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FutureSource

Dec 16, 2013

Beyond the Horizon: Understanding the Future for Better Development Today

By Kathleen Mogelgaard

On December 17, 2013 the Atlantic Council’s Strategic Foresight Initiative of the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security, in partnership with the US Agency for International Development and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, will host the launch of the highly anticipated book The Future Can’t Wait (PDF). Read on for an a preview […]

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Dec 13, 2013

Harnessing Disruption to Move Forward with Biotech

By Dina Fine Maron

As biotechnology evolves, it’s easier to imagine a future where a steak dinner would be produced in the laboratory and cell parts are replicated via 3-D printer. Scientific American is constantly exploring these frontlines of science and innovation. And this week I moderated a thought-provoking panel exploring how biotech and ICT (information and communications technology) may reshape the […]

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Dec 9, 2013

Tech Horror Film or American Renaissance?

By Mathew J. Burrows

“…Once it may have been hard to buy the swift collapse of order that is made palpably real in ‘Contagion,’ if Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath had not already set the stage. ..Yet what’s really scary in “Contagion” is how fast once-humming airports and offices, homes and cities empty out when push comes to shove comes to […]

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Dec 9, 2013

Will US Seize Opportunities of the Third Industrial Revolution?

By Banning Garrett

The United States could emerge as one of the biggest winners from the Third Industrial Revolution (TIR). The US is the overall leader in the development and deployment of the new technologies and innovations of the TIR. Its other advantages include relatively cheap and available energy resulting from the unconventional gas revolution in the United […]

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Dec 9, 2013

Will the Third Industrial Revolution Create More Jobs than It Kills?

By Banning Garrett

Is the Third Industrial Revolution likely to destroy more jobs than it creates, or will the new technology powering the this revolution lead to creation of more new jobs than those are eliminated, as technology has done throughout history? Will the trend toward increasing concentration of wealth at the top continue as well? There are […]

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Dec 7, 2013

Can We Harness Disruption to Improve Our World’s Future?

By Mariette DiChristina

At Scientific American, we take it as a given that science and technology form a key underpinning for human advancement. But all anybody needs to do to be convinced about their importance is to scan today’s headlines about pressing global concerns of our finite world. Consider, for instance, the coming food-water-energy crisis, the ongoing transformation of […]

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Dec 6, 2013

Robots: Out of the Factory and Into Our Lives

By Banning Garrett

While 3D printing is changing the when, where and how of things are made in the Third Industrial Revolution (TIR), the new robotics is enhancing productivity and changing the role of humans in the production process and the overall economy. The development of a new generation of robots that are easier to program and are […]

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Dec 6, 2013

Digitizing Life: The New Frontier

By Banning Garrett

Synthetic biology and bioengineering are an emerging factor in the Third Industrial Revolution (TIR), building on the convergence of a wide range of technologies leading to development of new, previously unimaginable technological capabilities. While there are a huge number of potentially beneficial products of the synbio revolution, there are also growing concerns about the potential […]

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Dec 5, 2013

From Start-ups to Space Exploration

By Banning Garrett

The Revolutionary Impact of 3D Printing The Economist has hailed 3D printing (3DP) as the foundation of the Third Industrial Revolution. 3D printing is a process of layering to make things rather than carving them out of pieces of material. Although the basic 3D printing technology was invented three decades ago, it has reached a […]

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Dec 4, 2013

An Emerging Third Industrial Revolution

By Banning Garrett

 Politicians and policymakers understandably focus almost exclusively on near-term problems and crises. They often operate in reactive mode as hotspots and domestic political pressures set priorities. But their “global operating environment” (GOE) is rapidly changing, often in ways that affect national security challenges and choices in the present as well as in the future. To […]

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