WorldFuture 2009
with Jay McIntosh
World Future Society board member Jay McIntosh
shares why he's excited about attending the 2009 annual meeting, to be
held July 17-19 in Chicago, and what you can expect once you're there.
The World Is Not Flat In the opening plenary
session of the World Future Society's 2008 annual meeting,
Edie Weiner, president of Weiner, Edrich, Brown, Inc.,
takes on the
idea that "the world is flat".
Information Vs. Hate
Nate Garvis (VP, Target) describes the
impact of the Technology Effect on the rise of uncivil discourse and the
"outrage industry" as well as its more positive influence in creating
communities of disparate people around the globe. Excerpted from the
World Future Society's 2007 conference. Note, Mr. Garvis's comments were
made as an individual and not as a representative of Target.
Watch the Video on YouTube.
Personalized Medicine: Gregory
Stock at WorldFuture2007: UCLA researcher Gregory Stock looks at
the future of genomics and the cures of tomorrow.
Watch here.
"Drugs or Love? Helen Fisher at
WorldFuture 2007":
Helen Fisher discusses the future of sex,
love, and relationships at the World Future Society's conference in
Minneapolis.
Watch now.
The Top Ten Forecasts from
Outlook 2007-- a short film by C. Wagner. Watch the video now on
YouTube.
Attn: Teachers and instructors:
WMV or MOV Quicktime versions available for presentations upon
request.
email
WFS: Leaders Wanted!
WFS is looking for members with passion and some experience
to help us expand
programs, projects and its Global Impact. .
A glimpse of the activities at the World Future Society's conference in
Chicago, July 17-19, 2009.
A global consortium outlines goals for reducing
natural-disaster-related deaths (UNISDR). ... Educating students and the
general public on basic earth-science issues could help improve
climate-policy decision making (NSF). ... Tiny lab-on-a-chip promises to
rapidly detect viruses—before they can spread (University of Twente). These
stories and more! PLUS: Conference-click central: All your key links in one
place.
Big
Ideas for Saving the Earth
In a new book, futurist Jamais
Cascio makes it very clear that he is not enthusiastic about climate
geoengineering and completely rejects the idea that it might be a
replacement for the economic, social, and technological changes needed
to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Yet, he says, it will likely still
be necessary.
Stephen
Thaler’s Imagination Machines Inventor
Stephen Thaler discusses his revolutionary form of AI — a highly proficient synthetic
consciousness that has quietly existed for more than 30 years. From the
July--August issue of THE FUTURIST.
Assessing Global Trends for 2025 In
November 2008, the National Intelligence Council released a landmark
study, Global Trends 2025: A Transformed World. The report lays
out the possibility of a future very different from the reality to which
most of the world is accustomed. THE
FUTURIST asked four experts — Newt Gingrich,Elaine C. Kamarck,
Peter Schiff, and Dennis Kucinich — for their views on
the report’s key forecasts and what the future of the United States,
Asia, and the global economy looks like now, in the wake of the global
financial crisis.
PDF Version Available.
June
2009 Futurist Update What are the top 10
challenges we must meet to reach a peaceful and sustainable world in 2050?
(Hint, #1 is energy demand.) … Is there a “stunt double” in your future?
Avatars that more nimbly act and speak on your behalf are on the way. …
Careers that don’t demand a bachelor’s degree may get a boost in an economy
focused on rebuilding its infrastructure the right way.
These stories and more in the
June 2009 edition of Futurist Update.
Editor's Query, Normative Futures.
What’s on your wish list for reforming your industry or profession? What
policy change, paradigm shift, new technology, or social innovation would
create a better future? Please send your ideas (approximately 500 words),
along with a brief About the Author note, photo, and your complete contact
information, to FUTURIST UPDATE editor Cindy Wagner at cwagner 'at' wfs
'dot' org
The
conference and its companion volume explore the nature of complexity,
how it is altering our world in diverse ways, and how we can deploy the
powers of human imagination through creative and innovative thinking to
address the complex issues we now face.
