In This Issue:
Video Games and Impacts on Performance
Cases of Diabetes Will Double
Mobilizing the Millennials
Futurist's Reading List
Click of the Month: iMinds.com
News for the Futurist Community
What's Hot @WFS.ORG
The types of video games you play may affect your performance at school, work, or other activities, according to Wheaton College psychology professor Rolf Nelson.
Playing an adrenaline-pumping action game for an hour before doing your homework or tackling a task at work could help you finish the assignment quickly--but with lots of mistakes. Playing a strategy game, on the other hand, will yield more-accurate work, but at the cost of speed, observes Nelson.
In his study, published with co-author Ian Strachan in the journal PERCEPTION, Nelson tested subjects playing either a fast-action video game (Unreal Tournament) or a puzzle-solving video game (Portal).
“While there has been a great deal of [research] focused on performance differences between non-video-game players and avid video-game players, we were interested in looking at the effects of playing different types of video games," Nelson says. “Results convincingly demonstrate a priming effect for two different types of video games.”
SOURCE: Wheaton College
Two decades ago, dire warnings were sounded about cases of diabetes doubling in the United States to 11.6 million by 2030. Now, that number is projected to be nearly quadruple the earlier forecast, increasing from 23.7 million in 2009 to 44.1 million in 2034, according to medical researchers at the University of Chicago.
The costs of treating individuals with diabetes will likewise skyrocket, as improvements in health care have enabled patients to live longer and thus become more vulnerable to problems later in life, such as blindness, kidney disease, and amputations.
The steady rise in diabetes cases parallels the steady rise in obesity in the United States over the last few decades, the researchers note.
"If we don't change our diet and exercise habits or find new, more effective and less expensive ways to prevent and treat diabetes, we will find ourselves in a lot of trouble as a population," warns lead author Elbert Huang, MD, assistant professor of medicine at the University of Chicago.
SOURCE: University of Chicago Medical Center
Mark your calendar now to join a thousand futurists from around the world at the World Future Society’s 2010 conference in Boston, to be held July 8-10 at the Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel.
You'll meet and learn from an estimated 150 speakers, such as Yale University ethicist Wendell Wallach, who will deliver the opening plenary presentation, as well as Harvard University theologian Harvey Cox, inventors Ray Kurzweil and Stephen Thaler, health futurist Kevin Fickenscher, and media experts Michael Rogers, Lee Rainie, and Michael R. Nelson.
A foundation to promote youth philanthropy, an interactive game to promote financial literacy, and electronic budget journals for daily "wealth watching" are among the award-winning ideas generated at the recent Youth Summit sponsored by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation and Mobilize.org.
The summit brought together young people from around the United States to discuss issues affecting members of the millennial generation, such as high rates of unemployment and student debt. Their discussions in work groups led to the development of solutions, which were then voted upon by the group, with the winning proposals receiving funding from Mobilize.org.
First place winner was Daniel Kaufman of Sacramento, California, whose One Percent Foundation calls on young people "to make a collective impact by making recurring donations of 1% of their annual income through a single funding entity."
SOURCES: Mobilize.org; Peter G. Peterson Foundation
Here are a few new books for your futurist-reading holiday gift list:
ENOUGH IS PLENTY by Anne B. Ryan (O Books): Human and planetary well-being as the focus for decision making.
THE FUTURIST by Rebecca Keegan (Crown): Filmmaker as futurist: profile of AVATAR director James Cameron.
HOW GOOD PEOPLE MAKE TOUGH CHOICES (Rev. Ed.) by Rushworth M. Kidder (Harper Paperbacks): Right versus wrong is easy; right versus right is much tougher for values-based decision makers.
THE INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT by Leslie Hamilton and Philip Webster (Oxford University Press USA): Textbook on globalization and its implications for organizations.
Pre-order these 2010 titles:
FROM BOOM TO BUST AND BEYOND (paperback ed.) by Jerry Tuma (Excel, March 2, 2010): Investment adviser gleans insight from current trends and shows how to thrive in the years ahead.
GEO-ENGINEERING CLIMATE CHANGE: Environmental Necessity or Pandora's Box? by J. Michael T. Thompson and Brian Launder (Cambridge University Press, January 31): Critical appraisal of mega-engineering projects to save the planet.
TOWARD HUMAN EMERGENCE by Philip R. Harris (HRD Press, March 15): How will humans manage their activities in space-based civilizations?
