Category Archives: Futurist

Why does it seemthat American society is in decline, that fairness and decorum are receding, that socialism and tyranny are becoming malignant despite the majority of the public being averse to such philosophies, yet the true root cause seems elusive? What if everything from unsustainable health care and social security costs, to stagnant wages and rising crime, tocrumbling infrastructure and metastasizing socialism, to the economic decline of major US cities like Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Baltimore, could all be traced to a common origin that is extremely pervasive yet is all but absent from the national dialog, indeed from the dialog of the entire Western world?

Today, on the first day of the new decade of '201x' years, I am going to tell you why that is. I am herebytriggering the national dialog on what the foremost challenge for the United States will be in this decade, which is the ultimate root cause of most of the other problems we appear to be struggling with. What you are about to read isthe equivalent of someonein 1997 describing theexpected forces governing the War on Terror from 2001-2009in profound detail.

This is a very long article, the longest ever written on The Futurist.As it is a guide to the next decade of social, political, and sexual strife, it is not meant to be read in one shot but rather digested slowly over an extended period, with all supporting links read as well. As the months and years of this decade progress, this article will seem all the more prophetic.

Executive Summary : The Western World has quietly become a civilization that undervalues men and overvalues women,where the stateforcibly transfers resources from men to women creating various perverse incentives for otherwise good women to conduct great evil against men and children, and where male nature is vilified but female nature is celebrated. This isunfair to both genders, and is a recipe for a rapid civilizational decline and displacement, the costs of which will ultimately be borne by a subsequent generation of innocent women, rather than men, as soon as 2020.

The Cultural Thesis

The Myth of Female Oppression : All of us have been taught how women have supposedly been oppressed throughout human existence, and that this was pervasive, systematic, and endorsed by ordinary men who presumably had it much better than women. In reality, this narrative is entirely fabricated. The average man was forced to risk death on the battlefield, at sea, or in mines, while most women stayed indoors tending to children and household duties. Male life expectancy was always significantly lower than that of females, and still is.

Warfare has been a near constant feature of human society before the modern era, and whenever two tribes or kingdoms went to war with each other, the losing side saw many of its fighting-age men exterminated, while the women were assimilated into the invading society. Now, becoming a concubine or a housekeeper is an unfortunate fate, but not nearly as bad as being slaughtered in battle as the men were. To anyone who disagrees, would you like for the men and women to trade outcomes?

Most of this narrative stems from 'feminists' comparing the plight of average women to the topmost men (the monarch and other aristocrats), rather than to the average man. This practice is known as apex fallacy, and whether accidental or deliberate, entirely misrepresents reality. To approximate the conditions of the average woman to the average man (the key word being 'average') in the Western world of a century ago, simply observe the lives of the poorest peasants in poor countries today. Both men and women have to perform tedious work, have insufficient food and clothing, and limited opportunities for upliftment.

As far as selective anecdotes like voting rights go, in the vast majority of cases, men could not vote either. In fact, if one compares every nation state from every century, virtually all of them extended exactly the same voting rights (or lack thereof) to men and women. Even today, out of 200 sovereign states, there are exactly zero that have a different class of voting rights to men and women. Any claim that women were being denied rights than men were given in even 0.1% of historical instances, falls flat.

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The Futurist

Futurist: Technology can help rural America attract young people

A futurist said Nov. 5 that young people view the communications devices they use as a part of their community, not mere tools, and this perspective will change how they live, work and play in ways that could benefit rural America.

Meantime, rural Nebraskans already are generating new ideas to revitalize their communities, ranging from using smartphone apps to give old town museums new life to providing special credit or donated land to help young farmers and ranchers get a start.

Tom Koulopoulos, founder of the Delphi Group, was keynote speaker for the University of Nebraskas second annual Rural Futures Conference, which ended Nov. 5 at the Cornhusker Hotel.

Koulopoulos said that humans always have sought out community, but technology is changing how they define it.

