Mar-Apr 2001 Forecasts

A magazine of forecasts, trends, and ideas about the future.
March-April 2001, Vol. 35, No. 2

Contents of the Current Issue

Back Issues

Online Indexes:
Author Index A-L
Author Index M-Z
Index of News Articles

Reprints/ Permissions

Writer's Guidelines

Send a Letter to the Editor

Top 10 Forecasts From Outlook 2001 Report

Current Forecasts

Special to Web visitors, here are a few of the editors' favorite forecasts from the March-April issue of The Futurist:

Retirement as we know it will cease to exist. A new, more-flexible breed of worker is arising called the Adaptables, who will change all our notions about work. Instead of retirement, they'll plan for mid-career sabbaticals. Instead of climbing the career ladder, they'll hopscotch to new challenges. Woe to bosses who fail to support these fleet, fickle talents, warns workplace trend-watcher Roger E. Herman. --Economics, page 8 of the print edition.

Lawyers will face increased competition from consultants, accountants, and other professionals. Armed with more information from the Internet, clients themselves will become more-savvy consumers of legal services and even bypass lawyers. --Government, page 10

Touch-sensitive robots may make virtual reality more realistic. The ability to collect and transmit tactile data--such as the way it feels to kick a soccer ball--could add to humans' ability to experience events remotely. Planetary geologists with robotic proxies in space could feel the weight and texture of rocks on Mars, and lovers separated by miles could hold hands.

Globalization will NOT turn the planet into McWorld. Traditional values of the world's diverse cultures will spin the process of economic modernization into different directions. According to social researchers at the University of Michigan, the United States is a "deviant culture" that is unlikely to serve as a model for future world cultures. --Ronald Inglehart and Wayne E. Baker, page 16.
Some students will know more about their favorite subjects than their teachers. Armed with computers and Internet access in their bedrooms, kids will spend many more hours mining information than their teachers can spare; teachers may need to learn a new role: orchestrators of learning. --education futurist Gary Marx, page 43.

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