Contents of the Current Issue

Executive Summaries

[cover story]
The Rich and the Rest: The Growing Concentration of Wealth
By Sam Pizzigati

SUMMARY: Income disparities lead to discontent--even among the super-rich who must live like prisoners in gated communities. But many people balk at the notion of income redistribution to address these disparities. One solution is a "maximum wage" law that limits incomes to no more than 10 times the minimum wage, heavily taxing all income above that amount. Since most super-rich people gain this extra income from their capital assets rather than their labor, such a tax would not compromise productivity and would pay for support services for the less well off.

Ageless Aging: The Next Era of Retirement
By Ken Dychtwald

SUMMARY: We are living longer, true, but as anti-aging treatments improve the health of older persons, they will stay productive longer, contributing to the economy--which in turn will help advance medical treatments. "Age wars" pitting generation against generation need to be avoided and will require more intergenerational understanding.

The Challenge of an Aging Society
By Richard D. Lamm and Robert H. Blank

SUMMARY: Society is aging, creating an enormous burden on the health-care system and social security. Resources will increasingly be shifted away from nurturing youth to supporting the elderly. Given limited resources, the public-policy goal for the future should be to keep all of a society healthy and not promote health one individual at a time. "A compassionate society can afford a lot, but not everything."

What's Next for Nanotechnology
By J. Storrs Hall

SUMMARY: A nanotech researcher offers insights on what the new technologies will--and will not--deliver in the years ahead. Molecular rearrangement will let us turn sewage into breakfast, but don't look for nanotechnology to turn lead into gold. Some people may fear a future of self-assembling nanomachines running amok, but these fears may be partly assuaged by the fact that humans can foresee many of future problems now, when there is still time to resolve them.

VISIONS: Visualizing the Future through Film
By Arthur B. Shostak

SUMMARY: Movies about the future often create images that stick in our minds for years to come--such as the post-apocalyptic urban environment of Blade Runner or the computer gone mad in 2001--and dramatize events and ideas with high impact, catalyzing change. A sociologist and movie-goer reflects on what these "scenes of consequence" can teach futurists about creating images of the future.

Extra-Preneurship: Reinventing Enterprise for the Information Age
By David Pearce Snyder

SUMMARY: Jobs are disappearing to automation and outsourcing, so what will workers do in the future? One solution is in the open-source movement that gives more workers access to the knowledge they need to add more value to the work they do.

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