WHAT IS NANOTECHNOLOGY AND WHY DOES IT MATTER by Fritz Allhoff et al. (Wiley-Blackwell, March 1, 2010): Impartial look at the innovations and risks of world-changing emerging technologies.
And check out these notable backlist titles:
HISTORY AND FUTURE by David J. Staley (Lexington, 2007): A history professor and futurist illustrates the value of historical thinking for imagining tomorrow.
HOW TO RE-IMAGINE THE WORLD by Anthony Weston (New Society, 2007): Aptly subtitled “A Pocked Guide for Practical Visionaries.”
If you’d rather use your spare time learning something than drowning your ears in the latest tunes from reality-show celebrities, the library of eight-minute audio lessons offered by iMinds may be what you’re looking for.
While you’re unlikely to earn your PhD this way, iMinds gives you the opportunity to keep learning 24/7, with on-demand selections ranging from wind power to the Seven Wonders of the World.
A Generalists’ collection (1 hour and 40 minutes of knowledge grabs) includes tracks on anime, the bubonic plague, and flash mobs; the Genius collection offers 10 hours of tracks covering such topics as behavioral economics, hemophilia, D-Day, and Andy Warhol.
Shorter tracks developed for younger learners are also offered through the site’s iMindsJNR division, with topics that could supplement classroom work, such as the Great Rivers, Atoms, and the Cold War.
NOTE, do not confuse iMinds.com with iMind.com, a defunct dot-com venture savagely parodied on a domain now for sale (the current bid is $60,000).
* FORESIGHT 2010: The Synergy of Molecular Manufacturing and Artificial General Intelligence is the theme of the Foresight Institute's meeting to be held January 16-17 in Palo Alto, California. The symposium will examine the convergence of several rapidly developing technologies and their profound potential impacts on economies and societies. Confirmed speakers include Paul Saffo, J. Storrs Hall, Ralph Merkle, and other top technology experts. DETAILS:
* EU 2020 STRATEGY: The European Commission has issued a public consultation document on strategies for greener and more socially inclusive economic growth. The consultation paper focuses on approaches to recovering from economic crisis, creating value through knowledge, empowering people through inclusive societies, and creating a competitive, connected, and greener economy. Public responses are due January 15. VIEW the document
* SECURITY IN FUTURES - SECURITY IN CHANGE. The Finland Futures Research Centre's conference to be held June 3-4, 2010, in Turku, Finland, will look deeply into the inevitable changes of security issues. The conference will bring together global experts from the scientific community, policy makers, and representatives of companies to develop images of alternative futures. The goal is to provide leaders with new viewpoints and novel ideas for making the world a better place. The abstract submissions are due on February 1, 2010. DETAILS:
* OUTSTANDING FUTURISTS AND YOUNG FUTURISTS: Whose work in futuring and foresight during 2009 should be recognized at the World Future Society’s next annual meeting? Nominations for the Outstanding Futurist and Young Futurist of the Year are open until December 31. DETAILS and NOMINATION FORM:
* GIFTS FOR FUTURISTS: Here are three easy ways that you can Give the Future to a friend!
1. Share the future all year long with your clients, colleagues, friends, and family with gift memberships in the World Future Society ($59 per year for the first membership and just $47 each for all others). ORDER:
2. Gear up with WFS T-shirts, hats, tote bags, and other gifts at Café Press:
3. Shop online and support the World Future Society by using GoodShop to access more than a thousand participating stores that give back up to 30% of your purchase to WFS. GOODSHOP NOW:
* HAPPY BIRTHDAY, FUTURIST UPDATE! That's right, the World Future Society's free e-mail newsletter turns 10 years old with this edition. What were futurists talking about in January 2000 (besides being grateful that our computers still worked)? Check out Volume 1, Number 1 of FUTURIST UPDATE http://www.wfs.org/futupja00.htm
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FUTURIST UPDATE: News & Previews from the World Future Society is an e-mail newsletter published monthly as a supplement to THE FUTURIST magazine. Copyright © 2009, World Future Society, 7910 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 450, Bethesda, MD 20814, USA. Telephone 1-301-656-8274; e-mail mailto:info@wfs.org Web site http://www.wfs.org
Editor: Cindy Wagner, mailto:cwagner@wfs.org
Senior Editor: Patrick Tucker, mailto:ptucker@wfs.org
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