FUTUREtakes (ISSN 1554-7744)

Futurist Interest Groups (FIGs)

Expanded List of Topics

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FUTUREtakes, an international magazine now serving World Future Society chapters and members across the globe, is organizing FIGs (futurist interest groups), which can also be considered e-SIGs or virtual SIGs (special interest groups). 

Let’s get started.  If you are interested, please take a few minutes to tell us about your areas of interest (reply to specialprojects@futuretakes.org).  Areas include, but are not limited to:

Business, Commerce, and Careers

• Careers and Consumerism (also see "lifestyles")

  • Careers and working patterns

  • Consumer habits and spending patterns

  • Retirement patterns

  • Social Impacts of the economy (throwaway workers, throwaway spouses)

  • An economy not based on discontent -- impact on consumerism

  • New "ladder of success"

• Business and Commerce

  • Economics, wealth, and trade

  • The next economy – growth or steady state?

  • Next-generation utility function (for example, one that captures long-range economic signals – environmental, climatic, socioeconomic polarization – and long-term consequences of near-term choices)

  • Economic challenges – demographics, energy costs, trade balance, environment, resources

  • New business models and structures

  • Community reinvestment vs. geographic wealth concentration

  • The next wealth – after land, capital, and information?

  • Migration of human capital

  • Types and scales of economies that can survive a major disaster

  • Business cycles of the future

  • What new economy will emerge due to necessity?

  • The future of open-source innovation

  • The work and business culture of the future – Asian, European, US, or other?

  • Long-term sustainable financial excellence, or quick-turn profits?

  • Business structures

  • The future of venture capital

  • Which will dominate business culture – risk aversion or risk taking – and where?

  • New concepts of prosperity

 Governance and Communities

• Democracy

  • Voter participation – where highest, and why?

  • Voter apathy – characteristic of a mature democracy, or will polarizing issues force increased voter participation?

  • IT impact – cyber-democracy?  Fickle electorate or long-term focus?  Future role of political parties and/or money in politics?

  • Close elections or landslides – what is the wave of the future?

  • Informed electorate – or "sound byte politics" and preferential "feasting" on one's own viewpoint?

  • Political parties – the next dinosaurs?

• Governing structures and frameworks

  • Balance of political power among branches of government?

  • Governance structures of the future

  • Legal framework – relevance vs. timeliness?  Simplicity (and ambiguity) vs. detailed provisions?

  • Accommodation of diverse viewpoints including polarizing ones

  • Acceptance or avoidance of responsibility – including within legislative branches?

  • Bureaucracy – more or less of it in 2020?

  • Government and governance in general

• Geopolitical issues

  • The future of the nation-state

  • Relevance of nation-states vs. non-state geostrategic actors – multinational corporations, cause-oriented groups, transnational ethnic groups, etc.

  • "Fission" or "fusion" – more independence movements, or more EC- and NAFTA-style consolidation?

• Communities (see "communities and lifestyles")

Technology and Science

• Nanotechnology (nanotech)

  • How will nanotech impact manufacturing, fossil fuel dependence, and need for raw materials?

  • Will nanotech "lift all boats" or widen the gaps?

  • Will nanotech result in small scale economies as the wave of the future?

  • What are other possible nanotech impacts on business culture, community, and the way that people live and work?

• Information technology (IT)

  • Beyond the Internet

  • The next information frontier

  • Impact on downtime, vacation, social life, and entertainment (stimulation and diversion)?

  • Impact of information overload on stress levels in general? 

  • Other consequences of information overload?

  • Impact on knowledge workers?

  • Impact on cultural diversity?

  • Impact on media and communications?

• Neuroscience and brain scanning research

  • Impact on education, including people with learning disabilities

  • Impact on social behavior and law enforcement

  • Impact on religion and spirituality

• Science and technology in general

  • Impact of technology on "down time" (disposable or leisure time)

  • Will most future innovation be incremental or breakthrough?  Evolutionary or revolutionary?

  • What is the next new technology after biotech, nanotech, information technology (IT), and artificial intelligence (AI)?

  • What is the future of space exploration?

  • Characterize next-generation manufacturing

  • Do science and technology favor criminals or law enforcement?

  • Will the scientific method itself evolve?

Learning and Education

• Educational methods and institutions

  • Will clicks replace bricks?  IT implications to the traditional university campus.

  • IT impacts on university research and faculty tenure

  • The future of home schooling

  • Impact of new advances in cognitive science – is the lecture hall a dinosaur?

  • Other new methods of teaching

  • How will gifted students be taught?  How will "challenged" students (students with learning disabilities) be taught?

• Curricula

  • What subjects will be taught 20 years from now?

  • Liberal vs. utilitarian education – which will prevail?

  • More monolithic "one size fits all" education, or more individualistic?

  • What new areas of learning will emerge – in the arts and sciences, and beyond?

• General issues

  • Impact of the demise of the "career for life" – and of increased longevity – on education

  • Major differences among nations' educational systems in 2025

  • Is the Renaissance Man / Renaissance Woman an anachronism?

Social and Cultural Trends

• Communities and lifestyles

  • Transportation and housing, including challenges to living near where one works – public safety officers (policemen and firemen), emergency technicians, teachers, tourist industry workers – and the consequences

  • The next living and working patterns after telecommuting

  • Sense of community – worldwide friends while not knowing one's geographic neighbors

  • The future of family life

  • Forms of entertainment and recreation

  • "Down time" and leisure time

  • Lives of fulfillment and self-actualization vs. lives of maintenance?

  • Outlooks on life – optimistic or fatalistic?

  • "24 x 7" and complete disconnection from nature – the wave of the future, or not?

  • The instant gratification culture – will it continue?

  • Stimulation and diversion – more of the same, or a resurgence of a more inner-directed life?

