NATO - Virtual Reality State of Military Research and Applications in Member Countries (2003)
Abstract
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NIC - Global Trends. Mapping the Global Future 2020 Project (2004)
Info
At no time since the formation of the Western alliance system in 1949
have the shape and nature of international alignments been in such a
state of flux. The end of the Cold War shifted the tectonic plates, but
the repercussions from these momentous events are still unfolding.
Emerging powers in Asia, retrenchment in Eurasia, a roiling Middle East,
and transatlantic divisions are among the issues that have only come to
a head in recent years. The very magnitude and speed of change
resulting from a globalizing world—apart from its precise character—will
be a defining feature of the world out to 2020. Other significant
characteristics include: the rise of new powers, new challenges to
governance, and a more pervasive sense of insecurity, including
terrorism. As we map the future, the prospects for increasing global
prosperity and the limited likelihood of great power conflict provide an
overall favorable environment for coping with what are otherwise
daunting challenges. The role of the United States will be an important
variable in how the world is shaped, influencing the path that states
and
nonstate actors choose to follow.
NIU - A World Emerging from Pandemic: Implications for Intelligence and National Security (2022)
Info
This edited volume explores how the COVID pandemic has impacted-and will continue to impact-the U.S. Intelligence Community. Authors from multiple disciplines probe the ways in which pandemic-associated conditions interact with national security problem sets. This work presents evidence-based, qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods analyses so their projections can be tested against future conditions. This project is the result of a cooperative effort between National Intelligence University and the Pentagon’s Joint Staff Strategic Multilayer Assessment office.
US Department of Defense - Operation Northwoods (Unclassified, 1962)
Info
Operation Northwoods was a proposed false flag operation against American citizens that originated within the US Department of Defense of the United States government in 1962. The proposals called for CIA operatives to both stage and commit acts of violent terrorism against American military and civilian targets, blaming them on the Cuban government, and using it to justify a war against Cuba. The possibilities detailed in the document included the remote control of civilian aircraft which would be secretly repainted as US Air Force planes, a fabricated 'shoot down' of a US Air Force fighter aircraft off the coast of Cuba, the possible assassination of Cuban immigrants, sinking boats of Cuban refugees on the high seas, blowing up a U.S. ship, and orchestrating terrorism in U.S. cities. The proposals were rejected by President John F. Kennedy.
Richard A. Slaughter - Futures Beyond Dystopia Creating Social Foresight (2004)
Book Description
How can dystopian futures help provide the motivation to change the ways we operate day to day?
Futures Beyond Dystopia
takes the view that the dominant trends in the world suggest a
long-term decline into unliveable Dystopian futures. The human prospect
is therefore very challenging, yet the perception of dangers and
dysfunctions is the first step towards dealing with them. The motivation
to avoid future dangers is matched by the human need to create plans
and move forward. These twin motivations can be very powerful and help
to stimulate the fields of Futures Studies and Applied Foresight.
This analysis of current Futures practice is split into six sections:
* The Case Against Hegemony
* Expanding and Deepening a Futures Frame
* Futures Studies and the Integral Agenda
* Social Learning through Applied Foresight
* Strategies and Outlooks
* The Dialectic of Foresight and Experience.
This
fascinating book will stimulate anyone involved in Futures work around
the world and will challenge practitioners and others to re-examine many
of their assumptions, methodologies and practices.
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RAND - The future of warfare in 2030 (2020)
Preface
Where will the next war occur? Who will fight in it? Why will it occur? How will it be fought? Researchers with RAND Project AIR FORCE’s Strategy and Doctrine Program attempted to answer these questions about the future of warfare—specifically, those conflicts that will drive a U.S. and U.S. Air Force response—by examining the key geopolitical, economic, environmental, geographic, legal, informational, and military trends that will shape the contours of conflict between now and 2030. This report is one of a series that grew out of this effort.
Royal Society - Human Enhancement and the Future of Work (2012)
Summary
Human enhancement and the future of work summarises technological advancements that could dramatically change how people work over the next decade. These technologies, such as cognitive enhancing drugs, bionic limbs and retinal implants, affect various human capacities such as memory, hearing and mobility. The report explores how, although human enhancement technologies might aid society, their use could raise serious ethical, philosophical, regulatory and economic issues that will need further consideration.
