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Clipping Service: Jack Latona is a voracious and omniverous reader. He recommmends a wide spectrum of topics. Before an article is summarized or placed in a topic, a short refernce goes to the Clippings Page.

Click here to visit the CLIPPING SERVICE to see items arranged by date. THis is an archive of the avalanche of topics that the Center is sifting through. Once a topic has been summarized, a link is made to the appropriate topic. This system will allow you to visit the clippings for a particular month and then jump to a specific topic, where the item is summarized and a reference to the newspaper or magazine article is given. Click here for the Clippings Page.

Web librarian for the Center for Creating the Future
Steve McCrea

If you would like to suggest a topic for inclusion in the TOPICS index or some articles that you particularly recommend for their foresight, please email me at
[email protected]

Do you have suggestions for future topics? Send your suggestions to [email protected]

Some potential evenings:

The Future of Neighborhoods

The Future of Health (June 28)

The Future of Newspapers

The Future of Rail Travel

The Future of Business

The Future of Universities (a night featuring our new Advisor for Online Schooling)

The Future of Astronomy

The Future of Air Travel

The Future of Government

The Future of Elections (see Toffler)

MISSION: The Center for Creating the Future is a non-profit organization based in Fort Lauderdale. It offers ongoing education to help you prepare for the future. Visit our library and our online discussion list. Our Topics List is a "portal" or gateway to a collection of articles that begin to navigate the flood of information that we all need to absorb to get ready... SPONSORS are needed for conferences.

Dr. Abraham Fischler
President Emeritus of
Nova Southeastern University
Advisor on the Future of Education
"The Next Step: The Child as the Class"

We ask professionals to talk with non-professionals to bring the technical viewpoints and concerns into the mainstream. We encourage you to become an informed non-professional.

Nuggets: Phrases that capture the essence of the Center's mission

"Technology trumps ideology." No matter how much the ideology of environmentalists predicted the downful of the ecosystem due to overpopulation, technology enabled greater food production, virus control, vaccinations and engineering to improve living cirucmstances. Malthus was wrong. His ideology was trumped by technoology.

Hardin's Law
"You can't do just one thing."
When you save the otters, the abalone population plummets.
When you save millions of children from mosquitos and malaria, DDT weakens the shells of birds and their populations drop.

"The future is getting here sooner than it used to. We need to prepare ourselves and create rather than await the future." -- Jack Latona

"The individual long-term is getting longer. Long-term problems are arriving sooner." -- Jack Latona

Here are some quotes that drive us crazy (and motivate us to update this web site often, to keep it useful for the on-going continuing education that we all need to prepare for the future)

"We don't have time to discuss long-term problems. We have too many short-term problems to worry about."
(Stated by a member of an oversight board who wanted to move along a meeting's agenda.)

"Long-term thinking for a short-term world."

MISSION
The Center for Creating the Future aims to:
1) Promote an ongoing public discussion of "How can we create the future rather that let it surprise us?"
2) Remind decision makers of past lessons (that might be overlooked)
3) Prod decision makers to look for long-term solutions rather than focus on short-term problems
4) Add the informed general public to the debate of technological issues, e.g. genetic engineering, as well as specialists.
5) Encourage generalists and non-experts to participate in discussions usually left to experts.

METHODS AND ACTIVITIES
To accomplish its mission, the Center for Creating the Future engages in the following activities:

a) Clipping service for decision makers: The Center maintains a clipping service to highlight emerging trends that decision makers should include in their long-range projections. Our experience is that anyone who doesn't see the problems doesn't react to problems. A news clipping can be a potent tool for fostering debate and a focus on long-term thinking when properly presented.

b) Ongoing, online education (at www.creatingthefuture.org) for the general public and decision makers who want to prepare for the future. Our motto is "The future is coming sooner than it used to, so we prefer to create rather than await the future." The web site also includes "recommended reading," to encourage decision makers and the general public to read about emerging trends.

c) A monthly 90-minute night of discussion for local decision makers. Center staff leads the discussion and promotes long-term debate (including post-meeting activities). Output can include letters to the editor and a transcript of the proceedings, posted on the web site.

d) The Center plans to host and organize conferences about the future. "The Future of Parking," "The Future of Transportation," and "The Future of Health" are typical conference titles.

e) Publications: proceedings from conferences, commentaries on leading issues

FUNDING
The center seeks grants for the activities mentioned above. Typical funding programs include:

1. Distribution of videos on special topics to schools. ($5,000 distributes a 30-minute cassette with discussion materials to 50 local schools. An additional $15,000 supports an online conference between schools to promote coordinated debate and eventual recommendations to decision makers.)

2. Sponsoring a conference ($10,000 to $250,000 and higher, depending on the scope of the work)

3. Our website is available for sponsorship ($500 a month for maintenance of the suggested reading list and comments on emerging trends).

4. Affiliated experts and commentators are available for writing studies to provide your organization with a long-range view.

5. Speeches: our speaker's list is available to provide thought-provoking insight for your organization's next meeting.

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"Are we ready for tomorrow? What are we not considering? What have we learned but have forgotten?"

"Long-term thinking for a short-term world."

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