Towards a decade of change

MEGA

TRENDS

2020

by Nicholas Outram

“We stand at the dawn of a new era. Before us is the most important decade in the history of civilization” -so wrote John Naisbitt and Patricia Aburdene in the introduction to their classic work “Megatrends 2000”.

The decade that lies ahead will be no less important -the decisions taken during it will impact future civilization more profoundly than we can imagine. It will be a decade of extreme hope and failed promises. One of opportunity and loss:

A decade in which humanities very existence will be called into question, our reactions to the events of this decade will shape mankind’s future for hundreds of years to come.

The purpose of this site is to attempt to identify and describe the most important trends and extrapolate to see what may lie ahead. In addition we will explore some potential future scenarios and take a glimpse into the far future. The site was first created in December 2006 and will be expanded / built upon prior upto December 2009 at which point it will be frozen. The themes explored are currently as follows:

THE GREAT MEGATRENDS OF 2010-2020: THE DECADE THAT WILL SHAPE OUR FUTURE

• Chapter1: End Of An Energy Era
• Chapter2: The Global Economy
• Chapter3: The Polarization Of Belief
• Chapter4: The Permanent War
• Chapter5: The Compassionate Corporation
• Chapter6: Technology and Humanity
• Chapter7: The View From 2050 -Future Scenarios Explored
• Chapter8: The Long View -Towards 3000

This site was first created in 2006, the Energy chapter was written in December 2006 and subsequent chapters where written throughout 2007. The last edit will take place in 2009 and the site will be active until 2020. The site author is Nicholas Outram who has a great interest in the future as that is where he intends to spend most of his life..