March-April 2010
2020 Visionaries
In the second installment of our 2020 Visionaries series, we look at media and spirituality in the next decade and beyond.“Big Brother” versus “Little Brother”: Two Possible Media Futures
By Cory Ondrejka
An interview with Andrew Keen
By Roy Speckhardt
Nurturing the Spirit in the Age of the WebBy Ayyā Gotamī, Dr. Rev. Prem Suksawat
VISIONS: Vertical Farming: An Idea Whose Time Has Come Back
By Cynthia G. WagnerLike all our precious resources, good ideas should be reclaimed and recycled. Urban agriculture is one such good idea now made new again.
Books
Biotechnology’s Promise—and Risks“Between now and 2025, the biosciences will likely become one of the most important topics in our personal lives, at work, and in society,” assert Paul J.H. Schoemaker and Joyce A. Schoemaker, a husband and wife team with experience in the industry. Yet, their new book, Chips, Clones, and Living Beyond 100, is not so much about the biosciences as it is about the outside social, economic, and political factors that will likely impact the industry and determine its commercial potential. The real question, as far as the authors are concerned, is not how far the biosciences will take us, but rather what will drive biotechnology forward. Review by Aaron M. Cohen
In his new book, Wired for Thought, entrepreneur Jeffrey M. Stibel takes the shop-worn notion that the brain functions like a computer and re-orders it into a more useful new idea. The computer is not a brain, Stibel asserts, but the Internet could be. Review by Patrick Tucker
Is Industrial Civilization Doomed?
It is the middle of the twenty-first century, and the only countries that can still afford to use fossil fuels are those that are producing them. Half those countries’ populations — and 90% of the populations of the non-fossil-fuel-producing countries — labor at subsistence agriculture. Most of the rest eke out livings in factories converting salvaged materials with hand tools. Public health has collapsed, literacy rates are in steady freefall, and poverty and hunger are everywhere. Dozens of nations are mired in civil war, and populations are migrating in hordes, some to flee rising sea levels and encroaching droughts. Review by Rick DocksaiWorld Trends and Forecasts
Digital Bandage Monitors Patients’ Vital Signs
Pop Music as an Economic Indicator
Reviving the Aral Sea
The Singularity’s Impact on Business Leaders: A Scenario
By Barton Kunstler
The “Human Singularity” refers to the radical fusion of the human body with technology to achive levels of mental acuity and physical ability that eclipse anything humans have previously known. One critical social function that will be affected by the singularity is leadership, a chief defining factor of a society's values, relations, and objectives. Leaders will bear much of the burden of social evolution when the “Enhanced Singular Individuals” (ESIs) of the Singularity Era enter the general population of “Norms” (those without technological enhancements). The leaders of every organization and group will be compelled to come to terms with the ESIs' advanced capabilities and the tensions, ambitions, and alliances attendant upon them.Smart People, Dumb Decisions
By Michael J. Mauboussin
Chances are you’re unaware of the limits to your abilities, unappreciative of the challenges that lie ahead, and uninformed of all that can go wrong. Don’t worry — you’re not alone.
Roadmap to the Electric Car Economy
By Michael Horn
There’s no time like the present to replace all our gas-powered automobiles with electrics, says an aerospace scientist.Global, Mobile, Virtual, and Social: The College Campus of Tomorrow
By John Dew
An educator and strategic planner outlines the trends leading to a long-forecast future for colleges and universities: Global standardization of education content and accreditation, greater diversity in the student body, and more options for where, when, and how learning takes place.World Trends and Forecasts
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