In This Issue:
* Top 10 Long-Term Challenges
* Avatars That Look Like Us
* Bright Prospects for Blue-Collar Careers
* Living With Purpose
* Click of the Month: Chicago 2016
* What’s Hot @WFS.ORG
Today’s number-one challenge—and opportunity—is to develop a long-term solution for our energy needs, business strategist Peter Schwartz told the 2009 graduating class of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. “That means it must be nonpolluting and inexhaustible,” he said.
A peaceful and prosperous world in 2050 is possible, but getting there will require “monumental innovation, collaboration, and leadership,” Schwartz said. The top challenges Schwartz outlined are:
1. Creating long-term solutions to meet our energy demands sustainably.
2. Launching a bio-industrial revolution with sustainable manufacturing.
3. Understanding and enhancing the human brain to avert age-related impairments.
4. Improving agriculture to reduce costs and increase its energy and water efficiency.
5. Building sustainable cities through better urban planning and “smart architecture.”
6. Stimulating job growth and economic development.
7. Fusing the technological with the spiritual and aesthetic dimensions of human culture.
8. Advancing technological instruments to drive scientific discovery forward.
9. Harnessing biological tools to advance human evolution.
10. Discovering new ways to lower the costs and environmental impact of space flight and development.
DETAILS: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
http://news.rpi.edu/update.do?artcenterkey=2585
Many of us have long wanted to send out a stunt double to do our dirty work, or clone ourselves so we could be in two places at once. In cyberspace, avatars can serve these purposes, but the typical, manga-inspired cartoon avatars don’t look, talk, or behave much like us.
Now, thanks to improved artificial intelligence, natural language programming, and computer rendering, more lifelike avatars are on the way.
Project LifeLike, a consortium of university computer researchers funded by the National Science Foundation, aims to create visualizations that are specific to an individual, and combine those visualizations with sophisticated artificial intelligence that could also replicate that individual’s responses.
Since much communication is nonverbal, the avatars are also tutored in body language and subtle gestures. Another goal is to enable the avatars to remember and learn from their experiences with live users, thus improving their lifelike communication capabilities.
Potential applications include “recreating” historical figures so that schoolchildren can directly interact with them, making virtual counselors or doctors available when a patient is in crisis, or letting job seekers hone their interviewing skills before confronting that critical face-to-face session.
SOURCE: National Science Foundation
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=114828
VIDEO with Project LifeLike leaders Avelino Gonzalez and Jason Leigh
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_videos.jsp?cntn_id=114828&media_id=65131&or...
Read Patrick Tucker's original 2007 article on Leigh's lab.
http://www.wfs.org/trendja07.htm
The voices of reason (like our parents) have long proclaimed that a college education is the only (or the best) key to future success. That may no longer be true, suggests millionaire landscaper Joe Lamacchia, author of BLUE COLLAR AND PROUD OF IT.
Academia does not suit every temperament, and many industries require different skills than those that one can obtain in a lecture hall, library, or lab. The good news for more hands-on learners and workers is that more jobs are opening for those without a bachelor’s degree.
In the United States, more investment in repairing crumbling infrastructures will create growing demand for skilled trade workers, argues Lamacchia. Especially compelling will be the so-called “green-collar” work in environmentally conscious industries such as hybrid car manufacturing, green construction, organic farming, sustainable fishing, and eco-friendly landscaping.
SOURCE: BLUE COLLAR AND PROUD OF IT by Joe Lamacchia (HCI, 2009) http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0757307787/thefuturistbooks
Many people today feel “caught between the ‘Dow’ and the ‘Tao,’” and seek a more purposeful way of living life in uncertain times, says Ken Dychtwald, founder of Age Wave.
In his new book WITH PURPOSE: Going from Success to Significance in Work and Life, co-written with Daniel J. Kadlec, Dychtwald has attempted to provide guidance for individuals rethinking their priorities in the midst of unanticipated external pressures. What is the meaning of success? How do we use and strengthen our key life-nurturing relationships? And what about retirement?
“In these horrible/wonderful times, I’m hopeful that WITH PURPOSE might give you a new and uplifting perspective,” says Dychtwald.
DETAILS: Age Wave
http://www.agewave.com/
CLICK OF THE MONTH: CHICAGO 2016
http://www.chicago2016.org/our-plan/proposed-venues.aspx
Chicago is not only hosting the World Future Society’s 2009 meeting, but it is also a candidate city for the 2016 Summer Olympics. The city is devoting great energy and creativity to preparing for the Games—and for what the Games will leave behind.
“The City of Chicago’s parks and lakefront have hosted many international celebrations and festivals, including two world’s fairs and the 1959 Pan Am Games,” says the Web site.
Take a tour of Chicago in the year 2016 by clicking on the interactive map of proposed sports facilities in the various neighborhoods, and see how they’ll impact city attractions, such as the Sears Tower, the Art Institute, and the Lincoln Park Conservatory.
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What"s Hot @WFS.ORG
"BLUE OCEAN" STRATEGY FOR KOREA: WFS President Tim Mack recently returned from Seoul, South Korea, where he presented a keynote address at the International Symposium on Blue Economy Initiative for Green Growth, organized by the Millennium Project. Mack outlined the "Blue Ocean Strategy" for simultaneously protecting the Korean coastline, ecosystems, and cultural heritage. "Oceans can offer hope for solutions in many challenging areas," he said, "and 'Blue Oceans' is a powerful innovation metaphor, signifying new resources, markets, relationships, and values."
* GEAR UP FOR THE FUTURE! Wear your heart on your sleeve—and the World Future Society logo on your shirt! Visit the Society’s all new store at Café Press and get your custom-designed T-shirts, tote bags, coffee mugs, and more. “Carpe Futurum! Seize the Future” and tell the world that “The Future Matters.” Remember, WFS products (including memberships) make great gifts for graduates, as well as friends, family, clients, and colleagues.
- SHOP: http://www.cafepress.com/worldfuture
- GIFT MEMBERSHIPS: http://www.wfs.org/giftorder.htm
* HELP PLAN WORLDFUTURE 2010: The World Future Society is already making plans for the 2010 annual meeting, to be held in Boston under the leadership of conference chair Carol D. Rieg, corporate foundation officer of Bentley Systems. The WorldFuture 2010 planning committee seeks your ideas! What should be the conference theme? "Our World in Transition" ... "From Insights to Action" ... "Collective Wisdom, Collaborative Futures"? Send your short, catchy, and inspiring suggestions to mailto:sechard@wfs.org .
* WHAT’S NEXT IN THE FUTURIST: The cover story for July-August is an eye-opening look at prospects for automated invention. Can artificial intelligence really replicate human ingenuity, or will it just take the grunt work out of engineering? Also: What are the real security threats for the next 15 years? Newt Gingrich, Dennis Kucinich, and other international policy experts come to different conclusions. These stories and more in the next issue of THE FUTURIST, to be mailed to members after June 1. RENEW or JOIN now so you won’t miss a thing! www.wfs.org/membership.htm
* EDITOR’S QUERY: NORMATIVE FUTURES. What’s on your wish list for reforming your industry or profession? What policy change, paradigm shift, new technology, or social innovation would create a better future? Please send your ideas (approximately 500 words), along with a brief About the Author note, photo, and your complete contact information, to FUTURIST UPDATE editor Cindy Wagner at mailto:cwagner@wfs.org