Thousands of crumbling bridges, millions of gaping potholes, billions of dropped calls, limited bandwidth, a fragile electric grid, antiquated nuclear power plants, water and sewer systems that are decrepit and dangerous. This is not the foundation for another “American Century”. It is the disaster of the infrastructure in the United States half way through the […]
What might the future of the Internet be? What can it be? How empowering can it be for Capitalism and Democracy in the 21st century? What must we do to maximize the positive possibilities the Internet provides humanity as we stand at the fork in the road Buckminster Fuller foresaw decades ago: – Utopia or […]
Perhaps the most significant event in global health care for 2014 occurred on February 25. This was the day that Health City Cayman Islands had it’s grand opening. Health City is a new way to think of health care and health care delivery. It has within it the power to change or at the least […]
This is the second of three columns where I look at all the forecasts I have made about things that might happen through the end of 2013. As I wrote in the first column here this is not an exercise in self-congratulation. It is an opportunity to look back not just on forecast accuracy but […]
[This column was first published in the Shift Age Newsletter #27] Eight years ago I first began to write and speak about the future full time. Then, as always, I was asked about what accurate forecasts I had made. This told me of course that my legitimacy to some degree would be based upon this. […]
The word cyberspace is ubiquitous. I don’t think I know of an adult that does not know or use the word. Cyberspace is most often used when talking about all that exists on the Internet, the space/time area of computer interactions. It is a word that has settled into use and understanding around the world. […]
Privacy was clearly a major topic in 2013. The ongoing conversations around the world subsequent to Snowden’s revelations have been extensive and on-going. His recent comments to England on Christmas Day and the recent interview in the Washington Post provoked a lot of commentary at the end of the year. The Center for Internet and […]
The issue of blanket surveillance by the NSA now heads to the Supreme Court. The powerful ruling by Judge Richard J. Leon of the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia against the blanket surveillance now means that the issue will be argued before the Supreme Court. This will happen as Judge Leon, while […]
The fast and easy answer is yes. The privacy our parents and grandparents had is no longer. The privacy we still have in pockets of our lives will not be available to our children and grandchildren. The historical definition of privacy that has existed for centuries no longer exists. In the last seven years I […]
[This column first appeared in the Shift Age Newsletter ] People often ask me about what books I read. I sense that they expect some kind of unique or weird answer from a futurist. In addition to this question I am often given books or names of books to read, usually books that have transformed […]