7910 Woodmont Avenue, Suite 450
• Bethesda, Maryland 20814 • U.S.A.
301/656-8274 • fax 301/951-0394 • www.wfs.org |
Publisher of THE FUTURIST, Futures Research Quarterly, and
Future Survey
Contact: Clifton
Coles
301/656-8274
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TOP 10 FORECASTS FOR 2005
BETHESDA, MD — To mark the approach of the New Year, the World
Future Society has selected "Ten Best Forecasts" to suggest what we can expect
in 2005 and beyond.
The forecasts are drawn from experts writing in recent issues of the
Society’s magazine, THE FUTURIST.
"We have chosen forecasts that we feel are significant, plausible,
and of general interest," said Edward Cornish, editor of THE FUTURIST. "But we
make no judgment on their probability of proving accurate."
The "top 10" forecasts from Outlook 2005 are:
- Skills for tomorrow. Employers will place more emphasis on skills
that cannot be automated, such as caring, judgment, intuition, ethics, inspiration,
friendliness, and imagination. Today’s secretaries may be replaced by
"administrative response specialists" — experts in situation management and
problem anticipation.
- Skills for right now. Among the skills that will help keep workers
marketable are self-motivation, time management, strong oral and written communication,
relationship building, salesmanship, problem solving, information evaluation, and
leadership.
- Worm shortage ahead. Worldwide demand for fish is creating a
shortage of worms to supply anglers and fish farmers. High-tech worm-storage methods such
as cryogenics will be needed to shore up dwindling supplies.
- Winning the battle against the desert. Tunisia plants 40 million
trees a year for less than a dollar a tree to hold back the Sahara — a strategy
observers believe could serve as a model for other desert countries.
- All-day eating. Restaurants will adapt to more flexible and fluid
work and life schedules by offering a mix of big, little, and medium-sized meals at all
hours of the day and night.
- Losing coral reefs. Hurricanes, disease, climate change,
pollution, and overfishing are decimating the coral life on many of the world’s
reefs, which will see greater changes in the next 50 years than they have faced in the
last half million years.
- The global wage gap is closing. Rapid income growth in China and
southern Asia is helping to narrow average income inequality worldwide. This represents a
turnaround over historic trends.
- Video games contribute to child aggression. Children exposed to
violent video and computer games are more at risk of acting on aggressive impulses than
those exposed solely to television violence.
- Older workers lengthen the business day. A steadily growing cadre
of older workers could mean an earlier start to the working day. Older people tend to be
early risers, and work shifts beginning at 6:30 a.m. may attract business looking to offer
services for the early birds.
- Water "wars" could prevent the real kind. Working out
their conflicts over water may help countries and regions resolve other conflicts.
Cooperation among Israelis, Jordanians, and Palestinians on water issues in the Jordan
River basin, for instance, involves processes of negotiation and decision making that
could serve as a model of collaboration.
Outlook 2005 is available as a special 12-page report for $4.
Visit www.wfs.org; call 800/989-8274; or write World Future Society, 7910 Woodmont Ave.,
Suite 450, Bethesda, MD 20814.
EDITORS: For more information or to arrange interviews with FUTURIST
editor Edward Cornish (author of Futuring: The Exploration of the Future) or World
Future Society president Timothy Mack, contact Clifton Coles at 301/656-8274; fax
301/951-0394; e-mail ccoles@wfs.org.
11/04
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