latest posts
The Bali Conference
December 18th, 2007
As a futurist, I look at long term trends and waves of history. The three waves of history we know have been the Agricultural Age, the Industrial Age and the Information Age. The first age began some 10,000 years ago when man first began to literally put down roots. The second age began some 250 years ago with the invention of the steam engine. The third age began some 30 years ago with communications satellites, computers, the explosive growth of the white collar work force and the birth of the electronic global village envisioned by Marshall McLuhan.
We are now entering …
Gratitude on Thanksgiving Day 2030
November 20th, 2007
Thanksgiving is, in many ways, the truest of holidays. It is not connected to a religion or to a national political event. It is about giving thanks and sharing life’s abundance, manifested by a large meal to be shared by friends and family. Giving thanks for all the wonderfulness of this planet.
On Thanksgiving day in 2030, I hope my then middle aged son will be sharing this day with loved ones hopefully including me. I hope that they all will be able to give …
Maybe 55 Cancri is the Place
November 15th, 2007
All my life I have believed that there must be other intelligent life in the Universe. When you gaze upon the endless starry night it seems statistically impossible that there isn’t some form of intelligent life out there. It may not be human-like but life there must be. In a prior column, I wrote about the fact that scientists looking for life elsewhere have redefined the definition of life as it was concluded that perhaps our earth bound definition needs to be greatly expanded.
Last week there was an announcement that astronomers had discovered that there were five planets circling …
Over Population of the Planet and Global Warming
October 31st, 2007
The impact that humanity is having on climate change is directly related to the fact that there are so many of us. Add on top of our shear numbers the fact that we treat the planet harshly and it is clear why we are moving toward a global crisis.
Consider some facts about the growth of human population. Humans have been on the planet for hundreds of thousands of years. It took until 1804 for our numbers to reach 1 billion. It took another 123 years to reach 2 billion in 1927. It only took another …