Community is what we seek and embrace, he said. Urbanization occurred because people found it necessary to gather in large numbers to conduct commerce and communicate. Thats not true anymore.

Kids are growing up constantly connected to each other and their devices. These devices become part of their community, Koulopoulos said. The notion of what community is will change in ways that are impossible for us to fathom right now.

Those changes could benefit rural America, he added. He predicted a mass exodus of future generations away from cities.

These kids want meaning. They want quality. They want a better life, he said. Kids realize they dont have to live in cities to get it.

NU President James B. Milliken said the Rural Futures Institute, which sponsors the conference, fits perfectly with the land-grant universitys mission, first set out more than 150 years ago, to connect universities to their states citizens.

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Futurist: Technology can help rural America attract young people

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) December 17, 2013

Popular and provocative keynote speaker, best-selling author and renowned global futurist Jack Uldrich has released his annual list of predictions for 2014. Included on this years list are: a superstar MOOC professor, a sexting senator, a deadly virtual rollercoaster, an irrationally exuberant Alan Greenspan, a $100 bio-burger, a Miley Cyrus-stalking drone, and a Tesla-fuled electrical grid blackout ... among other things.

The scenarioswhich are quite specificare not intend to be taken literally, said Uldrich, the best-selling author of Foresight 20/20: A Futurist Explores the Trends Transforming Tomorrow and Higher Unlearning: 39 Post-Requisite Lessons for Achieving a Successful Future. However, the technology underlying the scenarios must be taken seriously. Each prediction is intended to provoke the readers thinking and help him or her better understand how many of todays technology trends will continue to transform the world around them. Continued Uldrich, the list is also designed to be useful for corporations and organizations involved in strategic planning. To this end, the predictions often show the positive as well as the negative implications of tomorrow's technological transformations.

In the past year, Uldrich--who also recently released this report on 10 Game-Changing Technological Trends Transforming Tomorrow--has addressed hundreds of business groups around the world, including delivering customized keynote presentations to Eaton, Invensys, United Healthcare, Boston Scientific, Franklin Templeton, Optus, Bausch and Lomb, Avnet, Digi-Key, the European Association of International Educators and scores of other corporations, associations and organizations.

Parties interested in learning more about Jack Uldrich, his books, his daily blog or his speaking availability are encouraged to visit his website at: http://www.jumpthecurve.net. Media wishing to know more about the event or interviewing Jack Uldrich can contact him directly at 612-267-1212 or jack(at)schoolofunlearning(dot)com.

Uldrich is a renowned global futurist, technology forecaster, best-selling author, editor of the monthly newsletter, The Exponential Executive, and host of the award-winning website, http://www.jumpthecurve.net. He is currently represented by a number of professional speakers' bureaus, including Leading Authorities.

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Global Futurist and Technology Forecaster Jack Uldrich Presents His Top Predictions for 2014

FORTUNE -- Robert Downey Jr. has become one of the most powerful players in Hollywood. But the 48-year-old actor admits he's not much of a networker. "I think about people, and I have a conversation with them in my head," he says. "But I tend to not reach out." In an interview about his career and the future of the movie industry, the Iron Man and Sherlock Holmes actor tells Fortune about the real-life discussions (Elon Musk!) that have influenced his thinking about technology, business, and entertainment. Edited portions of the interview will appear in the January 13 issue of Fortune; a lengthier excerpt of the Q&A follows.

Q. This isn't the first time your image has been on the cover of a business magazine. Tony Stark's face has graced the cover of a few news titles.

A. Yes! I wanted to close the circle.

Elon Musk has been compared to Tony Stark, and parts of Iron Man 2 were filmed at a SpaceX facility. Did you ever meet?

