Sex-Selective Abortion Becoming More Common and Widespread in India

India_No_Country_For_Little_Girls

A government’s advertisement billboard in support of baby girls in Morena, India.

The practice of aborting female fetuses if they don’t yet have a male child is becoming more common and widespread among couples in India, according to a new study.

 

Continue reading… “Sex-Selective Abortion Becoming More Common and Widespread in India”

The Facebook Generation Gap

facebook

People in their 20’s have 50 times more friends on Facebook than people over 50 years old.

 The ‘Facebook generation gap’ has been highlighted in a new piece of research which shows that the average 22 year-old claims to have 1,000 or more friends on sites like Facebook compared to those in their fifties who have fewer than 20.

 

Continue reading… “The Facebook Generation Gap”

Teachers Are Helping Students Learn with the Help of Twitter

education and twitter

Twitter has become an important forum for teachers.

Teachers are bringing the real-time communication power of Twitter into the classroom to help students learn.  It’s great for helping teachers learn as well. Twitter has simply become one of the best places for teachers to collaborate, share solutions to common classroom problems, and discuss education policy. In fact, it might just be the best forum teachers have ever had.

 

Continue reading… “Teachers Are Helping Students Learn with the Help of Twitter”

The Future of Libraries: Interview with Thomas Frey

Future-Library-984

Libraries in the future will come in many different forms

NOTE: The following is a reprint of an interview that recently appeared in American Libraries Magazine

Without consulting a crystal ball, Thomas Frey, executive director and senior futurist at the DaVinci Institute, writes and speaks about a promising future for those libraries strongly connected to their communities and quickly adaptable to the changing world around them. Tom Sloan, executive director of the DuPage Library System in Geneva, Illinois, asked Frey to discuss the future of libraries.

 

 

Continue reading… “The Future of Libraries: Interview with Thomas Frey”

Education as an App

Albert-Einstein-2

Futurist Thomas Frey:  In March of 2007 I posted my original paper on the Future of Education where I talked about a system based on an iTunes-like approach where experts around the world could use a “rapid courseware-builder” to produce bite-sized courses, send them to a global distribution center, and students from around world could plug-in and learn whatever class matched their interests.

 

Continue reading… “Education as an App”

The Urgency Paradox

The-Urgency-Paradox-939

As people live longer, some aspects of life are beginning to slow down

Futurist Thomas Frey:  Tick, tick, tick. For virtually all working people, there is a clock ticking in the background. Tick, tick, tick.

Much like the rhythm of a beating heart, the sound of time creates a rhythm for our lives, a world unfolding in iambic pentameter, pulsing to the tempo of life.

 

Continue reading… “The Urgency Paradox”

Where is My Flying Car?

Before-flying-cars___-124

First things first. Before we can have flying cars,
we will need to go through the era of flying delivery drones

Futurist Thomas Frey:  Imagine yourself in 2030, 20 years in the future, sitting in your living room watching your favorite show on a 3D holographic display, and you witness a product placement scene where someone is eating one of the best pizzas you’ve ever seen. The depiction is so lifelike and intense that you instantly start craving pizza, and simply utter the word “yes.”

 

Continue reading… “Where is My Flying Car?”

The Alternative Transportation District

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaJs-SbCQ1c&feature=player_embedded[/youtube]

Short video clip about the opportunities associated
with creating an alternative transportation district.
Recorded at the Plan Fort Collins event on March 3, 2010

Futurist Thomas Frey:  Over the past few years I have been carefully watching what has turned into an explosion of alternative transportation vehicles being developed all over the world. These vehicles include everything from electric and fuel cell scooters, to hybrid motorcycles, to electric skateboards, to turbo-wheelchairs, to dog-powered bikes, to Segways and Segway knockoffs.

 

Continue reading… “The Alternative Transportation District”

World’s Smallest 3D Printer

3d printer

Markus Hatzenbichler and Klaus Stadlmann with their micro-printer.

A group of engineers at the Vienna Institute of Technology, claims they’ve created not only the world’s smallest 3-D printer, but also one that’s so light and inexpensive that it could conceivably pave the way for truly domestic 3-D printing. Lost an earring or a cuff-link? Print one out. That’s the future, and it might not be far off at all.

 

Continue reading… “World’s Smallest 3D Printer”

Reinventing Sales Tax

Store-Owner-465

Sales tax is a a system that is now on the verge of collapse

Futurist Thomas Frey:  As a general rule, extreme levels of complexity take a significant toll on society. The price we pay for complexity is far greater than the money involved. With upwards of 90,000 separate taxing districts in the U.S. sales tax has become an overly complicated system deeply entrenched in the fabric of society, but woefully out of touch with the times.

 

Continue reading… “Reinventing Sales Tax”

Discover the Hidden Patterns of Tomorrow with Futurist Thomas Frey
Unlock Your Potential, Ignite Your Success.

By delving into the futuring techniques of Futurist Thomas Frey, you’ll embark on an enlightening journey.

Learn More about this exciting program.