Futurology - on Vox

DonorsChoose challenge:

Please help contribute to our cause, increasing the amount of teaching devoted to sustainability in our schools:

http://www.donorschoose.org/donors/viewChallenge.html?id=17353

What's the best thing you ever bought off of Ebay or Craigslist?

Not really a purchase, but I traded two twelve packs of Milwaukee's Best for an Apple //.

Craigslist is wonderful.

Since the 1960s, methods from sociology, psychology, and cognitive science have been applied to the problems of
groups and social norms.

I worked for an internet consultancy that strongly believed in Dunbar's number, and didn't allow an office
to grow to more than 150 people, because of the loss of connection between people.

If you've worked at a company, you might recall how much easier it was to maintain a culture with a 50-person department, than with a 200-person department.

These ideas can be applied to the environment, governments and ideas about change in society:  The phrase 'think globally, act locally' is a mantra for change, but it also shows why it's easier to pursue local action on an issue, since it's easier to start, grow, and maintain a group where you have face to face contact and the strong connections between individuals.

This is a nice YouTube video about a possible future:

The future was more fun when viewed from the past.

Now that it's here, I'm not so sure.

In 1970, Earth had just sent men to the moon.  Now, 37 years later, we're finally talking about sending them back.

There were concerns about the environment, energy, and the economy.  We still have the same concerns, except there's a sense of urgency about all of them.

Futurology, as a discipline, is a way to get better organized about this,  because the problems we face aren't going to go away by themselves.