Integrative Seminar
Annotated Bibliography
We will use this space to develop our collaborative Annotated Bibliography of literature related to "foretelling the future." It may be useful to begin to by categorizing literature as Prophecy, Prognostication, Predictive Model, or Probability Analysis. We can adjust these categories as our list develops. I will provide one basic entry as an exemplar and we should try to keep each in a relatively standard format. We will focus on primary literature (books, journal articles, etc.) rather than popular accounts but particularly useful reviews, news articles, or web resources may be included. Over the course of the semester each student should add at least three entries [be sure to include your name].
Exemplar: Toffler, A. 1970. Future Shock. Bantam: New York. A classic work in the field -- driven by intuition as much as data and focused on cultural effects of accelerating rates of technological change. Accessible language and style and overall well worth a restrospective look -- on-line discussions and summaries are readily available. This is a book that everyone in this course should peruse if you have not already done so. [Dann]
PROPHECY
Kaku, Michio. (1997). Visions: How Science Will Revolutionize The 21st Century.
This piece, painstakingly put together by the author Michio Kaku, offers readers a glimpse of what life will be like in the future, namely the next hundred years. The book is separated into three separate parts, each of which outlines new advances in computers, biomolecular science, and quantum mechanics respectively. The author spent over ten years interviewing more than 150 of the greatest scientists in their field, many of whom were Nobel Laureates, to compile a careful account of current trends and, from these, future occurrences that will change the world. The book concludes with a theory of the evolution of civilizations, the search for life on other worlds and an outline of where Earth’s civilizations are headed in the far future, provided we do not destroy ourselves.
This piece has some great points as well as some shaky points to it. I really like how the author went directly to scientists involved in each of the fields to obtain his information, where other authors would simply look at history’s trends. This allows the author to be more specific, although there is a higher chance that his predictions will be proven wring. I also like how future trends are applied directly to the common man and how man’s life will change. What I am not so sure of is the final theory of the evolutions of civilizations. The theory seems wildly outlandish and farfetched, with ideas like creating a balloon around the sun to harness its energy and from there a containment system for entire galaxies. Overall, however, this book is a great source for those who want a glimpse into the future advances of science. (Jessica Kingsley)
Fadeley, Gene. Prophecy: The Year 2005 and Beyond? 1998. New York: NIV.
Fadeley covers the panorama of Bible prophecy, with observations on biblical time statements and historical settings. Interestingly, Fadeley argues that the Bible states the old, temporary age past with Christ's death, and the current age is eternal, thus there will be no "end times." (Erin Johnson)
Hogue, John. "The Next Pope: Signs in Nostradamus and St. Malachy's Prophecies." April 12, 2005. Hogue Prophecy Bulletin.
Hogue argues that only two Popes remain on the "doomsday list." He prophecies (before the election of Pope Benedict XVI) that John Paul II's successor would come from either Spain (or will be of Latin ancestry) or from what Nostradamus knew as ancient France, mentioned in Century 5, Quatrain 49 of "Les Propheties." He also suggests that Nostradamus might have indicated the next pope will bring war. However, he believes St. Malachy predicted peace with this pope, so it's really confusing as to what Hogue really thinks. Of course, Pope Benedict is actually German, and I don't buy any of what Hogue says anyway. (Erin Johnson)
Hal Lindsey, Late Great Planet Earth, Bantam. This book is a extrapolation of events taken from the book of Revelation in the Bible. It was written in 1981 and extended that prediction to the late 1980's early 1990's. This book deals with the end of the world and what will happen. It goes into detail about how the governments will run the world and what will happen to Christians and non-Christians in the end. This book was interesting to read but it was very accurate on the dates because we all are still around.[Mike]
Hal Lindsey, Planet Earth: 2000 A.D., Will Mankind survive?, Western Front Ltd. This book was published in 1994 as a sequil to his previos book Late Great Planet Earth and discusses why his time frame was wrong and what still might happen in the future. This book also goes into more detail than his first book about what will happen and who it will happen to. He also writes in general about who will do what and where it will take place. Once again this book had its dates slightly off but it was still a good read.[Mike]
PROGNOSTICATION
Torgenson, Kohle. 2004. "Satiric Prognosication: A Comparative Empirical Analysis of Accuracy." The Scientist. New York. Empirical scrutiny has proven psychic predictions less than accurate. This article tests satirism, the process of applying comedic principals to possible futures and coming up with reasonable results. A test subject, Gary, interviewed a satirist, an astrologist, and a Lucky 8-ball, all in the same night, and in the same environement, and later reviewed the accuracy of the predictions. After seven months, the prediction of the satirist most closely matched Gary's actual life occurances. (Erin Johnson)
PREDICTIVE MODEL
Barber, Benjamin R. 1994. An Aristocracy of Everyone: The Politics of Education and the Future of
Garfield, Bob. (2005). Chaos Scenario: A Look at the Marketing Industry's Coming Disaster. (www.adage.com/news.cms?newsId=44782)
Ad Age Columnist Bob Garfield's new book, Chaos Scenario takes an intimate look at the future of the advertising and marketing industries. Garfield makes many predictions about the future of the industry, revolving around what he believes is a coming fall of a vast amount of current media. He makes a point that unless the advertising industry makes a conscious effort to change todays media, a chaos will hit by 2020. Garfield even makes a strong case on why he believes in the year 2020 television will no longer be available to the public. (Mandei Evens)
Faculty. (1995) Thoughts about the Future of Advertising. Austin, Texas. The University of Texas at Austin(http://www.ciadvertising.org/studies/reports/future/whitepap.html
PROBABILISTIC ANALYSIS)
The Department of Advertising Faculty at The University of Texas at Austin decided in 1995 that they were sick of the negative predictions associated with the future of advertising. They felt the need to research and understand the good things that the future of advertising had to offer. In fact, they are quoted to say that the future of advertising is, "As unlimited as the imaginations of the marketing communication professionals who are constantly seeking more effective and efficient means to promote the brands and companies they represent." This is a great research paper to read for people entering the field of advertising or who are interested in the creative solutions the future of advertising may present. (Mandei Evens)
Handler, Philip. (1970). Biology and the Future of
What is man? What is he made of and who will he become as time marches inexorably on? This book, edited by Philip Handler answers those questions, starting at the smallest unit that makes up the human body…DNA. Each subsequent chapter outlines the human body one step above the chapter before, analyzing advances, future projects, and problems in the study of cells, developmental biology, functions of tissues and organs, the nervous system, behavior, and ecology. After summing up studies in human biology, the piece moves on to supporting mankind and advancing the technology that allows us to obtain a better standard of living. This book only deals with technology that would directly benefit man through agriculture, medicine, and computer science. It also deals with topics such as renewable resources, industrial technology, and the health of the environment. Though each chapter deals with future possibilities, the book is summed up in a chapter covering the direct future of man, outlining hazards such as war, famine, and genetic degeneration, while also telling of bright opportunities in medicine and conserving the environment.
