"I believe a United
States of Europe is the right vision to surmount the current crisis,
but above all to overcome the failings of the Maastricht Treaty"
- Viviane Reding, Vice-President of the European Commission, responsible
for Justice, Fundamental Rights and Citizenship
"Without Turkey we can forget our ambition to be a global player
in the future." - Günter Verheugen, former Commission
Vice-President and enlargement commissioner.
Join us at our next Season
Event about the
future of Europe
- Thursday, May 30, 18:30 - 21:15! A
collaboration with the World Future Society.
By
Joergen Oerstroem Moeller
Visiting Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Southeast Asian
Studies, Singapore.
Adjunct Professor Singapore Management University & Copenhagen
Business School.
The model for European integration goes back to the European
Coal and Steel Community from 1952. Its principles have not undergone
fundamental changes albeit a tremendous development inside the
framework of the model - almost to the extent that some observers
will question the statement of no changes in principle - has rolled
over the scene.
Sceptics and outright
opponents may not agree, but the scoreboard is fantastic. The
shake-up of the European picture after the collapse of the Soviet
and Russian Empire in 1991 was met with an adequate response reaching
out to the Central- and Eastern European countries. That established
the EU as THE peacekeeping force in Europe through application
of soft power. Even the negative performance in the former Yugoslavia
calling for hard power could not overshadow this accomplishment.
Over more than half a century economic integration has delivered
an increase in living standards. The European nations have moved
towards a close coordination of foreign and security policies
even if it falls short of the label of a common policy.
Much has been accomplished.
Yet the clock shows that the time has come for changes. The EU
in one or two decades will likely have met crucial, even existentialist
challenges to forge a new kind of European Union combining more
pooling of sovereignty with decentralization. The model for Europe
is found in the former great European constructions over centuries.
They managed to strike the right balance knowing which elements
to centralize and which elements to delegate to political decision
making closer to the citizens. We talk here about the Habsburg
Empire and the Holy Roman Empire both of whom do not rate highly
in history textbooks despite managing to keep together for a long
time, delivering peace and stability to citizens, rejecting uniformity
and harmonization while acknowledging many ethnicities, religions,
and languages inside the system.
Currently the eurozone
undergoes a socio-economic experiment the outcome of which will
determine its future and Europe's place in the world.
In good times welfare
expenditure was allowed to grow even if forecasts showed incompatibility
with the financial strength. It brought to Europe a political
endorsement of a high degree of social and income equality
The global economic
recession revealed that revenues cannot any longer finance the
benefits. Privileges allow too many people to work too little
earning too much. Too many depend on the state/government. Demographics
turn against the welfare model with a higher share of population
above 65 years.
The Europeans have
launched a social-economic enterprise around three pillars. Trimming
the expenditure level and maintaining the model's core. Restructuring
the economic model - higher mobility & easier access to trim
the workforce. Bringing unit labour costs of South European countries
into line with their competitiveness vis-à-vis Northern
European countries and discarding privileges.
The reform process
is still incomplete and in some cases half-hearted, but once started
it rolls on. If the Europeans succeed they will have managed to
combine a welfare society albeit offering a lower welfare level
than hitherto with more flexible economic structures accepting
mobility - geographically and socially - a competitive economy.
New label: The Competitive Welfare State.
The price to pay
will be a multi layered EU where some member states constitute
the core while others have a more loose connection accepting the
inevitable consequence of less influence on decisions and future
integration. This is not a la carte; there will also be a core
of common policies where all member states are 'in'. If this is
done adroitly finding a palatable way for both the core and the
periphery it may keep Britain in the EU; if not, Britain will
leave.
The world has grown
used to nation-states irrespective that the idea of a nation-state
and its accompanying political system was born not more than about
250 years ago - mostly during the Napoleonic Wars.
Most of Europe's
nation-states are artificial creations with the cultural majority
forcing the minorities to accept its culture, behaviour, norms,
and language. That will come to an end. The regions accepted it
in the era of industrialization because it was the door to participation
in the international division of labour to reap the benefit flowing
there from.
The emergence of
the EU moved the key to be a global player to Brussels from national
capitals. The regions like Scotland, Catalonia, Lombardy and maybe
Bayern, Bretagne and several others will loosen their links to
the nation-state and hollow out its sway over policy making; the
nation-state will wither away. This is already seen for the Federal
Republic of Germany where many EU decisions require the acceptance
of the Länder.
The existing political
structure does not allow this and therefore Europe will be pushed
into the box of thinking about adapting to new circumstances.
