. Earth Science News .
ABOUT US
Study predicts women in power, Muslims heading West

by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) Oct 17, 2010
In the next 40 years, an unprecedented number of women will be in positions of power, Muslim immigration to the West will rise, and office workers will be unchained from their cubicles, a report released last week says.

South America will see sustained economic growth and the Middle East will become "a tangle of religions, sects and ethnicities," says the report by Toffler Associates, a consultancy set up by the author of the 1970s blockbuster "Future Shock."

Toffler Associates released its predictions for the next 40 years to mark the 40th anniversary of "Future Shock," in which author Alvin Toffler studied the 1970s to see what would happen in the future.

His prognosis 40 years ago was that technology and science would develop at such an accelerated pace that many people would be unable to process the enormous amounts of new information available and would disconnect from life.

Some of "Future Shock's" prognoses have come true, including that news would travel around the world instantly, that same-sex couples would wed and raise families, and that violence and environmental disasters would increase and have broad consequences -- like the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

So it might be worth paying heed to what Toffler Associates foresees for the next 40 years, including container ships getting larger to meet increasing demand for faster, cheaper delivery of goods, and the Suez and Panama Canals being "improved."

They envision more and more people growing their own food to reduce their dependence on large manufacturers and distributors, and the proliferation of high-speed Internet and low-cost video-conferencing freeing office workers from their cubicles and working from anywhere in the world.

Only a very small number of states will continue to behave as "rogue" nations, Toffler Associates says, naming North Korea and Iran.

"A true test for political leaders will be in how they handle relationships with these nations and to what extent they allow them to control geo-political agendas," the consultancy says.

China will position itself as a global economic power, allying with Brazil and India to influence currency use and with Venezuela and African nations to ensure its energy needs are met.

The United States, meanwhile, will depend on China for 17 rare earth metals that are essential to produce everything from weapons components to radars to wind turbines and hybrid cars.

The development of alternative energy forms will create "losers in a post-petroleum world" including Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, several Gulf states, Russia and Venezuela, the report says.

Christianity will rise rapidly in the global South, while Muslims will migrate in increasing numbers to the West, where their presence will reshape public attitudes and government policies.

Climate change will fuel conflict as melting sea ice exposes mineral wealth and oil fields in the Arctic and as rising sea levels force large populations from their homes.

An aging population will cause spending on long-term care services for the elderly to nearly quadruple by 2050, and social security and Medicare, the US health insurance for the elderly, will cease to "exist as we know them," Toffler managing partner Deborah Westphal told AFP.

"We don't know what will replace them; we just know that we will be in a different type of society with different types of people and different needs," she said.

As for women, they will take on leadership positions around the globe at a never-before-seen rate, as countries realize "you can't be successful with just 50 percent of the population participating in decision-making," Westphal said.

And in the next 40 years, information-gathering will speed up even more as the world enters the Petabyte Age, Toffler Associates predicts.

Petabytes -- which are 10-to-the-15th-power bytes, or measures of computer files, hard disk space, and memory -- are used today only to measure the storage space of multiple hard drives or collections of data.

Between now and 2050, measuring data in petabytes will become the norm, and so will data saturation, Toffler Associates predicts.



Share This Article With Planet Earth
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit
YahooMyWebYahooMyWeb GoogleGoogle FacebookFacebook



Related Links
All About Human Beings and How We Got To Be Here



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


ABOUT US
Research Suggests Volcanoes Nixed Neanderthals
Chicago Il (SPX) Oct 13, 2010
New research suggests that climate change following massive volcanic eruptions drove Neanderthals to extinction and cleared the way for modern humans to thrive in Europe and Asia. The research, led by Liubov Vitaliena Golovanova and Vladimir Borisovich Doronichev of the ANO Laboratory of Prehistory in St. Petersburg, Russia, is reported in the October issue of Current Anthropology. " ... read more







ABOUT US
Chile miners return to Camp Hope

China web users slam nation's mine safety amid Chile rescue

Malnourished Pakistani flood children face winter peril

Pakistan flood damage 9.7 billion dollars: World Bank, ADB

ABOUT US
Polymer Behaviors Below The 1 Nanometer Level

Historic computer replica proposed

India seeks 'cool jacket' design to help hot labourers

Tablet computer sales to hit 208 million in 2014

ABOUT US
Land Evapotranspiration Taking Unexpected Turn For Worse

Corals Show Ocean Temperature Boundary Rising With Climate Change

Mekong countries should delay dam projects for decade: study

US lifts Gulf of Mexico deepwater drilling ban

ABOUT US
Crew circles North Pole in one summer

Study: Glaciers protected Antarctic range

Himalayan climate change action urged

Disappearing Glaciers Enhanced Biodiversity

ABOUT US
Scientists Prepare For Confined Field Trials Of Drought Tolerant Transgenic Maize

UN expert calls for farming changes

States rip apart EU bid to fix GM crops mess

U.N. hails eradication of a cattle disease

ABOUT US
Super typhoon roars towards Philippines

Eleven dead in southern Russia flash flood: official

NASA Study Of Haiti Quake Yields Surprising Results

Cuba on storm alert as Hurricane Paula approaches

ABOUT US
Niger holds three officers for plot against regime

Ethiopia signs peace agreement with rebel faction

HRW calls on DRCongo to arrest former rebel, now general

Niger's number two junta leader arrested: military

ABOUT US
Study predicts women in power, Muslims heading West

Baby born from embryo frozen 19 years

'Missing link' fossil debated by science

Research Suggests Volcanoes Nixed Neanderthals


The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2010 - SpaceDaily. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement