Back from the Future

WorldFuture 2008 has come to an end, and the first couple of videos are now posted.

The first is from the Q&A during the opening plenary session, during which business futurist Edie Weiner gave a presentation on why the world is NOT flat yet. (Audio from the entire session will be available from the World Future Society soon; please check back.)

Edie Weiner, The Truth About Diversity


The second video is from the closing plenary session. Michael Marien, long-time editor of Future Survey, receives the distinguished service award from World Future Society President Tim Mack. Marien will step down from FS by the end of this year after having been the sole editor of the newsletter since 1979, a position he describes as "unsupervised play."

Michael Marien, World Future Society Distinguished Service


Thanks to all those who worked so hard to put the conference together, the meeting went smoothly. The Meet the Editors session for FUTURIST staff was a lot of fun (no tomatoes thrown!) and there was a lot of interaction throughout the meeting.

Since this IS a personal blog, I'll mention a couple of personal things...

During the Future of Men session, I was soooo tempted to raise my hand when speakers Amy Oberg and Joe Bourland of the Kimberly-Clark Corporation sought an archetype of the future adaptive male with the nurturing/caring skills necessary for the service economy. (Archetypes of males of the past included Steve McQueen and Fred MacMurray, and the two archetypes of the present confused male are the Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer characters on Two and a Half Men.)

Yes, I would have said UNICEF ambassador and inclusion-advocate Clay Aiken, but unfortunately, through no fault of his own, his name is something of a punchline these days. Eh, whatever. He's a long-termer. I'll save my thesis on why he's a perfect futurist for another blog, but there was a short article on him in Futurist Update awhile back.

Speaking of future men, I'd like to thank the sweet fellow who paid me a nice compliment at the end of the meeting. Sorry he ran away so fast. Are we future females all that scary?

Love, hosaa
futuring and trying to figure it all out

Olympians - On Their Way

I've been watching the Olympics since I was a kid and am always so moved by human achievement and perseverence. This tribute includes some vintage clips found on YouTube, set to Clay Aiken's song "On My Way Here." Enjoy!

love, hosaa

Somalia's Children

Education and children's advocate Clay Aiken recently returned from a Unicef mission to Somalia to observe and report on the status of children in this "forgotten" country, "one of the poorest and most volatile countries in the world."

He reports on his mission in the UnicefUSA field notes blog. He writes:

One of the most incredible things I learned on my trip is that there are only 350 doctors left in the entire country, mostly because of the violence and insecurity. And many of these doctors are older than the average life expectancy in Somalia, which is only 45. I can't help but wonder, what is going to happen in a couple of years when there are no more doctors? What will happen to the children who struggle to survive?

Read more on how Unicef is helping in that struggle to survive: UNICEF Seeks Emergency Support for Somalia's Undernourished Children.

















Clay Aiken in Somalia. Photo by Denise Shepherd-Johnson, UnicefUSA