The Journal of 2020 Foresight

Reports from the Knowledge Labs about our recent findings, research topics, and interviews with lifestyle leaders who are creating their own futures.

How to stimulate your own powers of foresight. Consider the following thought provokers. Ask yourself, in these categories what are the brand new trends and forces? Which are the ones growing in importance? Which current forces are loosing their steam? Which have peaked or are reversing themselves? Which are the "wildcards" about to disrupt us in the future? POLITICAL AND TECHNICAL thought for food: Electronics, Materials, Energy, Fossil, Nuclear, Alternative, Other, Manufacturing (techniques), Agriculture, Machinery and Equipment, Distribution, Transportation (Urban, Mass, Personal, Surface, Sea, Subsurface, Space), Communication (Printed, Spoken, Interactive, Media), Computers (Information, Knowledge, Storage & Retrieval, Design, Network Resources), Post-Cold War, Third World, Conflict (Local, Regional, Global), Arms Limitation, Undeclared Wars, Terrorism, Nuclear Proliferation, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Governments (More/Less Power and Larger or Smaller Scale), Taxes, Isms: Nationalism, Regionalism, Protectionism, Populism, Cartels, Multinational Corporations, Balance of Trade, Third Party Payments, Regulations (OSHA, etc.) Environmental Impact, U.S. Prestige Abroad. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC Food for thought: Labor Movements, Unemployment / Employment Cycles, Recession, Employment Patterns, Work Hours / Schedules, Fringe Benefits, Management Approaches, Accounting Policies, Productivity, Energy Costs, Balance of Payments, Inflation, Taxes, Rates of Real Growth, Distribution of Wealth, Capital Availability and Costs, Reliability of Forecasts, Raw Materials, Availability and Costs, Global versus National Economy, Market versus Planned Economies, Generations: Y, X, Boomers, Elderly, Urban vs. Rural Lifestyles, Affluent vs. Poor, Neighborhoods and Communities, Planned or Organic Growth. Got Knowledge?

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Saturday, December 03, 2005

The Big Blue Marble Going Up in Smoke While We Eye-Ball a Milky Way

Chapter Four: The Tribal Territories

By Steve Howard, CKO
The Knowledge Labs

Table of Contents
Chapter One: Basecamp
Chapter Two: The Ridge
Chapter Three: The Outpost
Chapter Four: The Tribal Territories

“There’s a lot going on in Greendale that I don’t know about either. Can you imagine? I mean, I made it up and I don’t know what the hell is goin’ on. So don’t feel bad if you feel a little out of it with this. No one really knows…. “

Neil Young & Crazy Horse “Greendale”

DOUBLE NICKEL RANCH. Somewhere up in the hills on the outskirts of Greendale. We know it’s in the known Universe spinning around on the Big Blue Marble, but exactly where? Those weren’t the only questions on Pathfinder’s mind.

Journal of 2020 Foresight: You described the big picture nature to the story-swapping around the Double Nickel campfires – cross-generational even conversations.

Pathfinder: Letting your eyes follow the trail of smoke and sparks shooting out and up from the bonfires will do that. Looking up to the stars your mind wanders to things like multiverses, the big bang, cosmology and astrophysics, string theory – lot’s of stuff the “double nickel-ers” found interesting coming out of the mouths of the “quarter” generation – having been forced to study the topics in college.

J2020F: I tried to comprehend Brian Greene’s “The Elegant Universe: Superstrings, Hidden Dimensions, and the Quest for the Ultimate Theory” one time while laying on my back in a beach chair gazing up at the milky way and witnessing a shooting star extravaganza one camping trip in Big Sur.

Pathfinder: And?

J2020F: And, my mind hurt at first trying to grock the 11-dimensions of M-theory. But, as I let the Milky Way pull me into the night, I felt expansive – I underwent an expansive religious experience.

Pathfinder: I felt the same thing when we visited Bryce and Zion National Parks at the end of our road trip. I’d been reading about the geologic time scale before tripping out while gazing at the hoodoos.

J2020F: Awe inspiring, but I also felt very small and insignificant.

Pathfinder: I believe we all felt the same way around the Double Nickel campfires – especially during lulls in the conversation. You come to appreciate that you’re just a particle of sand in the great expanse of time on planet earth.

J2020F: Stories of transition and transformation – have always been with us and continued.

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