Contents of the Current Issue

Executive Summaries

January-February 2006 FUTURIST article summaries

BEYOND SPRAWL: Rethinking Humanity's Habitats (Cover Stories, Special Section)

• Introduction by FUTURIST assistant editor Patrick Tucker
• New Villages for a New Era by Robert McIntyre. SUMMARY: More Americans are leaving the city for rural areas, but the rural areas may not be ready to support them. What's needed are "New Villages"--refurbished or new settlements--designed to meet the needs of telecommuters and at the same time protect the natural environment.

Additional commentaries from Douglas Rushkoff (Of Neighborhoods, Networks, and Nodes), Joel Garreau (The Santa Fe-ing of Our Town), William J. Mitchell (A New Garden of Eden), Mitchell Gordon (Designing for Democracy), and L. Gene Zellmer (Rethinking Utopia: A Town Primarily for People).

Update on The State of the Future
By Jerome C. Glenn and Theodore J. Gordon
SUMMARY: An overview of how the Millennium Project participants perceive the world's progress (or lack of it) toward meeting 15 global challenges, and an update on the State of the Future Index. This article is adapted from 2005 State of the Future.

Innovation in Pharmaceuticals: Speeding Up the Development of New Cures
By Jay Herson
SUMMARY: Pharmaceutical development appears to have declined, even though research has increased. One reason for the decline is the cost of drug development, as well as the business risks involved. Innovative approaches to raising capital and forming partnerships among pharmaceutical companies could help reduce both the costs and the risks to individual firms.

Scenarios in Practice: Futuring in the Pharmaceutical Industry
By Eric Garland
SUMMARY: Using the pharmaceutical industry as a case study, this paper provides a primer on the use of the Impact/Probability Matrix in preparing scenarios of the future: Low probability, low impact = "flash in the pan." High probability, low impact = "business as usual." High probability, high impact = "the brewing storm." Low probability, high impact = "wild card." This I/P Matrix is applied to a study of disclosures on clinical drug trial results and the possibility of increased governmental regulation of the pharmaceutical industry.

Thinking Ahead: The Value of Future Consciousness
By Tom Lombardo
SUMMARY: Futures consciousness--the psychological abilities, processes, and experiences that humans use in order to understand the future--includes foresight, goal setting, planning, decision making, problem solving, and other key skills vital to our psychological health and future well-being. Future consciousness has evolved throughout human history, and we must continue to expand this capacity in order to thrive in a world of change. This paper examines the ethical, philosophical, cognitive, and pragmatic features of future consciousness.

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