Topics covered in these 26 essays include The 10 forces reshaping the
American economy…. Innovation in primary health-care services…. Future
patterns in work and retirement…. The case for nuclear energy as a baseload
source…. Envisioning a “post-scarcity” world…. Moral values and the creative
process…. Future directions in evolution...IT and the end of the written
word … and much more!Available after July 20, 2009.Pre-order yours today.
Futurist to Speak on Cybernetic Crime in the 21st
Century, Other Public Safety Challenges
BETHESDA, MD: “The future path through cyberspace is
filled with threats and opportunities, most of which
cannot even be imagined today,” says Gene Stephens,
a member of the FBI Futures Working Group, the World
Future Society, and a charter member of
Police-Futurists International. “With the
equivalent of 5,000 years of technological progress
expected between 2000 and 2025, it's difficult to
forecast the dilemmas that lie ahead.
Yet, that is precisely what Gene Stephens has
endeavored to do.
Bioethics Expert Arthur L. Caplan: Makes Arguments
for and Against Bioengineering Human Beings at
WorldFuture 2009
BETHESDA MD: The race for biomedical and genetic
enhancement will—in the twenty-first century—be what
the space race was in the previous century,
according to members of the World Future Society.
Scientists can already screen fertilized human eggs
for 1,000 genetic disorders. Within a decade,
researchers will be able to detect most of the
world’s congenital diseases parentally, this could
will enable humans to live to ages of two hundred
years old. Some genetics expert predict science will
soon be able to genetically “enhance” embryos with
the potential for super-intelligence, phenomenal
strength, or preternatural ability. What is
possible? What are the moral and ethical
implications of these new technologies?
Expert to Speak on
the Future of the Arctic at WorldFuture 2009
BETHESDA MD:--Rising prices for natural resources
will lead to a full-scale rush to develop the Arctic
according to Lawson Brigham, a senior fellow of the
Institute of the North. Not just oil and natural
gas, but also the Arctic's supplies of nickel,
copper, zinc, coal, freshwater, forests, and of
course fish are highly coveted by the global
economy. Whether the Arctic states tighten control
over these commodities or find equitable and
sustainable ways to share them will be a major
political challenge in the decades ahead, says
Brigham.
Technology Futurist
to Speak on Tomorrow’s Internet at World Future
Society Conference
BETHESDA, MD: The
recently signed American Recovery and Reinvestment
Act (U.S. stimulus bill) allocates $7.2 billion to
support the development of broadband capabilities
across the United States. Some experts forecast that
Ethernet will reach speeds in the terabit range (one
trillion bits per second) by 2015. What might
expanded Internet capability mean for business and
consumers, and what obstacles lay in the way of
fully realizing the benefits of the Web in the years
ahead?
Pandemic and the Future of Flu
The World Health Organization has called an H1N1 influenza pandemic
"imminent." Are governments treating the current flu with enough urgency?
Too little? Too much?
We turned to Daniel J. Barnett M.D., M.P.H., assistant
professor in the department of environmental health sciences at the
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Tyler Kokjohn,
professor of microbiology at Midwestern University and author of the
"In
The Shadow of Pandemic" (THE FUTURIST September-October 2006) to parse
the future of flu.
May Futurist
Update
How we can become more secure through cooperation…. How we can better
predict freight traffic (and why it matters)…. How you can prepare for a
sudden medical emergency—yours or that of a loved one. These stories and
more in the May 2009 Futurist Update.
Preparing
for Pandemic What does flu pandemic
look like? In 2006 planners and strategists were asking this same question,
but the strain in question was H5N1, and the initial carriers were birds
rather than pigs. The guidelines proposed by the World Health Organization
at that time still provide a reliable picture of what government response to
a pandemic might entail.
Future Times for Spring of 2009 From the Desk of the
President, News and Events, Self-Sustaining Classroom, and The
Importance of Nuclear Energy.