  • Fast-paced life – is it inevitable?

• Values and cultural issues

  • Global village – monolithic world vs. cultural diversity? 

  • What will result from the interplay between the globalization of the economy and the tribalization of sentiment?

  • Group-oriented vs. individual oriented society?

  • How will the shift of power and influence to Asia impact lifestyles, Western culture, and English as a lingua franca? 

  • In 2050, what will be the dominant culture, value system, and lifestyle – and inspired by which nations, non-state geostrategic actors, or regions?

  • How will the aging population on impact family life and whether a culture is youth-oriented vs. age-oriented?

  • Will there be a resurgence of traditionalism?

  • What is the future of philosophical, moral, and religious relativism?

  • Which will prevail in everyday life – competition, egalitarianism, or cooperation?

  • What is the future of counterpoint-based identity ("us-them")?

  • Will a majority of people continue to buy into status and material gain as values and personal goals in 2025?

• Values and Spirituality

  • What is the future of both mainstream and nontraditional religion?

  • Will there be a coming together of science with spirituality / religion, and if so, with what implications?

Health and Wellness Futures

• Healthcare systems of the future

  • National healthcare paradigms and systems – which will prevail?

  • Holistic, "underlying cause" emphasis or "silver bullet" approach?

  • The future of preventive care

  • The future of complementary and alternative medicine

  • Healthcare for seniors

  • Paradigm for purchasing healthcare (fee for service, managed healthcare plans, traditional Chinese system, or other)?

• Science and technology impacts on healthcare

  • Genome-based research and its implications

  • Impacts of IT

• Other
  • New business model for pharmaceutical and other healthcare investment
  • Cultural aspects of mental disorders (depending on behaviors that are valued in a particular society)
  • After cancer and cardiovascular disease are eliminated, what kills next?
  • The healthcare practitioner of the future – a knowledge worker, or not?
  • Impact of increased longevity on healthcare
  • Life expectancies – where will they be highest, and why?

Resources and Environment

• Environmental issues

• Biodiversity

• Impacts of climate change

Futures Methodologies, Tools, and Processes

• Factors that influence the accuracy of predictions

• Methodologies that are most effective

• Effectiveness of futurists in relating to the general public

• Qualitative vs. quantitative methods

• What new futures studies methodologies will emerge?

• Impact of the rising power and influence of Asia on long-term and holistic thinking

• What is the future of futurism itself?

The Future Itself

• Which types of societies can best withstand and adapt to rapid change?

• Which will prevail, the Western reductionistic way of thinking or the Eastern holistic way?  (Note: the way that this question is framed is itself reductionistic!)

• Is the dialectic a mechanism of progress, and if so, will it continue to be?

• How does "the future" happen?

• What cycles influence the future?

• What major challenges will exist in 2030?

Other

• The geostrategic environment
  • Distribution of geostrategic power – unipolar, bipolar, or multipolar?
  • Conflict resolution of the future – zero sum or win-win?
  • The superpower of the future – is manufacturing necessary, or is capital trading sufficient?  Does the superpower need to be a nation-state, or not?
• Identity
  • Which is the wave of the future, "fission" or "fusion"? – that is, identification with bigger groups such as nations vs. smaller groups such as "tribe" or ethnicity?
  • Sources of identity in the future – for example, one's nation-state, occupation or profession, socioeconomic group, political affiliations and views, ethnicity, or culture?
• Leaders and leadership
  • How will leaders emerge?
  • Which types of leaders will prevail – conviction leaders or consensus leaders?  Task/mission-oriented leaders, people-oriented leaders, process-oriented leaders, or other?
  • Will there be more true leaders or more managers?
• Civilization and culture
  • What will follow globalization?
  • Is civilization evolutionary or cyclical?
  • What will shape nations and cultures between now and 2050?
  • Losses in one's way of life – Aboriginal and Native peoples, the family farmer, the individual after layoff – who is next?
  • Deculturation – which cultures will best survive the anticipated changes and the era of rapid change?  Which close-knit peoples will survive?  Which traditions and languages?
• Other
  • What will your home, appliances, and automobile look like in 2020?
  • How will increased longevity impact education?  Healthcare?  The family?  Living and working patterns?
  • Characterize agriculture of the future – farmland, ranchland, or other?  Soil mineral replenishment?
  • What will be the food and nutrition of the future – "fast food" or other?  Nutritious, or now?
  • Characterize the arts in 2025 – literature, music, drama, sculpture, paintings, etc.
  • Who will be the celebrities of the future?
  • What is the future of bureaucracy in general?
  • What will be the nature of privacy in 2025?
  • Characterize transportation of the future.  Will the automobile and commute society prevail in several modern nations, or will it be supplanted?
  • Will there be more interest, or less, in volunteerism and community service in 2025 than today?
  • What types of human intelligence will be valued in 2020?  Visual-spatial-artistic?  Deductive-mathematical?  Musical?  Linguistic?  Social?  Other?
  • What changes do you see happening in philanthropy and community service?
  • Will notions of excellence and greatness change by 2030, and if so, in what ways?
  • What new structuring institutions will emerge by 2025, and what is the future of the present ones – the family, one's religion, the community, and the nation-state?  What are the implications?

If we missed your favorite future-related topic after all these tries, what did we forget? 

In addition, we need your contact information – that is, your name, e-mail address, and any additional contact information that you may wish to provide.  Providing us with the name of your city and country would be especially helpful if you want to network with other futurists who are in geographic proximity.

Your responses will enable us to place you in contact with other futurists who share your interests.  For FUTUREtakes, they will help us maximize our own responsiveness to reader interests.  On behalf of our readers worldwide and of other futurists who want to network with you, the FUTUREtakes International Editorial Board thanks you for your participation. 

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