Scientific American Issue

The November 2005 issue of Scientific American has the words "Crossroads for the Planet Earth" splashed across the cover and the line at the very top of the cover says "A Plan for a Bright Future Beyond 2050."

Good for them.

No, they aren't being Pollyanna; they see the dangers and work involved in getting to a better place. The solutions they suggest all involve work.

They'll probably get some flack for doing this issue (scientists having an opinion about how to make the world a better place? For shame!) since it isn't just plain science reporting. Besides, they'll get flack just for publishing hope in a world that seems to laregly prefer doom and gloom and insoluble problems.

Whenever a handful of us futurists gather, I tend to be the one with the most positive view. We can continue to thrive for hundreds of years - we can continue on our trajectory of becoming ever more tolerant as a world (despite recent setbacks). They are doing that - being positibe and publishing hope.

I want to compliment Scientific American for thier work. Not because there is a bunch of brand-new paridigm-busting thought in it - there isn't. But hey, we know the problems. At least its fair to say we know a bunch of them (poverty, globalization (good and bad there, btw), global warming, etc.). It's just nice to see somone suggesting we can do something about our problems in a loud front-page manner.