Jerry Glenn, Director of the Millennium Project sponsored by the American Council for the United Nations University, brings our attention to the 2005 State of the Future report, now available for ordering. He points out that the “Royal Society of Arts in London has just published a distillation, of the distillation, of the distillation of the 15 Global Challenges from the 2005 State of the Future”. Excerpts:
“As fiber optics replaced copper to better conduct data, video, and voice, so too nanotubes may replace wire to better conduct electricity. When nanotubes are inserted in electric grids, less electricity input will be needed per output. This would have the same effect as producing a new source of energy without greenhouse gasses or nuclear waste…Future synergies among nanotechnology, biotechnology, information technology, and cognitive science can dramatically improve the human condition by increasing the availability of food, energy, and water and connecting people and information anywhere…The technology will lead to new products and applications such as e-textile clothing with nanotech threads forming antennas, photovoltaics, and thermal regulation to be worn as a personal early warning and response system…Geosynchronous satellite-to-earth elevators using nanotube fibers appear to be physically plausible…At the same time, synergies of nano-bio-infotech, robotics, genomics, and cognitive science promise god-like control over life, with many unknown ethical implications.”
