January-February 2012 Futurist photo one
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Blogs
Tomorrow is promised to no one
I have long followed the original thinking of Nikkol Kondratieff, a Russian economist, who was the first to base his theories on actual statistics. He saw the economy as a 55- to 60-year cycle where technology supplanted the old ways of doing things by increasing productivity and through the replacement of certain industries and ways of thinking with new industries and approaches.
What people think I do meme - Futurist
A new meme (“What People Think I Do / What I Really Do”) has been spreading around the social media scene and we thought we'd try it out and create one for the Futurist community. Let us know what you think and if you share yours with us, we'll post it at our blog.
originally posted at The Trend and Foresight Blog
Review of ConsumerShift
The most important change happening in the minds of consumers today is a shift towards post-modern values systems. ConsumerShift is a comprehensive cartography of the emerging consumer psyche.
The Dismantling of our Power Industry Infrastructure
On Wednesday I was invited to speak on a panel at the 2012 National Electricity Forum, an event sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, in Washington DC. As the kickoff speaker on the panel, my message to them noted that the power industry is an industry that is under attack. An attack not being carried out by terrorists or invading armies, rather it is being attacked by emerging new technologies that have been advancing quickly and are currently beginning to boil around the edges.
Remarkable Editorial Bias on Climate Science at the Wall Street Journal
The The Wall Street Journal's Journal’s editorial board has long been understood to be not only antagonistic to the facts of climate science, but hostile. But in a remarkable example of their unabashed bias, on Friday (January 27th) they published an opinion piece that not only repeats many of the flawed and misleading arguments about climate science, but purports to be of special significance because it was signed by 16 “scientists.”
Cloud Intelligence
The cloud will evolve from being a static repository of data into an active resource that consumers rely on throughout their daily lives. Consumers will have new capabilities for accessing online expert systems and applications that provide information, analysis, and contextual advice. Virtual agents will migrate from being an automated form of phone-based customer service to a personalized form of support and assistance that provides information and—more importantly—performs useful tasks.
If Great Corporations Could Lead: How to Unite Left and Right and Save the World
What if our great corporations could direct their enormous capabilities to solving the global mess we have all created – financial crises, depressed economies, political gridlock, climate change, and endless conflict?
Bioinspired Material Made from Shrimp Shells and Silk
Originally posted at The Trend and Foresight Blog.
This article in the Harvard Gazette focuses on "shrilk" -- a new material made from discarded shrimp shells and the proteins found in silk. It's another great example of a trend we call Biomimicry in Design.