The genesis of that goes back to preproduction for Iron Man I, when SpaceX was in a smaller facility and Elon Musk was not a household name. As part of my research, I wanted to interview two people: John Underkoffler [the chief scientist at computer interface company Oblong] and Elon. I thought it was really interesting that he literally had decided to become a rocket scientist. And although the similarities kind of end with a certain -- what would you say? -- just an amazing self-agency, you know, that I think Elon really embodies. I was looking to Underkoffler for straight technology [advice]. You remember in Minority Report, the character is wearing those gloves and moving the screens around? He and his company built that into a reality, so I was taking some cues from him: If Tony had designed his own software and his own programs and the machinery to operate them, what sort of language would he design to be able to manipulate his environment? And over the course of all these movies, that's been as much a part of Tony's character as anything else.

MORE:The Fortune crystal ball

The spirit of Elon was really inspiring to me because Tony goes from doing one thing so well and so successfully, and goes to do something that's a lot more risky and much more far reaching.

And then in the second Iron Man, Tony Stark has a conversation with Elon Musk about doing a project together. I think it's electric jets if I'm not mistaken.

Were there any other business leaders or powerful people who inspired your performance?

Originally posted here:
Robert Downey: A futurist knows

2013 11 12 WWZY Futurist Town
Zarrakan Productions is an umbrella group for many YouTube shows, and businesses both inside and outside of Second Life. Please go to http://zarrakan.com/ fo...

By: Zarrakan

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2013 11 12 WWZY Futurist Town - Video

Vinheta CDT futurist
Vinheta dos programas e projetos do CDT/UnB.

By: CDT / UnB

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Vinheta CDT futurist - Video

The Illusionists 2.0 -- The Futurist
The Futurist (AKA Adam Trent) is a star for a new generation of magic fans, fusing classic techniques, dancing, comedy and technology in a show that shatters...

By: Sydney Opera House

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The Illusionists 2.0 -- The Futurist - Video

2045 A Futurist #39;s Symposium - Dr Mick Walters
Dr Walters is a robotics researcher with the Adaptive Systems research group at the University of Hertfordshire. His areas of expertise are human-robot inter...

By: Thomas Bradley

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2045 A Futurist's Symposium - Dr Mick Walters - Video

Kim Solez Futurist Poet Doc Resident Retreat Presentation November 3, 2013
Dr. Kim Solez presents "Futurist-Poet-Doc" at the resident retreat in Jasper on November 3rd, 2013. This was a dry run rehearsal for the Nerd Nite presentati...

By: Kim Solez

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Kim Solez Futurist Poet Doc Resident Retreat Presentation November 3, 2013 - Video

By: Ben Arnold O. De Vera, InterAksyon.com November 7, 2013 7:16 PM

Michio Kaku speaking at First Pacific Leadership Academy forum

InterAksyon.com means BUSINESS

MANILA - Technological transfer coupled with education and entrepreneurship will make it easier for developing countries like the Philippines to leapfrog into high-income status, according to world-renowned futurist, scientist, author, and TV and radio host Michio Kaku.

The Philippines is poised to leap into the future. You have a population that is semi-educated, ready to move in the future. And remember that developing counties dont have to go through the same stages as the West, said Kaku, who is widely known for his ongoing attempt to complete Albert Einsteins dream of devising a theory of everything that would summarize all the physical laws of the universe.

Kaku said technology and information have leveled the playing field, making economic development easily attainable.

Here, you can leapfrog to the future. You dont have to wire up your citiesyou can go wireless. Technology transfer can compress all these technologies and send them on a microchip. This means that instead of taking a hundred years to industrialize, in one generation you can leap into the 21st century. Thats the benefit of this digital revolution, he said.

According to Kaku, modern technological infrastructure has made physical infrastructure in developed economies pass.

We have an ageing infrastructure in London, Paris and New York City. Subways are falling apart, bridges are falling apart, he said.

Kaku sees progress only in economies that constantly innovate to tap speedy information and technology transfer.

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Philippines can leapfrog to developed status, says futurist Michio Kaku