The two examples from history mentioned above serves as pointers
to the principles that may be met and may give some inspiration.
At the end of the day what we will see, is a European Union with
enhanced powers in economic/industrial matters, foreign-and security
policy plus a whole string of internal security matters (immigration,
crime etc) while other issues like education (not R&D), environment
etc will be left more and more - not to nation-states - but to
the regions.
The main challenge,
obstacle, or opportunity if that word is preferable is to find
the Holy Grail, which is arousing a new the enthusiasm among European
citizens for the project that incontestably has brought Europe
so many benefits for so low a price. The political machinery now
in place is incapable of doing that and yet without a solution
the European project may run into stormy waters.
It is easy to diagnose
the problem, but difficult to offer actions. It has to be found
playing the old master card 'all politics are local'. The political
system, in this case the EU, must relate to people's daily life
- make sure that people connect to the EU. The first step is to
find solutions to the economic crisis, ensure that people see
these solutions as results of EU policies, and on that basis take
on other problems high on the agenda of the European citizens.
When that is underway the time has come to find a better way -
possibly through information & communication technology to
shape a new political system. Mr Grillo - Italian comedian and
political activist - ridiculed by many, has brilliantly shown
one of the ways to do it, rallying the citizens, offering them
a real say, and discarding the old fashioned way not working anymore.
The lesson from the
last decade is that the European citizens feel they have grown
up and deserve a genuine influence on decision making not exposed
to hollow statements from old fashioned politicians. Europe's
chance is to intercept and endorse this reaction growing out of
the economic crisis, mobilizing the citizens to demand a system
that works and with their support.
Thursday,
May 30, 2013
Reception: 18:30-19:00, Conference: 19:00-21:15
Location:
DoubleTree
Hilton Hotel, Amsterdam Centraal
Station, Oosterdoksstraat 4, 1011 DK Amsterdam
The
conference language is English.
Tickets:
Euro
30, Euro 20
(Members etc.) or Euro
10 (Students) www.clubofamsterdam.com/event.asp?contentid=883 Tickets
The conference language
is English.
This event
is in collaboration with the World Future Society.
The supporters are India House Foundation & Heineken.
"I
believe a United States of Europe is the right vision to surmount
the current crisis, but above all to overcome the failings of
the Maastricht Treaty" - Viviane Reding, Vice-President
of the European Commission, responsible for Justice, Fundamental
Rights and Citizenship
"Without Turkey we can forget our ambition to be a global
player in the future." - Günter Verheugen,
former Commission Vice-President and enlargement commissioner.
The
speakers and topics are Stephen Aguilar-Millan,
Director of Research, The European Futures Observatory,
Director, The
Greenways Partnership Which Europe?
Fernando
Lanzer Pereira de Souza,
Consultant,
itim International
The future of Europe is not rational!
Wim
J. de Ridder, Professor Futures Studies, University
Twente, Founder & Director, Futures Studies Management Consultancy
- FSM bv The
future creates opportunities for a leading role for Europe
Ali Tunga,
Chairman,
Atayol Group, Turkey Europe,
Turkey, and the 21st century
Our
moderator is Annegien
Blokpoel,
CEO,
PerspeXo
.NASA
| SDO: Three Years of Sun in Three Minutes
In the three years since it first provided images of the sun in
the spring of 2010, NASA's
Solar Dynamics Observatory
(SDO) has had virtually unbroken coverage of the sun's rise toward
solar maximum, the peak of solar activity in its regular 11-year
cycle. This video shows those three years of the sun at a pace
of two images per day.
SDO's Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) captures a shot of the
sun every 12 seconds in 10 different wavelengths. The images shown
here are based on a wavelength of 171 Angstroms, which is in the
extreme ultraviolet range and shows solar material at around 600,000
Kelvin. In this wavelength it is easy to see the sun's 25-day
rotation as well as how solar activity has increased over three
years.
During the course
of the video, the sun subtly increases and decreases in apparent
size. This is because the distance between the SDO spacecraft
and the sun varies over time. The image is, however, remarkably
consistent and stable despite the fact that SDO orbits the Earth
at 6,876 miles per hour and the Earth orbits the sun at 67,062
miles per hour.
Such stability is
crucial for scientists, who use SDO to learn more about our closest
star. These images have regularly caught solar flares and coronal
mass ejections in the act, types of space weather that can send
radiation and solar material toward Earth and interfere with satellites
in space. SDO's glimpses into the violent dance on the sun help
scientists understand what causes these giant explosions -- with
the hopes of some day improving our ability to predict this space
weather.
