What Will Tomorrow Bring? Questions About The Future

The September issue of Scientific American is a special issue featuring 

9 Key Questions About Our Future.  

Though not comprehensive, they cover a lot of good territory. 

3. Who will prosper and who will fall behind?

6. Will we defeat aging?

Question seven is a direct outgrowth of six:

8. How Long Will We Last?

I like that last question. Can we trust our own predictions? The more you read, the more you can find people on both sides of nearly any prediction. Whether it's the Super Bowl or this weekend's weather, you are going to find disagreements, even when looking at the same facts. Whether its technology, economies, politics, ethics, agriculture, energy, or travel into outer space, there are too many variables to make a clean prediction. We've been hearing about technological change, environmental threats, overpopulation and dwindling resources all our lives, however old you are. My gut tells me that one thing is especially evident. As a species we're not very good at getting along. 

It's been said that the future belongs to those who prepare for it. Part of our own personal preparation is to ask ourselves a few additional questions. We may not have a lot of influence over the big things, but there are still many other things we do have control over. 

Here's another set of "big questions" for pondering, from a different angle. As someone once famously quipped, when all is said and done, there's usually more said than done. 

What do you think? I'm guessing that if we're still here, we'll see what happens. Que sera sera.

Ennyman is a Life Under Construction. Writer, artist, philosopher, friend... visit www.ennyman.com to put your mind at e's.