Chapters
1 Introduction
2 Cognitive enhancement
3 Physical enhancement
4 Commercialisation opportunities and challenges
5 Potential implications for the future of work
6 Policy and regulatory implications
7 Conclusion
Annex I Workshop programme
Annex II Steering committee membership
Annex III Workshop participants
Glossary
Rudolf Steiner - An Outline of Occult Science (1910)
Info
Steiner explains his understanding of the occult world.
Chapters
- Preface to the Fourth Edition
- Author's Remarks To First Edition
- Chapter I. The Character of Occult Science
- Chapter II. The Nature of Man
- Chapter III. Sleep and Death
- Chapter IV. The Evolution of the World and Man
- Chapter V. Knowledge of the Higher Worlds
- Chapter VI. The Present and Future Evolution of the World
and of Humanity
- Chapter VII. Details from the Domain of Occult Science
Man's Etheric Body
ScMI - New Global Scenarios: World Economy, Power Shift and Global Architectures (2022)
Foreword
The Western World and the European Union in particular are currently challenged by a multitude of crises: The Russian war against Ukraine, climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, the energy crisis, migration, international terrorism, the decline of traditionally dominant geopolitical powers and the deterioration of the rule of law. More than ever, it is necessary to prepare for the future by assessing possible future scenarios of how the global economy and the future world order might look like.
National Science Foundation: Special Commission On W.M. - Weather and Climate Modificaton (1965)
Info
Twenty years ago General Electric Company scientists Irving Langmuir and Vincent Schaefer modified clouds by "seeding" them with dry ice pellets. Not long afterward Bernard Vonnegut, a co-worker, demonstrated that a smoke of silver iodide crystals would accomplish the same result. This was the beginning of the modern American history of weather and climate modification through cloud seeding. These American scientists on November 13, 1946, had verified experimentally the theory advanced in 1933 by the Swedish meteorologist, Tor Bergeron, and the German physicist, Walter Findeisen, that clouds would precipitate if they contained the right mixture of ice crystals and supercooled water drops. The Bergeron-Findeisen theory was antedated by the work of the Dutch scientist, August Veraart. The enthusiastic reports by Veraart of his 1930 experiments with dry ice and supercooled water-ice in Holland were not well received by the Dutch scientific community, and thus were given no serious consideration elsewhere. Weather and climate modification, or "rainmaking" (the more popular and also more restricted concept), is not new to our era or to our country. Many traditional societies, including the American Indians, have practiced some type of religious or ritualistic rainmaking. The ceremonials and rituals have varied from dousing holy men with water to burying children up to their necks in the ground in the hope that the gods would be sympathetic and drop tears from the heav ens. These ceremonies are not only to induce some form of desirable weather but also to reinforce the tribal religious beliefs and opinions which maintain social unity. Through ancient and modern times many methods have been proposed and attempted to induce or to aid rainfall. Two U. S. Government patents on methods of rainmaking were issued before the turn of the 20th century based, respectively, upon the production of carbon dioxide by expending "liquified carbonic acid gas" and upon concussion by the detonation of explosives. Interestingly enough the long since expired patent, based on the production of carbon dioxide in the form of dry ice, anticipated the cloud seeders of today.
Stanley Milgram - The Small-World Problem (1967)
Info
Milgram's experiment was conceived in an era when a number of independent threads were converging on the idea that the world is becoming increasingly interconnected. Michael Gurevich had conducted seminal work in his empirical study of the structure of social networks in his MIT doctoral dissertation under Pool. Mathematician Manfred Kochen, an Austrian who had been involved in statist urban design, extrapolated these empirical results in a mathematical manuscript, Contacts and Influences, concluding that, in an American-sized population without social structure, "it is practically certain that any two individuals can contact one another by means of at least two intermediaries. In a [socially] structured population it is less likely but still seems probable. And perhaps for the whole world's population, probably only one more bridging individual should be needed." They subsequently constructed Monte Carlo simulations based on Gurevich's data, which recognized that both weak and strong acquaintance links are needed to model social structure. The simulations, running on the slower computers of 1973, were limited, but still were able to predict that a more realistic three degrees of separation existed across the U.S. population, a value that foreshadowed the findings of Milgram.