There a few aspects of this book that are hard to overcome, the first being the size and scope of this book. It is extremely large and in depth to the point that if you are not intimately involved in the nuances of biological research it is easy to get lost or overwhelmed by the details. It is hard to take everything in and understand what the overall message being delivered is. I believe that the book covers too many topics and that it would have more to offer if the author had narrowed the topics down to those concerning only the biology of man or of ways to better mankind. I really liked looking at the opinions of the author as to future advances and seeing if any of them were true. This book was published in 1970 so it is interesting to compare the advances that have occurred in the last 35 years to those projected in the book. (Jessica Kingsley)
Bryson, Lyman. (1953). Facing the Futures Risks: Studies Toward Predicting the Unforseen.
This somewhat older piece of literature gives the reader an indication of what scientific minds were thinking about the future in the year 1953. The book itself was based off of a conference held by eleven highly competent individuals, each speaking on a different topic and using the past to extrapolate the condition of
This book is a great way to look into the past while thinking of the present and looking toward the future. It is an easy read, designed so that average people who are not intimately involved with any of these fields can understand the message the book is giving. It also provides the reader with insight into the history of each field of study and an understanding of current trends. One drawback to the piece is that there is not a lot of cohesion between topics. This does not lend itself well to a deeper investigation of past events and future trends connections between fields. It is hard for me to imagine a connection between Mutual Insurance, Psychology, and the effect that either of these topics will have on each other in the future. For a reader who is only looking for an overview of one specific topic, however, this book is a great asset. (Jessica Kingsley)
Duders, James J. and Ferris Womack. 2003. The Future of the
Kevin Bonsor. 1998-2005. How Anti-matter Spacecraft Will Work howstuffworks.com. This is a very interesting article about a new type of space propulsion Nasa is planning to build within the next couple decades. Using a modified version of Einstein's famous equation E=mc^2 to incorperate a negative value for "m", we have discovered that it is possible to have "anti-matter", which has the same properties as normal matter, just an exactly opposite charge. Examples would be positrons, which are electrons with positive charges, and anti-protons, or protons with negative charges. The masses of these subatomic particles are as normal, and when combined correctly create anti-matter, so far in the form of hydrogen, which has lasted a whole 40 nanoseconds. The idea is that when you combine matter and anti-matter, 100% of the mass is changed into energy in the form of an explosion at the speed of light, which could be harnessed with magnetic fields into a source of thrust which would propell a ship far faster than conventional combustion propulsion. (James Nelson)
IBM Research, 1995, Quantum Teleportation. An online summary of the research done by IBM starting in the early 90's on how to move a particle from point A to point B without moving through the space inbetween. Six scientists discovered how to "teleport" photons by scanning the photon with enough precision as to reconstruct it exactly at the point of arrival, effectively moving the photon without actually making the photon move. It is admitted that it is extemely unlikely that we'll see this technology ready for use with living organisms in our forseeable future, but could someday be possible. This article is a little tough to follow because of the physics involved in the topic, but was very fasinating. (James Nelson)
Mayor, Federico and Binde, Jerome. The World Ahead: Our Future in the Making. Zed Books Ltd. A comprehensive work on the issues that confront society as a whole in the 21st century. Many issues are examined including population, water supply, women's rights, education, and the economic divide. Each subject is looked at in some depth with constasting views from different experts. Solutions are then offered, however they are not extremely overt. Excellant book that discusses many of the issues that face the world today and into the future. A worthwhile read that is written in a style that is fairly easy to read yet descriptive in nature. [Jason]
Toma, J. Douglas. Football U: Spectator Sports in the Life of the American University. The University of Michigan Press. This book examines the effect spectator sports, particularly football, have had on universities in the U.S. While primarily discussing historical events and present facts the author does project into the future. This projection seems to be nothing more then an extension of history. While the book may hold some value in understanding the culture surrounding collegiate sports it does not focus alot of effort into probabilistic analysis. [Jason]
Predictions for Business Intellegence Future, by Mitch Betts, ComputerWorld.com, June 21, 2004. Computer World asked twenty one leading business figures for their predictions about business intellegence and technology. The predictions ranged up to five years in the future, and encompassed fields from image recognition technology, to small mobile technologies, to AI's handling the flow of data and information for businesses altogether. This was a very interesting collection of ideas from CEO's and corporate leaders around the world, and is definately worth a look, especially for business students. (James Nelson)