Free Lessons in Futuring From the World Future Society World Future Society President Tim Mack will offer a series of ten free lessons in the use of foresight through the Web site of the World Future Society. The weekly lessons, e-mailed to subscribers, offer straightforward explanations of the futurist profession’s most useful “futuring” techniques, with practical examples of they are used and resources for finding more information.
Future
View: Forecasts in Hindsight By Cynthia G.
Wagner The
managing editor of THEFUTURIST
reflects on issues thatmattered in
the past—and that stillmatter today.
Tomorrow
in Brief
Raising Saltwater Fish Far from Oceans...Word Watch: Ecoflation...Saving South America’s Vicuña...Producing Artificial Skin, Factory-Style...Nano-sized Additive Strengthens Concrete,
these stories and more in the May-June FUTURIST
edition of Tomorrow in Brief.
Tweets From the
Future
One person will develop Alzheimer's every 33 seconds by the
year 2050 but cancer could be cured by 2020. The world could
experience a "perfect storm" of water and energy shortages
by 2030, but Space-based solar power could arrive by the
middle of the century. These are some of the stories THE
FUTURIST magazine tweeted in just the first 24 hours of
opening its Twitter feed
http://twitter.com/Theyear2030
BETHESDA, MD: Barry Kellman, DePaul University weapons expert, says bioviolence will become a greater threat as the technology becomes more accessible. He wrote on the subject for the May-June 2008 article in THE FUTURIST (PDF). Shortly afterward, last December, a congressionally-chartered bi-partisan panel made headlines in the U.S. when it reported that a bio-attack was likely in the next five years. Kellman will address WorldFuture 2009 The annual conference of the World Future Society this July on the threat of bio-violence. He'll discuss how governments might better protect their citizens from one of the biggest threats of the 21st century.
BETHESDA, MD: Don Tapscott, professor, and chairman of the nGenera Innovation Network, bestselling author of the book Grown Up Digital, and a WorldFuture 2009 keynote speaker is a strong believer in the “Net Generation.” In this interview with World Future Review, he says that technology is, indeed, affecting the lives, values, and development of teens. But, he says, contrary to a lot of popular opinion, the Internet isn't making kids dumber or less sensitive, it's enabling them to transform society for the better.
chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, is one of the
most quoted labor and employment experts in America. He’s become a regular
fixture on CNN, CBS, and a host of other networks and is a featured speaker
at
WorldFuture 2009, the annual conference of the World Future Society.
He recently
told
THE FUTURIST magazine
that he's begun to feel more optimistic about the
U.S. labor market.
DePaul University weapons expert, says bioviolence will become a greater threat as
the technology becomes more accessible.
His
May-June 2008 article in THE FUTURIST (PDF)
on
the subject proved prescient.
Last December a congressionally-chartered bi-partisan panel
made headlines in the U.S. when it reported that a
bio-attack was likely in the next five years.
THE
FUTURIST went
back to Kellman,
a WorldFuture 2009 speaker,
to ask
him how he
perceives the threat of bio-violence now and how
governments might better protect their citizens from
one of the biggest threats of the 21st century.
professor, and chairman of the nGenera
Innovation Network, bestselling author of the book
Grown Up Digital,
and WorldFuture 2009 keynote speaker
is a strong
believer in the “Net Generation.” In this interview
with World Future Review,
he says that technology is, indeed,
affecting the lives, values, and development of teens...by enabling them
to transform society for the better.
Seeing
the Future through New Eyes at WorldFuture 2008
They came, they saw, they learned something new. Futurists attending the
World Future Society’s 2008 conference took full advantage of the
opportunity to see the future through each other’s eyes. Learn
about what World Future Society conferences have
to offer with this
free PDF. By Cynthia G. Wagner, Aaron M. Cohen, and Rick Docksai
Futures Learning The Futures Learning Section is an
emerging group committed to all forms of futures learning from traditional
academic learning at all levels to profit and non-profit organizational futures
training and beyond. Learn more.
