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B LACK HISTORY^MONTH
Cybervisions For A Greater
Black Community
B y P aul M c D onald
At 6 years old, my father started
teaching me how to read using
notes and symbols that my grand
father created in 1888. It was
about creating a town and organi
zation that would liberate the
Black community that was just
out of slavery. Grandfather was a
progressive, 20th century thinker
for his time that created the ideas
behind Black Wall Street, Rose
wood (in Florida) and other places.
Both my father and grandfa
ther were self-proclaimed Futur
ists. Like them, I began looking
at how to create a parallel world
where there was no Suprem e
Court decision that we were ‘sepa
rate but equal." I grew up to also
become an Urban Futurist grow
ing institutions and corporations
through cybcrvisions that sup
port an emerging culture for Black
com m unities. It is a “virtual”,
parallel world with a leveled play
ing field in which Blacks are judged
by their collective productivity.
In a parallel world, as black
people, we are the new pioneers
designing futures that are sim
pler and more in line with our
concerns. Great leaders of great
movements have demonstrated
that compelling visions have the
power to draw people toward a
preferred future.
The Black community will soon
be awakened to the potential us
age of computer and telecommu
nication power which will be
coupled with marketing imagery.
T oday, the appeal o f arcade
games, beepers, cellular phones
and VCRs have met with wide
spread acceptance in the Black
marketplace.
Urban Futurists create models
and marketing that tailor high-
tech telecommunication applica
tions for the special needs o f the
Black community. Once the flow
of information within the Black
community is managed properly,
the competence o f the organiza
tion increases and the relation
within the community improves.
Knowledge and information are
not the same thing. Information
has no value until it becomes
integrated knowledge and there
fore useful.
The Black community is stuck
on many problems. In the end, we
as the Black community are de
feated because we rely upon the
competition and thinking repro-
ductively - that is on the basis o f
similar problems encountered in
the past.
Reproductive thinking leads
us to the usual ideas about build
ing a better community and not
original ones. When confronted
with problems, the Black com
munity fixate on something in
our past. Because of the sound
ness of the steps based on past
experiences, we becom e arro
gantly certain o f correctness of
our conclusions. Interpreting past
problems through the prism of
past experiences will, by defini
tion, lead the Black Community
thinkers astray.
In contrast, Urban Futurists
think productively, not repro-
ductively. W e ask ourselves:
•
Howm anydifferentways
can we look at our better future?
How can we rethink the
way we see it?
•
Howmanydifferentways
can we see our collective better
future?
By creating models of our bet
ter future, we come up with many
d ifferen t resp on ses, som e o f
which are unconventional and
possibly unique. Albert Einstein
was once asked what the differ
ence was between him and the
average person. He said that if
you asked the average person to
find a needle in a haystack, the
person would stop when he or
she found a needle. Einstein, on
the o th er h an d , w ould look
th rou gh th e en tire h aystack
looking for all possible needles.
In order to solve the problems
of the Black community, we must
develop a community think tank.
We must not settle for one per
spective and conceptualize our
community problems by aban
doning our usual approach that
has stemmed from past experi
ences. The think tank does not
merely solve existing problems.
We identify ways o f creating the
com m unity’s “collective better
future.”
The Black community o f the
future will revolutionize science
by making our thoughts graphi
cally visual through new tech
nologies. W e must showcase our
visual mind as we think more in
visual forms. This better future
is characterized by our immense
productivity because from our
massive quantity o f work comes
quality.
Our collective creative genius
is to know how to use Futurist
thinking strategies and teach oth
ers to use them. W e must act as
m asters o f different thinking
styles and strategies rather than
what to think. So, clearly, our
genius strategies can be learned
and applied. Recognizing and ap
plying our collective com m on
think strategies helps make us
more creative in our work and
com m unity.
