the punk-rock financial analysts of ZeroHedge, a comparison of the mindset about insolvent Greece to the Kubler-Ross stages of grief in dealing with any death: Denial, Anger, Bargain

The books on leadership will tell you that the best time to think about your legacy is at the beginning of your tenure at the top. Another good time is right before you squander it with misbehavior, but that's not my subject today.

I was recently asked to take the reins of a small, venerable little organization, whose dedicated membership had dwindled to a handful of enthusiasts: The Shakespeare Readers.

Yesterday I logged into Google+ (Google's new social networking service and potential Facebook rival) and immediately became lost. I spent about five minutes playing around and then left. Today I came back and dropped an hour and a half playing with it.
Here is what I found, and why I love it:

Have you ever been overwhelmed by a restaurant menu with far too many options? The Cheesecake Factory is notorious for this — they hand out a Bible-sized booklet of different dishes you can choose from. Most of us feel a little lost examining these menu treatises. How can we possibly decide on what to eat when there are so many options?

There's a faction of behavioral economists who think that too much choice is a bad thing; we, as humans, don't know how to optimize our choices when presented with more than six or seven options. Are they right?