Contents of the Current Issue

Executive Summaries

The Hybrid Phenomenon
By Norma Carr-Ruffino (professor of management, San Francisco State University) and John Acheson (MBA, San Francisco State University)

SUMMARY: Overview of hybrid vehicle technology and markets and their potential impact to alleviate the complex problems of oil-dependency in Western economies. The costs and benefits of hybrid-fueled vehicles vs. petroleum need to be measured from "well-to-wheel" -- i.e., from the moment a fuel is extracted from the planet to its propelling a consumer/driver down the road. By this measure, natural gas and diesel/natural gas hybrids are the most-efficient vehicles, beating out hydrogen, methane, and electric vehicles.

PLUS:

• Energy Diversity as a Business Imperative
  By Elizabeth Lowery (GM vice president for environment and energy):
  How GM's hybrid cars fit in with the company's overall energy strategy, such as promoting fuel-cell research.
• Not All Hybrids Are Created Equal
  By Scott Nathanson (field organizer, Union of Concerned Scientists clean vehicles program):
  A hybrid car owner argues that hybrid technology needs to focus on improving mileage rather than boosting horsepower.

Biodiesel's Bright Future
By William Thurmond (president, Emerging Markets Online)

SUMMARY: Market survey of biodiesel fuels and the future of global renewable energy. As world population grows and emerging economies develop, the demand for energy will likewise skyrocket, straining supply. This article focuses specifically on biodiesel and ethanol technologies, sources of those fuels (e.g., algae, soy, palm oil), and their potential to meet transportation fuel needs around the world in the next 15 years.

PLUS:

• How to Price Biofuels
  By Robert James Woolsey Jr. (former CIA director):
  As long as the price of oil is high, research in alternative fuels needs little in the way of government support. But if Middle Eastern oil powers drop their prices, alternative fuel R&D could be wiped out unless the government steps in with subsidies. NOTE: This article is adapted from an interview with THE FUTURIST. To view the full text of this interview, go to

Reinventing Utopia
By Lane Jennings (research director, THE FUTURIST; production editor, Future Survey).

SUMMARY: The problem with building a better future is that not everyone else will always agree to go along with our plans. One solution might be to offer places--either in the real world or in virtual reality--where people can go off and misbehave (if they choose) without bothering the rest of the world. Three possible approaches are "Safe Havens" (self-sustaining shared-value communities), "Free Zones" (licensed pleasure premises), and "Parallel Worlds" (computer-based role-playing environments).

PLUS:

• Setting Happiness as a National Goal
  By Richard Layard (author of Happiness: Lessons from a New Science).
  Consideration of "utopia" needs to capture a better understanding of what makes for happy societies. Higher quality of relationships make for happier people; for example, Scandinavian countries rank high on interpersonal trust and near the top in national happiness.
• Welcome to Arden: The World of William Shakespeare
  By Kimberly Harris Fatten (assistant director, Synthetic Worlds Initiative, Indiana University).
• A Shakespeare-oriented MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) offers a new learning tool for history and literature students.

Expanding the Human Mind: The Future of the Brain
By William Holmes (former faculty member, Biochemistry Department, Washington University School of Medicine; author Mind over Matter [forthcoming]).

SUMMARY: We have the power to enhance our minds by three very different approaches--by education, by computers, and by the techniques of neurobiology. While computers may eventually have general capabilities comparable to humans, along with superhuman speeds of information retrieval and calculation, they will remain outsiders, digital assistants rather than integrated into the individual’s mental capacity. Neurobiology will become the true path to mental enhancement. By introducing modified neurons derived from an individual’s own cells throughout the brain, we will be able to analyze the function of the brain in extraordinary detail, correlating brain structure, function, and conscious mental sensations with physical and mental activities. The origin of individual mental differences will become apparent along with ways of modifying them. Biology will no longer be destiny. Systematic investigation of entirely new mental powers may be possible, including new senses and ways to experience of our world.

The Search for Foresight: Futuring and World Peace
By Edward Cornish (editor, THE FUTURIST; founding president, World Future Society).

SUMMARY: In the fourth installment of his retrospective of the World Future Society's formation, the founding president describes encounters with "old enemies" during the Society's first conference (including conference attendees from the Soviet Union, Germany, and Japan). He reflects on how these unexpected encounters affirmed his epiphany that mutual efforts to understand the future could become a way for forward-thinking individuals worldwide to collaborate informally to promote peace.

To order the print edition of the July-August 2007 issue of THE FUTURIST ($4.95 plus $3 postage and handling) or to become a member of the World Future Society ($49 per year).

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