May-June 2009

May-June 2009 Volume 43, No. 3

The Build Your Own Nation Expert Advice Center

The Case for Micronations and Artificial Islands
By McKinley Conway
New Lands in the Twenty-First Century
By Erwin S. Strauss
A Mini-History of Micronations
By George Dunford

Wild Cards in Our Future

In the January 2009 issue of Futurist Update, the World Future Society’s free e-newsletter, we invited readers to submit their ideas of “wild cards” that futurists need to be looking at critically right now. This special report showcases a few of the responses.
How "Wild Cards" May Reshape Our Future
By John L. Petersen
The Disappearance of Food: The Next Global Wild Card?
By John Rockefeller
A Wild Card Sampler
By Brian Pomeroy
Are Market Economies Imploding?
By Marc Blasband
Artificial Intelligence Displaces Service Workers
By Steve Malerich
Sunspots and a Communications Catastrophe
By Dennis Miner

Future View: Forecasts in Hindsight

By Cynthia G. Wagner The managing editor of THE FUTURIST reflects on issues that mattered in the past—and that still matter today.

Increasing Mental Fitness
In Spark: The Revolutionary New Science of Exercise and the Brain, Harvard Medical School psychiatrist John Ratey gives the majority of Americans and the 60% of the world’s people who do not exercise enough for good health even more reason to get off their duffs and start moving. Ratey effectively summarizes recent research and case histories to show that exercise is good for you mentally as well as physically — a regular exercise program can literally heal a troubled mind. Review by Kenneth W. Harris