Full Description
?Today, humanity faces a fundamentally different challenge ? that of managing a planet and a global human civilization in ways that will sustain both indefinitely. What makes this task less than easy are the pace and complexity of change. Over the next half century, human society will undergo a profound demographic transformation, experience fundamental shifts in the global balance of economic and political power, and cope with nearly continuous technological change. These transformations are inevitable ? the forces that compel them are already in place ? but their outcomes are far from fixed?
This book is about the future, but not in the sense of making predictions. Rather it suggests how to think about the future. Because human destiny is not predetermined, this book explores not just one but several possible worlds, each embodying a very different vision of the future. Implicit in these contrasting visions is a choice: which world do we prefer; which world do we want to pass on to our children and grandchildren??
From chapter 1
Contents
PART I. LOOKING AHEAD Chapter 1 Thinking About the Future Chapter 2 The Power of Scenarios PART II. THREE WORLD VIEWS Chapter 3 Market World: A New Golden Age of Prosperity? Chapter 4 Fortress World: Instability and Violence? Chapter 5 Transformed World: Changing the Human Endeavor? PART III. TRENDS THAT SHAPE OUR FUTURE Chapter 6 Critical Trends: Demographic, Economic, and Technological Chapter 7 Critical Environmental Trends Chapter 8 Critical Security Trends Chapter 9 Critical Social and Political Trends PART IV. REGIONAL CHOICES Chapter 10 Latin America: Equitable Growth or Instability? Chapter 11 China and Southeast Asia: Can the Asian Miracle Continue? Chapter 12 India: A Second Independence? Chapter 13 Sub-Saharan Africa: Transformation or Tragedy? Chapter 14 North Africa and the Middle East: Autocracy Forever? Chapter 15 Russia and Eastern Europe: Transition to What? Chapter 16 North America, Europe, and Japan: Leadership or Stagnation? PART V. GLOBAL DESTINIES Chapter 17 Choosing Our Future Which World? On-line: A Hyper-Forum on the Future