There are several noteworthy events that appear briefly in this
video. They include the two partial eclipses of the sun by the
moon, two roll maneuvers, the largest flare of this solar cycle,
comet Lovejoy, and the transit of Venus. The specific time for
each event is listed below, but a sharp-eyed observer may see
some while the video is playing.
00:30;24 Partial eclipse
by the moon
00:31;16 Roll maneuver
01:11;02 August 9,
2011 X6.9 Flare, currently the largest of this solar cycle
Together with IBM Research, the Interstate
University of Applied Sciences Buchs and the supplier of solar
power technology, Airlight Energy, scientists of ETH Zurich
are developing a new photovoltaic system. The so-called High
Concentration Photovoltaic Thermal (HCPVT) system will
deliver electricity, fresh water and cool air in remote locations
and shall be capable of concentrating, on average, to the power
of 2000 suns, with an efficiency that can collect 80 percent
of the incoming radiation and convert it to useful energy.
The scientists
plan to use a large parabolic dish, comprised of a multitude
of mirror facets, to focus the sunrays onto a triple-junction
photovoltaic cell mounted on a microchannel cooled module. The
system should be able to directly convert more than 30 percent
of collected solar radiation into electricity and further allow
for the efficient recovery of waste heat above 50 percent.
The worlds
key ports have committed themselves to reduce greenhouse gas emissions
(GHG) while continuing their role as transportation and economic
centres. This commitment is called the World
Port Climate Initiative
(WPCI). They do this through influencing the sustainability of
supply chains, taking into account local circumstances and varying
port management structures. They also cooperate with ships in
support of measures to reduce emissions to air from ships.
One of the projects
within WPCI is the development of an Environmental Ship Index
(ESI). The Environmental Ship Index (ESI) identifies seagoing
ships that perform better in reducing air emissions than required
by the current emission standards of the International Maritime
Organization, the Environmental Ship Index. The ESI evaluates
the amount of nitrogen oxide (NOX), sulphur oxide (SOX) that is
released by a ship and includes a reporting scheme on the greenhouse
gas emission of the ship. The ESI is a good indication of the
environmental performance of ocean going vessels and will assist
in identifying cleaner ships in a general way.
.Rural-Urban
Dynamics and the Millennium Development Goals
Global
Monitoring Report 2013: Rural-Urban Dynamics and the Millennium
Development Goals
provides an in-depth analysis on urbanization as a force for poverty
reduction and progress towards the MDGs in the developing world.
With less than 1,000 days to go before the MDGs expire, the report
highlights the need to accelerate efforts to improve the lives
of the poor in both rural and urban areas.
Special Focus: Rural-Urban Dynamics
Urbanization matters. In the past two decades, developing countries
have urbanized on a massive scale and this trend will continue
in the future, with 96 percent of the developing worlds
additional 1.4 billion people, by 2030, expected to live in urban
areas. Urbanization has helped speed progress towards the MDGs,
including the reduction of poverty. However, urbanization is a
not a cure-all. If unregulated and poorly planned, it leads to
growth of slums, and increase in pollution and crime.
GMR 2013 also highlights
that poverty is located along a continuous rural-urban spectrum,
with the vast majority of the worlds 1.2 billion poor living
in rural areas with less favorable access to basic amenities than
people living in urban centers. The report, thus, calls for complementary
rural-urban development policies and actions by governments to
facilitate a healthy move toward cities without short-changing
rural areas.
What Works
Creating
communities of slum dwellers in Uganda
In the slum dweller communities of Uganda where over 60
percent of the urban population lives the purported benefits
of urban agglomeration are not being felt. Despite rapid urbanization,
urban areas are characterized by rising unemployment and inadequate
access to basic services. Rather than waiting passively for the
benefits of urban agglomeration, Ugandas slum dwellers have
adopted a proactive strategy that is harnessing the potential
of collective action.
A sanitation unit is constructed in Kinawataka, a suburb in Kampala
The strategy is one
that has evolved within the Slum
Dwellers International
(SDI) network. It involves the clustering or federating
of community saving groups into urban poor federations.
The National
Slum Dwellers Federation of Uganda
(NSDFU) is one of 33 federations in the SDI network. Founded in
2002, the NSDFU today comprises almost 500 savings groups and
approximately 38,000 members. Savings are used to bring people
together, build their capacity to act collectively, and build
organizational capacity and trust.