Milgram revisited Gurevich's experiments in acquaintanceship networks when he conducted a highly publicized set of experiments beginning in 1967 at Harvard University. One of Milgram's most famous works is a study of obedience and authority, which is widely known as the Milgram Experiment.Milgram's earlier association with Pool and Kochen was the likely source of his interest in the increasing interconnectedness among human beings. Gurevich's interviews served as a basis for his small world experiments.
Tarde Gabriel - The Laws of Imitation (1890)
Info
According to Tarde, these laws of imitation are universal laws that apply not only to the social sciences but also to the natural sciences (the living world and physical phenomena). Thus imitation is the main element in social cohesiveness (there are two others: opposition and adaptation). Society is not defined by the economic criterion (or law) of utility (mutual exchange of services) and division of labour but by the criterion (or law) of imitation. It is made up of individuals who resemble each other because they imitate (or counter-imitate) each other.
Info
The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2010 marks the 40th year of the organization, which was founded in 1971 as the European Management Forum. In January that year, the first European Management Symposium was held in Davos, Switzerland. In 1987, the European Management Forum was renamed the World Economic Forum and the European Management Symposium became the Annual Meeting, reflecting the expansion of the Forum’s scope and focus.
Through the years, numerous business, government and civil society leaders have made their way to the Swiss Alpine resort, the perfect venue for a gathering to consider the major global issues of the day and to brainstorm on solutions to address these challenges. The Annual Meeting has also been a critical platform for furthering peace and reconciliation in many parts of the world, promoting understanding between East and West, introducing emerging economies such as China and India to the international community, and bringing to the forefront the latest trends and developments in every field – from information technology to global security, from architecture to philanthropy.
Davos has been a place where incipient changes in the world are first discerned and where ideas for changes that have shaken the world have been conceived or refined. What has never changed since its beginning is the Forum’s dedication to collaboration among stakeholders, the steadfast adherence to high-level participation of leaders sharing the Forum’s commitment to improving the state of the world, and the Forum’s trust in the power of dialogue and exchange based on mutual respect and civility to bridge divides and shape actionable solutions to global challenges. While many global institutions are notable for the breadth of nations or the powerful political leaders attending their gatherings, the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting and indeed all the activities and initiatives of the Forum around the world are distinguished by the active participation of government, business and civil society figures, both the most experienced and the most promising, all working together in the collaborative and collegial Spirit of Davos. This book provides a year-by-year summary of the highlights of the four decades of the World Economic Forum. For the most part, it tells the Forum’s story through the eyes of its members, the participants in its activities, and its leadership, as well as through media reports. What is clear from this compilation of impressions, insights and memories is that the Forum has evolved from a modest yet groundbreaking attempt to bring European corporate managers and their stakeholders together to discuss business strategies into an organization that today is widely regarded as the world’s foremost multistakeholder platform for addressing the most pressing issues on the global agenda.
UNESCO - Impact of Science On Society: Weapons of Science | Civilization's Pitfall (1981)
Info
The Economic and Social Council of the United Nations has recommended that measures be taken by the United Nations Specialized Agencies to publicize and condemn the growing trend among Member States to arm for war. The United Nations is especially concerned about the calls made on science and technology to aid and abet the process of armament. The present issue of this journal is offered so that its readers can better understand how scientific research and technical innovation are increasingly diverted to reinforce the ability of some nations to wage warfare with more means than are needed for self-defence.
Info
This paper proposes research and development aimed at total encapsulation of an individual who fights on foot, predicated upon integrating a powered exoskeleton into his battle dress to augment load-bearing capability, a personal computer networked with those of fellow combatants, and full body protection against ballistic, chemical, thermal, and directed energy threats. Fielded first would be a simulation of the eventual battle dress--termed ST, for SuperTroop--which could give individual combatants a portal into Advanced Distributed Simulation--called I-Port. I-Port would then be used to explore the requirements for the exoskeleton, for the personal processor, for the integrated displays and control mechanisms, and for the protective and homeostatic subsystems. I-Port would also produce parametric data on the man-machine interface essential to proceeding with confidence into hardware design and construction. To test the utility of ST/I-Port, Operation JUST CAUSE in Panama is analyzed, with the conclusion that the availability of ST/I-Port equipment might have lowered operational costs and increased force effectiveness. A development program, with the DARPA in the lead, is described.
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