Bigger and Smaller
Futurists love to look both far into the cosmos and deep into human biology. In both cases their fascination is with life finding it elsewhere or manipulating it here. Experts calculate that 1% of all the stars in the universe could support life -- that's 1021 possibilities. Meanwhile, advances in genetic engineering will lead to instant self-diagnosis of most diseases, "designer children," and transferring genetic traits between species.
Wild Cards
Wildcards are "tools of awareness" used to suggest possibilities outside the obvious. Political wildcards: the U.S. breaks apart into autonomous nation-states; Russian and Japan form an alliance against the West. Technology wildcards : cold fusion overturns global energy patterns; business creates electronically coded clothing programmed to individual tastes. Socioeconomic wildcards: genetic profiling overturns health-care economics; mass transit replaces 50% of the cars in the United States.
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