“Copenhagen showed us the new normal…the US has lost influence, China plays spoiler and tiny nations veto anything they don’t like.”
– Leslie Geld, the Daily Beast.
Quote of the Week
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Category Archives: Quotes
Quote of the Day
“The increasingly blatant nature of the nonsense uttered with impunity in public discourse is chilling.”
-Lawrence M.Krauss, Foundation Professor and Director of the Origins Initiative at Arizona State University.
Quote of the Day
…among your columnist’s acquaintances was a child who had never been outside of Copenhagen and hence burst into tears at the sight of a tray of cress…
Future Orientation (Copenhagen Institute of Future Studies) issue #4 2009
Quote of the Week
“There is no practical obstacle whatever now to the creation of an efficient index to all human knowledge, ideas and achievements, to the creation, that is, of a complete planetary memory for all mankind:the whole human memory can be, and probably in a short time will be, made accessible to every individual. And what is also of very great importance in this uncertain world where destruction becomes continually more frequent and unpredictable, is this, that:it need not be concentrated in any single one place.”
H.G. Wells, 1937 (talking about micro-film)
On Futurists
It seems to me that there are broadly two types of futurist (or futurologist) around at the moment. One is the doomsday or Apocalyptic futurist. Climate change, population growth, global pandemics, peak water, rogue asteroids, artificial intelligence, Generation Y — they are all out to get us. Pick your favourite doomsday scenario, pull up a comfy chair, pour yourself a nice glass of wine and wait patiently for the end of the world. And, of course, these merchants of gloom have their talismans (and women). Here, for instance, is a quote from James Lovelock.
“A billion could live off the earth; 6 billion living as we do is far too many, and you run out of planet in no time.”
The second type of futurist is what I’d call the e-vangelical futurist. These are usually people aged under-thirty that fawn and gush at the sight of any new electronic device. They are, more often than not, Twits. Twits as in people that are totally addicted to Twitter. And they have their Talismans too. Here’s one from Richard Thieme, a technology expert.
“I’m not a futurist. I only describe the present to the 98% of people who are not there yet.”
Quote of the Week
“Anything can happen once” – Philip Morrison (taken from Darwin among the Machines by George Dyson).
Things that are supposed to be dead
“The moment something has been declared dead, it emerges from the grave like at the end of ‘Carrie’, only more powerful and bigger than ever.” – Douglas Coupland.
So what is currently returning, unexpectedly, from the grave?
Quote of the Week
” I don’t believe in God, but I miss him” – Julian Barnes
Another Good Quote
““People are always shouting they want to create a better future. It’s not true. The future is an apathetic void of no interest to anyone. The past is full of life, eager to irritate us, provoke and insult us, tempt us to destroy or repaint it. The only reason people want to be masters of the future is to change the past.” Milan Kundera
Great Quote