:
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T rends
B y G raham T .T . M olitor
Infotech
O p tim a l tr a n s m is s io n o f
ig ita l sig n a ls w ill grow from
0 g ig a b its p er seco n d in 1997
) b ey o n d 100 g ig a b its per
econd by 2 0 1 1 . (A g ig a b it -
ne b illio n th o f a se c o n d - is
) a se c o n d w h a t a se c o n d is
> 3 1 .7 y e a r s.) S c ie n tists are
Iready w o r k in g on tr a n sm it-
ing d a ta in te r a b its (o n e -
rillio n th o f a se c o n d ); at this
p e e d , th e c o n t e n t s o f th e
.ib r a r y o f C o n g r e s s , e s ti-
îa te d at 25 te r a b its, co u ld
e tr a n sm itte d in ju s t o v er
ive m in u te s.
Consum er
E lectronics
E le c tr o n ic n o te b o o k s w ill
lu p p la n t p a p e r t a b le t s by
1027; e le c tr o n ic p u b lish in g
n a y su rp a ss pap er-b ased pub-
is h in g b y 2 0 0 5 . O n e k ey
Iriver in th is tren d is rea l
(state; I t ’s too e x p e n siv e to
le v o te so m e 20% o f o ffic e
ipace to sto r in g p a p e r .
V o ic e r e c o g n it io n , v o ic e
ly n th e siz in g , and v o ic e -a c ti-
zated c o m p u te r sy ste m s w ill
is h e r in a c a sc a d e o f co m -
n u n ic a tio n g r o w th . A c c o m
panied by p a lm -siz e d in sta n
ta n e o u s tr a n s la tio n p r o
g r a m s , th e s e v o ic e -e n tr y
c o m p u te r s w ill b e a boon to
in te r n a tio n a l to u r ism .
M e d ic a l
B reakthroughs
D ia g n o s tic s w ill a d v a n c e
r a p id ly in th e n e x t 50 y ea rs.
T r a d itio n a l m eth o d s o f d ia g
n o sin g sy m p to m s in the la b o
r a to r y o n c e to o k m any
w e e k s, o fte n r e q u ir in g h u n
d red s o f la b o r -in te n siv e and
c o s tly e x p e r im e n t s . In th e
f u t u r e , d o c t o r s w ill u s e
c r e d it-c a r d -s iz e d d ia g n o stic
p la te s c o n sistin g o f up to a
m illio n o r m o r e m ic r o c e ll
p r o b e s - a r r a y s o f m in ia tu re
te st tu b e s - to d e te c t d isp o si^
tio n or to v e r ify d ise a se s, d e
fo r m itie s, and d y sfu n c tio n s.
R e su lts w ill be rea d and a n a
ly z e d by c o m p u te r s in ju s t
m in u t e s .
H ealth , Lifestyles,
and Values
E u th a n a s ia m a y b e c o m e
c o m m o n , a s t h e r ig h t to
c h o o s e e x te n d s from a b o r
tio n r ig h ts (r ig h ts o v er b irth )
to d ea th r ig h ts. N ew d e fin i
tio n s o f “ d e a th ” w ill be h e a t
ed ly d e b a te d . S o a r in g m ed i
ca l c o sts w ill in flu e n c e view s
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on d e a th : T e r m in a l illn e s s
and d y in g c u r r e n tly a c c o u n t
fo r 10% o f h e a lth -c a r e o u t
la y s; for M e d ic a r e , i t ’s 27%
o f p rogram o u tla y s.
E u g en ics w ill gain a c c e p
ta n c e as h u m a n s ta k e c o n
tr o l o v e r th e ir ow n e v o lu
tio n . A n im a l an d p la n t g e
n e tic m a n ip u la tio n o p en s the
w ay to hum an b io lo g ic a l e n
g in e e r in g . C o n c e p tio n w ill be
le ss a m a tte r o f c h a n c e and
m o re a r e s u lt o f g e n e tic
sc r e e n in g and m a n ip u la tio n
to m a x im ize d e sir a b le tr a its
an d m in im iz e u n d e s ir a b le
on es.
Aging
T he tren d tow ard ea rly r e
tir e m e n t w ill be r e v e r se d , r is
in g to an a v era g e o f 67 y e a r s
in 2022 and 70 in 2 0 2 5 , as
A m e r ic a n s liv e h e a lth ie r and
lo n g e r liv es.
