Services 2020

[I forget which dimension this goes in...]

Building infrastructure does not produce economic growth unless there is already a skilled workforce and an expanding private sector to exploit it. Job creation schemes are expensive, require continuing support and tend to divert jobs from elsewhere rather than create new ones. Worse than the waste, these regional economic development programs can prevent money from going where it is both needed and able to contribute to economic growth - in Australia's fast-growing or `bolting' regions.

"We still have emissions rising and we need to get that trajectory turned around. We need to get investment shifted to clean energy sources and low emission transport," he told The Conversation. If we don't get it going this decade, you get an impossibly tough task to achieve the two degree target. It will be exceptionally costly and probably impossible to roll out infrastructure fast enough (in future)."

"The world's largest emerging economies on Tuesday slammed Europe's push to lock up the International Monetary Fund's top job, calling its hold on the managing director position "obsolete.""

this is connected to panoptic and cyber civ

Did you have a look at the "We live in public" video link.... v. interesting. Great idea that we are all big brother...

"The Metaverse Assembled issue features the best papers from the SLACTIONS 2009 conference, as well as, peer reviewed articles sumbitted directly to the Journal. The metaverse is emerging, through the increasing use of virtual world technologies that act as platforms for end-users to create, develop, and interact, expanding the realm of human cooperation, interaction, and creativity. This issue focuses on applications and developments of metaverse platforms, including: Second Life, OpenSim, Open Croquet, Activeworlds, Open Source Metaverse, Project Wonderland, among others., and seeks the best papers examining the integration of metaverse platforms with external systems, integration of platforms, GIS/metaverse mash-ups, and using metaverse platforms for cooperation. "

"The phenomenon of consumer co-creation is often framed in terms of whether either economic market forces or socio-cultural non-market forces ultimately dominate. We propose an alternate model of consumer co-creation in terms of co-evolution between markets and non-markets. Our model is based on a recent ethnographic study of a massively multiplayer online game through its development, release and ultimate failure, and is cast in terms of two explanatory models: multiple games and social network markets. We conclude that consumer co-creation is indeed complex, but in ways that relate to both emergent market expectations and the evolution of markets, not to the transcendence of markets. "

"Whether you're raising money, organizing people, or trying to influence change: if you can't do it alone, you can do it on The Point."

Maybe this is a kind of thing we should think about...

Kevin Kelly on Richard Florida's new book about why where you live is important.

Summary of a WikiLeaks story that the Saudis have been over-stating their oil reserves and some thoughts on why it go neglected by mainstream media.

"As Surowiecki explained, certain conditions must be met for crowd wisdom to emerge. Members of the crowd ought to have a variety of opinions, and to arrive at those opinions independently. Take those away, and crowd intelligence fails, as evidenced in some market bubbles. Computer modeling of crowd behavior also hints at dynamics underlying crowd breakdowns, with he balance between information flow and diverse opinions becoming skewed." I thought this might have implications both for Delphi methods in general and for our crowd work specifically.

It's an idea that most of us would rather not face -- that within the next century, life as we know it could come to an end. Our civilization could crumble, leaving only traces of modern human existence behind. It seems outlandish, extreme -- even impossible. But according to cutting edge scientific research, it is a very real possibility. And unless we make drastic changes now, it could very well happen. Experts have a stark warning: that unless we change course, the "perfect storm" of population growth, dwindling resources and climate change has the potential to converge in the next century with catastrophic results.

Report Being Human ; Human-computer interaction in the year 2020

Beyond the Tipping Point?' is a documentary film about climate, action and the future. It is a free resource for groups to provoke discussion and open up debate. ..Imagining the Future, Acting in the Present: a day of debate and reflection on climate change, ethics and belief for students 

"People sense the world is passing through a Technology Revolution but they lack good information. We pool the knowledge of 100 experts to forecast breakthroughs for corporations, governments and others in real time. TechCast was cited by the National Academies, featured in Newsweek and the Washington Post, and recognized as possibly the best forecasting system in the world. "

Then the entered are combined with the statistics and the user gets a statistical outlook on his future. He learns about the average life expectancy of his generation, the consequences of his smoking habits and the potential of a cancer-diagnosis. Also he learns how big the probability is of getting married and at what age. 

Future generator from London underground -

Keep a gratitude journal. Write down and record what you are grateful for, and then when you need to reaffirm your good lot in life, look back on the journal.Remember the bad. If you do not remind yourself of what it was like to be sick, unemployed, or heartbroken, you will be less likely to appreciate health, your job, or your relationship.Ask yourself three questions every evening. Fill in the blanks with the name of a person (or persons) in your life. What have I received from ___? What have I given to ___? What troubles and difficulty have I caused ___?Learn prayers of gratitude. One Emmons suggests in his book from the Buddhist teacher Thich Nhat Hanh: Waking up this morning, I see the blue sky. I join my hands in thanks; for the many wonders of life; for having 24 brand-new hours before me.Appreciate your senses. One approach: Practice breathing exercises.Use visual reminders. For example, Emmons has a refrigerator magnet in his home bearing this quote from Eleanor Roosevelt: "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is mystery … today is a gift."Make a vow to practice gratitude. "Swearing a vow to perform a behavior actually does increase the likelihood that the action will be executed," the psychologist notes.Watch your language: It influences how you think about the world.Go through the motions. Research shows that emotions can follow behavior.Be creative. Look for new situations and opportunities in which to feel grateful, especially when things are not going well.Though he practices these techniques, Emmons acknowledges that maintaining an attitude of thanksgiving is hard work even for him."Most psychologists study what they're bad at," he says.

Convergence Emergence sharing knowledge and developing knowledge about emerging communications and media - Linked from "Open Foresight"

super find, we need to network with this guy