Last week the Internationale Funkausstellung was held in Berlin. This is the largest consumer electronics convention in Europe, equaling and perhaps surpassing the CES show that occurs every January in Las Vegas. One of the central themes behind major new product launches was the Internet and the central role it is now beginning to play […]
It was two years ago that I first wrote about ocean dead zones. These are areas of the ocean that, due to a lack of oxygen, no longer sustain any life. While dead zones can happen naturally, they usually are caused by the results of human activity. A primary cause is nitrogen-rich nutrients from agricultural […]
As a futurist, I think, speak, and write about the future. A large part of what I do is to make forecasts on the future and what might happen. This forecasting is based upon analysis of trends and the underlying forces and flows that create and shape these trends. The more specific the forecast or […]
Growing up as part of the baby boom generation, a distinct memory is the air raid siren tests. Every Tuesday, if I recall correctly, at 10a there was the test of the air raid siren blaring across the entire city of Chicago. This was to prepare us for the possibility of a nuclear attack from […]
Two years ago in this blog, I wrote a futuristic column from April 20, 2009. The title of the column was “Remember When Gas Was Cheap?†At that time I predicted that the price of oil in early 2008 would reach $125 and that in April 2009 it would be $137. In January of 2007 […]
The magnitude of the energy crisis we now face in the U.S. cannot be overstated. It is not just about cutting the emission of greenhouse gases, the increasing price of petroleum or the fact that we are dependent for oil on countries that only hold us in high regard as customers. It is about the […]
Regular readers know that I have often written about Intellectual Property in this space. IP is increasingly important in the valuation of all enterprises. I provided a historical context to this trend here, and later talked about Ocean Tomo, one of the companies that is helping to create the IP marketplace. As mentioned in one […]
This thought came to me while standing on Omaha Beach, one of the American landing beaches on D-Day. I think about the future and it is clear to me that humanity will need to find greatness to face some of the issues it faces now and in the next decade. We need to rise up […]
I just returned from a trip through Normandy with my son. The focus of our visit was the beaches of D-Day. I was trying to connect a column billed as “A Future Look at Today†to the powerful emotions I was feeling. On Omaha beach there is nothing on the beach to acknowledge what occurred […]
Brasilia, the capitol of Brazil, represents an example of what humanity must do in this early part of the 21st century. In my last column, I discussed the history of this great city and the fact that it was created in the late 1950s to be “the capitol of the third millennium†and that it […]