[smiley]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he Washington-based NIC has undertaken exercises in futurology before but the latest one - Mapping the Global Future - is the most ambitious to date. It draws on the views of some 1,000 experts from around the world - academics, strategists, businessmen and others - in order to construct a balanced scenario, or set of scenarios, that offer some idea of what the world might look like in 15 years from now.

[Aaron]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')here is a downside to this brave new world. The expanding global economy will increase demand for many raw materials and resources, most especially oil. Total global consumption of energy will probably rise by 50 per cent over the coming two decades - a much faster rate than in the past.

[Permanently_Baffled]

I am curious, so many of these types of forecasts assume the massive growth of China and India.

Once PO hits between 2007-2015, then I cannot see a scenario in which China/India continue to grow. Even if the recession caused by PO is mild(yeah right! ) , export demand from these countries will fall and there will be massive unemployment/social problems given the massive populations of these countries.

Will , in effect, these countries "peak" economically (GDP) in around 2007-2015 with oil? Will Chinese export growth continue to grow when the western world and Japanese economies are going down the toilet?

PB

[Coolman]

Ya right if it is like that in 2020 I will be competely shocked. Ecology won't simply allow that to happen, which is good because growth is bad for the human race.

[Doly]

So, according to these guys, the worst that could happen is an Orwellian scenario? That would be a good future according to some of the guys in here!

[nero]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'O')nce PO hits between 2007-2015, then I cannot see a scenario in which China/India continue to grow.

[jesus_of_suburbia_old]

Aldous Huxley put out a collection of articles called Brave New World Revisited. He explains why some of today's problems, including overpopulation, diminishing resources and overspecialization, will lead us into a future not unlike his novel. BNWR articles were written in over forty years ago, but it's insight is incredible.

[gg3]

Huxley was one of the most brilliant thinkers and writers of the 20th century. See also _The Perennial Philosophy_, his most in-depth work on the subject of religion. See also _Ape and Essence_, and various other works.

Huxley was a rationalist in the tradition of the 18th century Enlightenment, a mystic in the strictest sense of one who seeks direct knowledge of God or the Ground of Being (rather than indirect, as mediated by others' words); one of the earliest to spell out the paradigm that linked psychology to neurobiology, while still embracing the limitless wonder of the human spirit.

He was passionately committed to the principle of liberty and justice for all, and to the highest ideals of both Western and Eastern civilization. In an era where cynics and idealists clashed, he walked a careful middle ground, recognizing that humans at their worst are worse than beasts, but always advancing the idea that we as individuals and societies can, with only a little more effort and attention and awareness, become truly wise.

He died of cancer on the same day that President Kennedy was assassinated, and so the public notice of his passing was eclipsed by the national tragedy. However it could well be said that his early departure was a tragedy comparable in depth if not in degree, as it deprived us of another decade or two of the kind of insight and wisdom that encourage the values of thoughtfulness, reason, and reflection.

Our world today needs more like him, more so than ever before.

[0mar]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gg3', 'O')ur world today needs more like him, more so than ever before.