[...] by Skye Dobson, Uganda Program Officer, Slum Dwellers International
As cities
grow, the poor and the disaster-stricken are induced to move from
their villages, but the shortage of legal and affordable housing
in cities pushes them into squatter settlements with no basic
services. While India may be urbanizing more slowly than other
emerging economies, in absolute numbers there are 377 million
people in its cities. Of these, 93 million are slum dwellers,
according to the 2011 Census
of India
report on Rural
Urban Distribution of Population.
Surface
drains, implemented as part of a waste water treatment system
project, create a safer, cleaner environment
Slums in India are usually
squatter settlements on public lands, and slum dwellers
livelihoods are mostly informal, and therein lies the root of
urban vulnerability. Slum dwellers occupy public lands along drains,
ditches, railway tracks, roads, riverbeds, etc. that are affordable
and close to work areas. Housing in these settlements is formally
procured through an informal land market operative in the respective
slums. House owners get documents to prove the sale, and that
may be seen as providing protection from eviction or to get state
compensation, although these house titles are not legal. Slum
dwellers houses serve as collateral or investment to be
sold in an emergency or given away in dowry.
Informal work can
be exploitative. In slums, it pits the poor against the police,
local bureaucrats, and foot soldiers of local bodies, who have
to be bribed regularly. For informal workers, especially women,
it is difficult to obtain a formal proof of identity. Proof of
identify is often needed to access state subsidies and entitlements
(e.g., housing, rations, school books, health care) or to open
a bank account and get low-cost credit.
[...]
Slums are usually
excluded from networks of underground sewerage because the state
fears this will raise a demand from slum dwellers for regularization/formalization
of settlements. Legal, technical, and engineering difficulties
in providing sanitation infrastructure inside slums are often
cited for lower standards adopted for these areas (e.g., open
and shallow drains are used instead of covered and closed systems,
and community toilets proliferate instead of private toilets).
Communal toilets
do not have water, are dirty, and cost money to use, so some poor
families build small pit latrines at home. Women manually clean
these every day and keep the pits covered the rest of the time.
Families with more money build toilets but since there is no infrastructure
to connect to, they discharge directly onto the street or into
city drains, water bodies, or open plots, generating unhygienic
conditions for all. Greater tenure security and lower fear of
eviction would encourage more households to invest in toilets.
In the Savda Ghevra resettlement colony, the Centre
for Urban and Regional Excellence
(CURE) is enabling households to build personal toilets in small
spaces by creating access to common septic tanks, credit, recycled
wastewater for flushing and technical knowhow.
Surviving slums is a
challenge. Greater provision of infrastructure, however, gives people
the confidence to upgrade their own houses. A Decentralized Waste
Water Treatment System on a city drain, built by CURE in partnership
with the people of Agra, has not only triggered development of high-quality
housing in one settlement, but has been recognized by the state
as an opportunity to connect slums to city networks a win-win
solution.
[...] by
Dr. Renu Khosla, Director, Centre for Urban and Regional Excellence
(CURE), India
Millions of people worldwide make a living collecting, sorting,
recycling, and selling valuable materials that someone else has
thrown away. Collecting and selling recyclables, in many instances,
is one of the few livelihood opportunities open to newcomers (both
domestic and foreign) to cities. In many countries, informal waste
pickers supply the only form of solid waste collection. This work
creates cleaner, healthier urban areas for residents, businesses,
and visitors. In addition, waste pickers consistently make a significant
economic contribution by saving municipalities money in their management
of solid waste. According to the UN Habitats Solid Waste Management
in the Worlds Cities 2010, waste pickers perform between 50-100
percent of ongoing waste collection in most cities in developing
countries at no cost to the municipal budget.
Despite their significant contributions, waste pickers often face
deplorable living and working conditions and suffer both extreme
poverty and very low social status. They are the lowest paid in
the recycling chain, face intimidation and exploitation by middlemen,
and rather than receiving support from local authorities, are often
harassed.
A large proportion of catadores in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, earn
more than the minimum wage.
As detailed in many policy briefs by Women
in Informal Employment Globalizing and Organizing
(WIEGO), Belo Horizontes catadores have engaged in widespread
organization and mobilization, beginning with the formation of the
first waste pickers association, ASMARE, in 1990, followed
by many others. By raising their collective voices and forming strategic
alliances, the waste pickers successfully negotiated for their inclusion
in municipal waste programs. By the mid-1990s, the citys policy
framework established recycling, social inclusion, job creation,
and income generation as the four main pillars of solid waste management.