M ore a g e -c e n te re d p o liti
cal c o n tr o v e r sie s w ill a r ise ,
e sp e c ia lly o v e r g o v e r n m e n t
sp e n d in g . P r o g r a m s for the
e ld e r ly co u ld In crease, from
o n e - t h i r d o f a ll f e d e r a l
sp e n d in g tu m ore th a n o n e -
h a lf by 2 0 1 0 , p ittin g econ om ic
n eed s o f Y IP P 1E S (y o u n g im
p o v e r ish e d w o r k e r s) a g a in st
W H O O P IE S (w e ll-h e e le d
o ld e r p e r so n s).
M u ltic u ltu ra lis m
Im m ig r a tio n w ill c o n tin u e
to in c r e a se th e o v e r a ll U .S .
p o p u la tio n . Im m ig r a tio n w ill
ste a d ily in c r e a se r a c ia l, e th
n ic , and c u ltu r a l d iv e r s ity .
By 2 1 0 0 , p e r so n s o f E u r o
p ea n d e sc e n t w ill c o m p r ise
le s s th a n 50% o f th e U .S .
p o p u la t io n . H is p a n ic s now
o u tn u m b e r A f r ic a n - A m e r i
c a n s in 21 U .S . s ta te s an d
w ill b eco m e th e la r g e st e th
n ic m in o r ity by 2 0 2 0 , c o m
p r isin g 15.7% o f to ta l p o p u
la tio n c o m p a red w ith 13.9%
fo r b la ck s.
Business and th e
Economy
E le c t r o n ic C o m m e r c e is
ta k in g o v er m ore and m ore
o f r e ta il an d w h o le sa le c o m
m erce. V ir tu a l c o r p o r a tio n s
u s e c o m m u n ic a t io n s t e c h
n o lo g ie s fo r in s ta n t a n e o u s
o r d e r in g a n d f u lf illm e n t ,,
e l i i p i n a t i n g th e n e e d f o r
c o stly p r o d u c tio n fa c ilitie s ,
w a r e h o u se s, and sto r e fr o n ts.
R eta il sto r e s «Od w h o le
sa le r s may la r g e ly d isa p p e a r
as th e c o n v e n ie n c e and tim e
s a v in g s o f e le c tr o n ic sh op
ping and home delivery alter con
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sumer behaviors, starting with
tim e-pressed dual-wage-earner
households and the elderly.
Personal Finance
E ducation costs at private
schools are more likely to double
again by 2014. Rising college costs
will force growing numbers of
parents to choose between sav
ing for their retirem ents and
paying for their children’s edu
cation.
Energy Supply and
Demand
Nuclear power will meet most
electric power needs following
breakthroughs in high-tempera
ture plasma fusion, which will
become commercially viable by
2020 and offer the world a virtu
ally limitless and cheap source of
energy. Clean and safe fusion
will becom e a panacea for global
warming.
Transportation
areas. Global perspectives will
shrink as suborbital space travel
becomes commercially available
to the public by 2021.
e
Social Security
g
Birth rates and death rates
are falling in the United States,
creating greater numbers o f eld
erly. Social Security trust funds
will face insolvency between 2029
and 2036. Social Security, left
unchanged, will pile up an over
whelm ing $8-trillion deficit by
2070; decades o f continuing re
form will offer incremental re
lief.
&
Crime
U.S. crime rates will continue
to decline slowly as the popula
tion o f crime-prone young people
shrinks as a proportion o f the
overall population, / ’
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Leisure
| u--.,
Workweeks averaged 70 hour»
during early industrial times
___________
The world’s . fleet
o f cars ____
will .. (ifcld-1890s), then plummeted
grow. There are currently some 38.1 hour» during 1980. rebound-
625 million motor vehicles in use ;irtgto 3 9 3 hours In 1996. The
around the world, and the popu-— average workweek will likely fall ■
lationof motor vehicles will grow
to 30-35 hour» by 2030, making -. 0
to 1 billion by 2025.
more leisure hours available. By
Superfast rail system» ap -
proachh»gapeedsof200mphwill
collapse distances for exurban
2010,i leisure time will acco u n t* ..
for over 50% of lifetime activF-
Wes.
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