WFS-Current Forecasts

A magazine of forecasts, trends, and ideas about the future.
May-June 2004, Vol. 38, No. 3

Current Forecasts

Special to Web visitors, here are a few of the editors' favorite forecasts from the current issue of THE FUTURIST:

Snowcaps may disappear from mountaintops. Global warming means coastal mountains of the U.S. West will be 70% less snowy in the next half century, predict climate modelers at the Pacific Northwest Laboratory. (Tomorrow in Brief)

U.S. will import more jobs from foreign competitors. The Big 3 Detroit carmakers will lose market share to non-U.S. manufacturers, but those foreign companies will build plants and hire workers within the United States. By 2010, Toyota, not GM, will be the world's largest car company. (World Trends & Forecasts, Economics)

The coming "Cosmopedia" will merge and manage all human knowledge. The Internet is only a prelude to a global, computer-based information resource, available to all. Multimedia experiences and real-time two-way communications will be added to traditional knowledge sources such as encyclopedias to create an all-the-time interactive knowledge source and learning environment. (Parker Rossman, "Cosmopedia: Tomorrow's World of Learning")

Totally self-sufficient homes will save the planet. The goal of creating energy-independent houses where people grow their own food, minimizing the impacts on natural resources, has long been a dream. But the self-sufficient "Earth Home" will become more feasible as new technologies make managing these systems easier for the average homeowner. (Mel Moench, "Self-Sufficient Homes")

To order the print edition of the May-June 2004 issue of THE FUTURIST ($4.95 plus $3 postage and handling) or to become a member of the World Future Society ($45 per year).

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