In an earlier column in this space, I wrote about the dominant technology trends of 2017 and beyond. Today, I want to address what will be one of the most dominant technology trends in human history. Artificial intelligence is being mentioned everywhere in the media, as it is dramatically developing and being deployed everywhere in […]

In the last two columns about 2017 I took a look at the big picture and at the global economic, energy and geopolitical landscape. Much disruption ahead!  Please notice that the title of this column is NOT Technology Trends for 2017. Trends do not happen within a year. Any such titled column is really about […]

In the last post here I mentioned that I would write several columns relative to the 2016 election in the U.S. There are reasons. First it provides so many portals through which to see and consider changes going on in the U.S. and around the world in both the short and long term. Second, the […]

As a futurist I have consistently posted most of my forecasts on my website. I am one of the few to do so. I do this to be accountable and to document what I said and when I said it. 18 months ago, in March of 2015, I stated that: “For the next several years […]

If not for Alvin Toffler I wouldn’t be a futurist. It was reading Toffler, along with Marshall McLuhan, R. Buckminster Fuller and a lot of science fiction in my early twenties that gave me the basis for thinking that there was some profession about the future to be had. “Future Shock” was Toffler’s biggest book […]

[Note:  This column was originally published in the Shift Age Newsletter earlier this month] We are at the very beginning of the end of the fossil fuel era. The use of fossil fuels will continue for decades but 2015-2017 will be looked back upon as the  beginning of the transition from growth to long slow […]

During 2015, I wrote and spoke about how significant a year it was and would prove to be. Many significant events occurred and several major trends became clear. It is these events and trends that will in part shape the world as we move into 2016. I want to leave the depressing and distracting circus […]

Many long time readers of this blog know that I am one of the few futurists who posts his forecasts for all to see on my web site. In this post I take a look at some forecasts that are topical and relevant to current news reporting. Forecasts: December 2013: “In the U.S. 2012 will […]

We are now about 130 years into the automobile era. Starting with Karl Benz’s patent in the 1880s the automobile quickly became widespread with Henry Ford’s model of mass production scaling up the market 100 years ago. Since then there have been waves of significant changes. The first stage was about mechanics and engines and […]

[Note:  Much of this column was first published in issue #37 of the Shift Age Newsletter] 2015 will turn out to be the peak year of fossil fuel use. By 2020 it will be clear that the decline in consumption of fossil fuels began this year. It therefore will be the first year of flat […]