Transhumanism, the pursuit of using science and technology to transcend our biological limitations, is gaining momentum both as a philosophy and as a political movement. This is largely thanks to high profile evangelists such as Ray Kurzweil, Hans Moravec, and Martine Rothblatt; corporate endeavors like Google’s life extension project Calico; and various grassroots projects like […]
Category: Articles
Intimacy In A Fluid World
THE YEAR IS 1885, 100 years ago. You decide to leave the farm and move to the city with your wife and kids. Suddenly you are no longer part of an extended family; you’re a nuclear family. You think of the relatives you left behind, and wonder what happened to your commitment and loyalty. Now, […]
Commentary; The Future Demands Attitude Adjustment; Trends: The new technology and the new social revolution are part of the same continuum.
“How prepared are you for the future?” I asked at a recent business seminar. “I surf the Net and hang out on the Web,” someone volunteered. “Splendid. How else are you preparing for the coming years?” “I use a videophone and have a satellite dish,” someone else joined in. “This is encouraging. What else?” I […]
The Only Real Trend Is Fast-Forward; Zeitgeist: During an age in which traditions are discarded daily, even the religious right can’t be termed conservative.
It is a truism that we live in an age of accelerating change. Never has progress been as rapid, global or profound as it is today. If things are changing faster and faster, what accounts for the paradox of repeated conservative election victories in North America and elsewhere? How does one explain the apparent surge […]
Why Worry About Government? We’re on Automatic Fast Forward Future: The direction of the country is set by forces bigger, stronger than all of Washington
An ideological battle has been raging between conservatives and liberals in the United States and Western Europe-a battle that would be comical, if not for its ferocity and for the millions of dollars dissipated on political campaigns. Implicit in this conflict is the assumption that whoever controls Congress or occupies the White House will determine […]
PERSPECTIVE ON GOVERNMENT Our Political Process Suits the 18th Century Technology has changed but decision-making has not. Our out-of-sync `democracy’ is slow, costly and exclusionary.
News flashes across the planet in seconds. Electronic transfer zips billions of dollars from continent to continent in minutes. Entire professions and industries and nations dis-exist and coalesce overnight. The world is streaming ahead faster and faster-but the American election process creeps along slower and slower. We are in the middle of another volatile election […]
Up-Wing Priorities
Back in 1981, futurist F.M. Esfandiary, who later changed his name to FM-2030 (look him up on Wikipedia), published his vision of life that in mysterious, far-future year 2010. This essay, titled “Up-Wing Priorities,” appeared in the now-defunct magazine “Future Life.” View Article Published by Tomorrow Magazine in June 1981
Beyond Reindustrialism
Powerful forces are revolutionizing life on this planet. Decades from now, the 1980’s will be remembered as a time when the world accelerated toward a new age. Download Article Published by the New York Times on December 30, 1980
Old Planet, New World
The entire world is at the beginning of a historic turning point. We are moving up to the post-industrial age. Download Article Published by the New York Times on October 12th, 1979
Homo Sapiens, the Manna Maker
The world is moving toward an age of limitless abundance abundant energy, food, raw materials. Decades from now this late 20th century will be remembered as a period in which the world shifted from age-old scarcity to a new era of plenty. Download Article Published by the New York Times on August 9, 1975