Research Catalog

Title

The World of 2044 : technological development and the future of society / edited by Charles Sheffield, Marcelo Alonso, Morton A. Kaplan.

Publication

St. Paul, Minn. : Paragon House, 1994.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Additional Authors

• Sheffield, Charles.
• Alonso, Marcelo, 1921-
• Kaplan, Morton A.

Description

xv, 381 pages : illustrations; 24 cm

Summary

• Predicting the future has always fascinated and interested humankind. This interest has not been limited to just knowing the future but with being able to influence the future in one way or another. Predicting or influencing the future of a physical system is, in principle, possible. Predicting the future of humanity in general, or of a social group in particular, is a much more difficult, almost impossible task.
• Social evolution is critically affected by ideological, political, religious, and military leaders, whose appearance and subsequent actions are impossible to predict. The "human factors" affecting the development of society are so unpredictable that a comprehensive forecast of the human future must be intrinsically flawed. At best, we can guess some possible scenarios.
• Beyond ideology, politics, and religion, one other human factor exerts an enormous influence on social evolution - "science and technology." The list of science and technology discoveries and inventions that have produced profound social changes includes fire, agriculture, metallurgy, gunpowder, the printing press, steam power and electricity. Yet none of these were the result of any desire to achieve social change.
• The last five decades have seen technological developments at an unprecedented scale; they are likely to exert an even more profound impact on the coming five decades. The technological forecasts in this book look specifically at developments in materials, energy, transportation, robotics, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, biotechnology, medical technology, new human habitats, and communications.
• What we make of technological advances is largely a result of political and moral values. The benefits of technology can be used by elites for their own gain, by tyrants to oppress, or can be shared by all. History has shown that human beings can use technology to create a heaven or a hell, a utopia or a dystopia.
• Noted science fiction writers Jerry Pournelle, Ben Bova, Charles Sheffield, Frederick Pohl, and Gregory Benford have written a range of scenarios ranging from optimistic to pessimistic. Several social scientists from different regions of the world have then written chapters that explain how their societies might achieve a more optimistic future and avoid a pessimistic one.

Subjects

• Technological innovations > Social aspects
• Technological forecasting
• Twenty-first century > Forecasts

Note

• "A PWPA book".

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references.

Contents

• Preface / Morton A. Kaplan -- Ch. 1. Materials and Energy / Alexander Zucker -- Ch. 2. Robotics and Artificial Intelligence / Hans Moravec -- Ch. 3. Biological Technologies / Claude Villee -- Ch. 4. Biomedical Technologies / Ernest G. Cravalho -- Ch. 5. Transportation and Communication / S. Fred Singer -- Ch. 6. Inhabiting the Oceans / Athelstan Spilhaus -- Ch. 7. Living in Space / Gerard K. O'Neill -- Ch. 8. The Biological Century / Gregory Benford -- Ch. 9. Prenatal Genetic Testing and Euthanasia / Stephen Post -- Ch. 10. O Brave New (Virtual) World / Ben Bova -- Ch. 11. Report on Planet Earth / Charles Sheffield -- Ch. 12. An Address to the Council / Ben Bova -- Ch. 13. A Nightmare / Morton A. Kaplan -- Ch. 14. A Land of Empty Abundance / Jerry Pournelle -- Ch. 15. A Visit to Belindia / Frederik Pohl -- Ch. 16. A Utopian World / Morton A. Kaplan -- Ch. 17. The View from Outside America / Christie Davies -- Ch. 18. The Evolution of the World in the Next Fifty Years / Jan Knappert.
• Ch. 19. The United States in 2044 / Gordon L. Anderson -- Ch. 20. 2044: A View from Guatemala / Armando De la Torre et al -- Ch. 21. Thai Society in the 21st Century / Weerayudh Wichiarajote -- Ch. 22. Opportunities for Africa / Ernest Emenyonu -- Ch. 23. Australia in 2044 / Ivor Vivian et al -- Ch. 24. The Case for Jordan / Subhi Qasem -- Ch. 25. Polish Brainstorming / Maria Golazewska -- Ch. 26. The Philippines Fifty Years Hence / Andrew Gonzalez.

ISBN

• 0943852498 :
• 0943852579 (pbk.) :

LCCN

94003101

OCLC

• 29797779
• ocm29797779

Owning Institutions

Columbia University Libraries