Today, municipal support for equipment, facilities, and licensing
are provided to waste pickers and their organizations. A large proportion
of waste pickers now earn more than the minimum wage (although it
should be noted that a gender discrepancy exists, especially at
the higher income end, where men significantly out-earn women).
Gains have also been made nationally. More than a decade ago, Brazil
became the only country to include waste picking in its classification
of occupations for official statistical purposes lending
validity to the work. In 2010, Brazils National Solid Waste
Policy, which ensures the rights of informal recyclers, came into
force.
[...] by Sonia Dias, Waste Sector Specialist, Women in Informal
Employment Globalizing and Organizing (WIEGO). Dr. Sonia Dias is
a garbologist based in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, who specializes
in solid waste management. Information and research on this topic
are available in WIEGOs Publication
Series.
Has Europe's extraordinary postwar recovery limped to an end?
It would seem so. The United Kingdom, Belgium, France, Italy,
and former Soviet Bloc countries have experienced ethnic or religious
disturbances, sometimes violent. Greece, Ireland, and Spain are
menaced by financial crises. And the euro is in trouble. In The
End of the West, David Marquand, a former member of the British
Parliament, argues that Europe's problems stem from outdated perceptions
of global power, and calls for a drastic change in European governance
to halt the continent's slide into irrelevance. Taking a searching
look at the continent's governing institutions, history, and current
challenges, Marquand offers a disturbing diagnosis of Europe's
ills to point the way toward a better future.
Exploring the baffling
contrast between postwar success and current failures, Marquand
examines the rebirth of ethnic communities from Catalonia to Flanders,
the rise of xenophobic populism, the democratic deficit that stymies
EU governance, and the thorny questions of where Europe's borders
end and what it means to be European. Marquand contends that as
China, India, and other nations rise, Europe must abandon ancient
notions of an enlightened West and a backward East. He calls for
Europe's leaders and citizens to confront the painful issues of
ethnicity, integration, and economic cohesion, and to build a
democratic and federal structure.
.The
Future of Wearable Technology
by Moondial, Sabine Seymour
The PBS
Arts Online
concept is the core of the PBS strategy for strengthening arts
awareness, appreciation and education in America. PBS Arts will
promote awareness, spur greater interest, and increase understanding
of visual, cultural and performing arts.
As computing
moves from our desktops to our phones, we look into the future
to see how technology will become increasingly ingrained in our
movements and our active lives. From the Nike Fuelband to Google
Glass, consumers are already seeing hints of the future of wearable
devices. They have the possibility to make us more knowledgeable
about ourselves and our surroundings, and connect us with each
other in an uninterrupted, more intimate way. From DIY wearables
to high-tech sensors and smart fabrics, the years ahead will show
how integrated technology can impact our lives for the better.
Featuring:
Sandy Pentland, MIT
Sabine Seymour, Parsons
Steven Dean, G51Studio
Becky Stern, Adafruit
.Futurist
Portrait: John L. Casti
Dr.
John L. Casti
is a complexity scientist.
One of Americas greatest pioneers of simulation, Casti
has spent his career trying to simulate the real world in the
virtual one from games theory to traffic simulation and
even insect infestations. London Times
Professor John L. Casti received his Ph.D. in mathematics under
Richard Bellman at the University of Southern California in 1970.
He worked at the RAND Corporation in Santa Monica, CA, and served
on the faculties of the University of Arizona, NYU and Princeton
before becoming one of the first members of the research staff
at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)
in Vienna, Austria. In 1986, he left IIASA to take up a position
as a Professor of Operations Research and System Theory at the
Technical University of Vienna. He also served as a member of
the External Faculty of the Santa Fe Institute in Santa Fe, New
Mexico, USA, from 1992-2002, where he worked extensively on the
application of biological metaphors to the mathematical modeling
of problems in economics, finance and road-traffic networks, as
well as on large-scale computer simulations for the study of such
networks.
In 2000 he formed two companies in Santa Fe and London, Qforma,
Inc. and SimWorld, Ltd, devoted to the employment of tools and
concepts from modern system theory for the solution of problems
in business and finance. In early 2005 he returned to Vienna where
he has co-founded The Kenos Circle, a professional society that
aims to make use of complexity science in order to gain a deeper
insight into the future than that offered by more conventional
statistical tools.
