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Top 10 Forecasts From Outlook 2003 Report

Current Forecasts

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

* Good news for the childless: Depression is not inevitable. Elderly persons without children are no more vulnerable to loneliness or depression than elderly parents, according to a University of Florida study. One reason: Social changes over the past decades have made alternative life choices, such as childlessness, less stigmatizing. (Tomorrow in Brief)

* More people will be displaced by dams and development than by persecution. The number of political refugees has declined slightly in recent years, to just under 20 million, but those displaced by environmental catastrophes, development projects, and internal conflicts have grown to about 50 million. The difference is that they are not considered eligible for international assistance. (World Trends & Forecasts, Demography)

* Mini-jobs may become a popular solution to unemployment. One in six Germans now holds a mini-job--a part-time or secondary position that pays less than the tax-exemption threshold of 400 euros per month. (World Trends & Forecasts, Economics)

 

* Plasma may become the sterilization medium of choice. "Cold" plasma could be used to sterilize foods, and do so at room temperature and pressure. Other potential uses include sterilizing heat-sensitive medical tools and decontaminating biological warfare agents. (World Trends & Forecasts, Technology)

 

* Will there be books in the future? Maybe, maybe not. The future of the book will not be determined so much by technologies such as the Internet, but by the economics of the Information Age. If ideas are treated as a commons, publicly available to all, books will disappear. If ideas remain protected as intellectual property, books could be around for a long time. (David J. Staley, "The Future of the Book in a Digital Age")

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