This book reviews the extraordinary promise of technological advances over the next twenty years or so, and assesses some of the key issues -- economic, social, environmental, ethical -- that decision-makers in government, business and society will face in the decades ahead.

This book explores some of the opportunities and risks - economic, social and technological - that decision-makers will have to address, and outlines what needs to be done to foster society's capacity to manage its future more flexibly and with broader participation of its citizens.

The book is an exploration of how this century is going to change not just the way we think, but also what we actually think with - our own individual minds. How will new technologies transform the way we see the world? At the beginning of the twenty-first century, we may be standing on the brink of a mind make-over far more cataclysmic than anything that has happened before. As we appreciate the dynamism and sensitivity of our brain circuitry, so the prospect of directly tampering with the essence of our individuality becomes a possibility.

This book integrates the basic theories (GST and Parson’s AGIL framework), applying them to the components of social systems, state-run and business firms. China’s development experience offers a valuable case study that can provide readers deeper insights into this comparatively young discipline, and into China. Though the discipline of systems engineering and its application to hardware engineering system are well established, social systems engineering is an emerging discipline still being explored. This book may be the first English-language publication on this promising subject.

This book asks some hard questions about our changing world, and examines the policy opportunities that need to be grasped if we are to foster sustainable social foundations for the 21st century.

People are using the future to search for better ways to achieve sustainability, inclusiveness, prosperity, well-being and peace. In addition, the way the future is understood and used is changing in almost all domains, from social science to daily life. This book presents the results of significant research undertaken by UNESCO with a number of partners to detect and define the theory and practice of anticipation around the world today. It uses the concept of 'Futures Literacy' as a tool to define the understanding of anticipatory systems and processes - also known as the Discipline of Anticipation. This innovative title explores: " new topics such as Futures Literacy and the Discipline of Anticipation; " the evidence collected from over 30 Futures Literacy Laboratories and presented in 14 full case studies; " the need and opportunity for significant innovation in human decision-making systems. This book will be of great interest to scholars, researchers, policy-makers and students, as well as activists working on sustainability issues and innovation, future studies and anticipation studies.

This book explores the implications of newly developing risks such as hugely damaging hurricanes, new diseases, terrorist attacks, and disruptions to critical infrastructures.

People are using the future to search for better ways to achieve sustainability, inclusiveness, prosperity, well-being and peace. In addition, the way the future is understood and used is changing in almost all domains, from social science to daily life. This book presents the results of significant research undertaken by UNESCO with a number of partners to detect and define the theory and practice of anticipation around the world today. It uses the concept of ‘Futures Literacy’ as a tool to define the understanding of anticipatory systems and processes – also known as the Discipline of Anticipation. This innovative title explores: • new topics such as Futures Literacy and the Discipline of Anticipation; • the evidence collected from over 30 Futures Literacy Laboratories and presented in 14 full case studies; • the need and opportunity for significant innovation in human decision-making systems. This book will be of great interest to scholars, researchers, policy-makers and students, as well as activists working on sustainability issues and innovation, future studies and anticipation studies. The Open Access version of this book, available at https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9781351047999, has been made available under a Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 IGO (CC-BY-NC-ND 3.0 IGO) license.