Professor Casti has written a numerous articles and seven technical
monographs and textbooks on mathematical modeling. In addition,
he is the editor of the journals Applied Mathematics &
Computation (Elsevier, New York) and Complexity (Wiley,
New York). In 1989 his text/reference works Alternate Realities:
Mathematical Models of Nature and Man (Wiley, 1989) was awarded
a prize by the Association of American Publishers in a competition
among all scholarly books published in mathematics and the natural
sciences. In 1992, he also published Reality Rules (Wiley,
New York), a two-volume text on mathematical modeling.
In addition to these technical volumes, he has written several
popular books on science: Paradigms Lost: Images of Man in
the Mirror of Science (Morrow, 1989), which addresses several
of the most puzzling controversies in modern science, Searching
for Certainty: What Scientists Can Know About the Future (Morrow,
1991), a volume dealing with problems of scientific prediction
and explanation of everyday events like the weather, stock market
price movements and the outbreak of warfare, and Complexification
(HarperCollins, 1994), a study of complex systems and the manner
in which they give rise to counterintuitive, surprising behavior.
He has also written two popular volumes on mathematics: Five
Golden Rules: Great Theories of 20th-Century Mathematicsand
Why They Matter, and its sequel, Five More Golden Rules
(1995, 2000) both published by John Wiley & Sons (New York).
His next work of popular science was Would-Be Worlds, a
volume on computer simulation and the way it promises to change
the way we do science. It was also published by John Wiley &
Sons (New York) in 1996. In 1998 he published a volume of scientific
fiction, involving Ludwig Wittgenstein, Alan Turing, J.B.S.
Haldane, C.P. Snow and Erwin Schrödinger in a dinner-party
conversation on the question of the uniqueness of human cognition
and the possibility of thinking machines. This book was published
under the title The Cambridge Quintet by Little, Brown
(UK) in December 1997 and by Addison-Wesley in the US in early
1998.
More recently, his published books include Art & Complexity
(Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2005), a volume edited with A. Karlqvist,
as well as a short volume on the life of the Austrian logician,
Kurt Gödel, the book Gödel: A Life of Logic (Perseus
Books, Cambridge, MA, 2003). In the same year he published the
volume, The One, True, Platonic Heaven (Joseph Henry Press,
Washington, DC, 2003), which addresses in a fictional format the
question of the limits to scientific knowledge. The volume on
art and complexity sparked off a continuing interest in the interrelationship
between complex systems and artistic forms of all types, which
is reflected in a set of papers currently in preparation addressing
the complexity of scientific theories regarded as artistic forms.
His primary current research interests have also shifted somewhat
to the exploration of questions in the social and behavioral realm
and the relationship between social moods and their
consequent social actions and behaviors. In this direction, his
latest book, Mood
Matter: From Rising Skirt Lengths to the Collapse of World Powers,
published in 2010 by Copernicus Books, NY, addresses the directions
and patterns of social causation and their implications for future
trends and collective social events, such as styles in popular
culture, the outcome of political processes, and even the rise
and fall of civilizations.
X-Events:
Complexity Overload and the Collapse of Everything
"In his highly provocative and grippingly readable book,
X-Events, author John Casti brilliantly argues
that todays advanced, overly complex societies have grown
highly vulnerable to extreme events that will ultimately topple
civilization like a house of cards. Like Nassim Talebs The
Black Swan meets Jared Diamonds Collapse, Castis
book provides a much-needed wake-up call sounding a fascinating
and frightening warning about civilized societys inability
to recover from a global catastrophe demonstrating how
humankind could be blasted back into the Stone Age by a meteor
strike, nuclear apocalypse, worldwide contagion, or any number
of unforeseeable X-Events."
Currently, Dr. Casti is a Research Scholar at the International
Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria,
where he heads an initiative for the study on Extreme
Events
in Human Society and Director of The Kenos Circle, a Vienna-based
society of fellows devoted to exploration of the future.
How the World Works
.Agenda
Season Events
2012/2013
NEXT Event
May 30, 2013 the
future of Europe May 30, 2013, 18:30 - 21:15
Location: DoubleTree
Hilton Hotel, Amsterdam Centraal Station, Oosterdoksstraat
4, 1011 DK Amsterdam
In collaboration with the World Future Society
Supported
by India House Foundation
& Heineken
June
27, 2013 the
future of Urban Gardening June 27, 2013, 18:30 - 21:15
Location: Geelvinck Museum, Keizersgracht 633, 1017 DS
Amsterdam
Supported by Geelvinck Museum