Tomorrow is today, only bigger.
Image:
250,000 ton ocean tanker cruising through the water at 20 miles per hour
and which takes eight miles to turn and twelve to stop. See Movie.
Driving factors/forcing functions:
Technology continues to optimize, economic growth continues, expectations
continue to rise.
Description: The
future looks like today, only bigger. This future scenario suggests a world
where the present is pushed out into the future. The future is the present,
writ large. Just as it takes over eight miles to turn a fully loaded oil
tanker, the mass and momentum behind the current world trends will bring
us to a world very similar to our own.
There’s more people, more production of the goods and services people
need and use. The global economy continues to grow and globalization continues
to spread. Corporations continue to globalize, world markets continue to
become more open, and trade continues to increase. Unemployment and underemployment
problems continue. Technology improves incrementally through optimization
and increases in efficiency. Some environmental problems show incremental
improvements, but most remain major issues that are unresolved in terms
of any consensus about necessary actions. Global warming is still being
debated. Current trends of increasing wealth continue; the rich get richer,
the poor get richer, and the gap between the two continues to widen. Most
people in the developed world are increasingly cut off from any sense of
community that helped hold previous generations together. Most governments
are stable, the status quo remains in power and there are few radical governmental
changeovers in the world. International relations continue to improve in
most parts of the world although there continue to be regional conflicts,
civil wars and acts of terrorism. Causalities from armed conflicts continue
throughout the world. Organized crime continues unabated. Education continues
to be the major determinant of future success and monetary wealth. Tourists,
business people, students and others continue to travel throughout the world.
The Internet continues to grow and global telecommunications expands as
more and more schools, corporations and individuals become regular users.
Competition and innovation do not produce anything that upsets the status
quo.
Statistical indicators/warning signals:
steady incremental growth in the stock market, income per
capita, life expectancy, average educational level.
Indicative quotes:
“What’s good for General Motors is good for the United States,
and vice versa”
—Charles E. Wilson, former GM president
“The 7% average annual per capita income growth rate of East Asia
in the 1970s and 1980s is the most sustained and widespread development
miracle of the 20th century, perhaps all history.”
—United Nations Development Programme
“Tomorrow is today, only bigger.”
—Medard Gabel
“The future is already here. It just isn’t distributed yet.
—William Gibson
Possible Future Headlines:
Stock Market Hits 15,000
Wal-Mart Annual Sales Larger Than 180 Country's GNP
Africa Mired in Recession
China Now Second Largest Economy
FutureGame Scenario 1: Momentum
FutureGame Scenario 2: Brake/Break-down
FutureGame Scenario 3: Breakthrough