The Long Boom: A Vision for the Coming Age of Prosperity

Abstract

A powerful vision of how converging technological, economic, political, and social forces are shaping our world and our future and how our choices today can lead to new age of prosperity.. The Washington Post called The Long Boom a future-history and challenge-and that is exactly what it is: the story of the world's future, powered by emerging technologies, and political vision that can help realize an era of unprecedented growth and opportunity. The Long Boom urges everyone to recognize that global prosperity, sustainable environment, broad social progress, and even radically extended lifespans are very possible-if not probable-in the 20 years to come. }As we stand at the threshold of the new millennium, the future seems both exhilarating and terrifying. Does it hold great promise of freedom and opportunity or the threat of conflict and inequality? In the tradition of such in fluential and defining books as Future Shock and Megatrends , Peter Schwartz, Peter Leyden, and Joel Hyatt argue in The Long Boom that we are, in fact, on the verge of global economic expansion on scale never before experiencedand that the choices we make as informed individuals, institutions, communities, and nations today will determine whether that vision is realized. Analyzing economic, political, technological and socio-cultural trends that began to converge in the early 1980s, the authors offer compellingand highly plausiblevision of how the next twenty years will unfold. By 2020, we can expect to experience tremendous advances in now-emerging technologies; widespread adoption of alternative energy sources; increased productivity; and, perhaps most important, the creation of truly global economy. Going beyond description of this scenario, the authors identify potential bumps in the road and urge educators, policy makers, business leaders, social activists, and individuals in all types of organizations to participate in the politics of the long boom, the realm where people come together to pool resources and solve common problems. Grand in scope but intensely personal in scale, The Long Boom shows us all how to take an active role in creating vibrant, diverse, constantly learning, and sustainable global society. }