2050 A Brief History Of The Future

The Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium and the Louvre Museum come together to present an ambitious and innovative project inspired by Jacques Attali’s essay A Brief History of the Future. The two independent yet complementary exhibitions are articulated around the same questioning. By interrogating the future – at the Louvre by an observation of the past, in Brussels by a prospective approach – they analyse the great dynamics that cross and animate societies, from their origins up to the horizon of 2050. The exhibition at the Louvre aims to project itself into the future based on a subjective reading of the past, pictured and shaped by the artistic creations from the previous millennia. On their side, the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium hinge on the topicality of current artistic creations in order to question a series of societal themes – from globalisation to the commodification of time, from overconsumption to the wellbeing of the planet.0These topics will be addressed through contemporary creations by major international artists such as Sugimoto, Boetti, Kingelez, Warhol, LaChapelle, Gursky, Op de Beeck, Yongliang, Turk, Alÿs and many others. Through these artworks that transcend the big societal questions, the visitors are invited to reflect on the future they are supposed to shape. 0Exhibition: KMSKB/ MBAB, Brussels, Belgium (11.09.2015-24.01.2016).

This future history of the next thirty years, imagined by bestselling author Thomas Harding, is a compelling and startling call to action. In 2020, a researcher is shocked to find a set of notebooks detailing the history of the next thirty years. Is this a hoax? Or could it be real? The notebooks, written in the year 2050, contain interview transcripts between teenage Billy and Gran Nancy. We learn about the great climate SHOCK, when global temperatures rise much faster than anticipated, resulting in catastrophic consequences for humanity. We learn about a shift away from democracy, toward unelected “ethnarchs” — heads of corporations who use their access to our personal data to competently run the world. We learn about the giant city towers where most people live, work and play inside — where it's safe from natural disasters and viral outbreaks. And between these interviews, we learn more about Billy, whose interest in the history that has been erased from the official record is causing trouble in 2050. Is it too late to change the past to save the future? Key Text Feature glossary

What will planet Earth be like in twenty years? At mid-century? In the year 2100? Prescient and convincing, this book is a must-read for anyone concerned about the future. Never has the world offered more promise for the future and been more fraught with dangers. Attali anticipates an unraveling of American hegemony as transnational corporations sever the ties linking free enterprise to democracy. World tensions will be primed for horrific warfare for resources and dominance. The ultimate question is: Will we leave our children and grandchildren a world that is not only viable but better, or in this nuclear world bequeath to them a planet that will be a living hell? Either way, he warns, the time to act is now.

What if, instead of trying to predict the future, we could just pick the one we want - and then invent it? Well, we can. Think of the wealth of technological resources already available to us. The computing power in that smartphone in your pocket could have guided 120 million Apollo-era spacecrafts to the moon and back. A gigabyte of memory cost $300,000 in the 1980s - today, it costs a fraction of a penny. Now, try to imagine 2050, when your computing devices will be a million times more powerful or available at one-millionth of today's prices.In this deeply researched and compelling book, the authors do the imagining for you, describing seven so-incredible-as-to-be-almost-magical capabilities that will be available by 2050 in computing, communication, information, genomics, energy, water, and transportation. You may finally get that flying car, have ample water even in a desert, and be treated for disease through microscopic robots in your bloodstream.Drawing on their decades of experience helping major organizations formulate strategies for innovation, the authors demonstrate how to use combinations of those seven capabilities to imagine "perfect" futures, whether that means reversing climate change, resolving today's disinformation crisis, or living 20 years longer. This book paints visions of how the world could - and should - look as we pass the planet on to future generations.We can use those visions to start inventing a perfect future - today.

What if we could foretell the future through art? "More than any other activity, art will help to convince us of the urgency. This is its greatness and will be its responsibility, as art lies at the forefront of boldness" (Jacques Attali). The meeting of an essay, A Brief History of the Future by Jacques Attali, and the world of contemporary art on the occasion of the exhibition organized by the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium (11.09.2015 – 24.01.2016). This book explores the major social issues studied by Jacques Attali and points out how visual artists go beyond simple observation to take an active part in the debate and develop projects fired by a form of utopian creativity. Making museums the mirror of a world in change EXCERPT The first wave is the decline of the American empire, which is no longer omnipotent. It represents a declining share of global GDP and will even be overtaken by China, Europe and others, even if it long remains the world’s leading military power. This decline will also correspond to a lack of the cutting-edge collaborative technologies that lead to new discoveries, in particular the information technologies, biotechnologies, and so on, which will change a lot of things. There will be changes in customs, but these will probably contribute to the permanent triumph of the United States’ ideology as the dominant one in the world. The second wave is produced by the US gradually sharing its dominance with other powers. This process has already begun through the establishment of the G20. The joint government of the world is a response to the fragmentation that is taking place. No doubt we shall see conflicts between China and Japan, tension between Europe and the United States, times when the whole lot will be at loggerheads. We may well be experiencing the last period in history in which conflicts between great nations still take place. ABOUT JACQUES ATTALI Economist, writer, member of the Council of State, special adviser to François Mitterrand from 1981 to 1991, Jacques Attali was born in 1943 in Alger. Over his career he has published more than 50 books and written many articles on current events. He is also the editorial writer of L'Express.

In the tradition of the now-classic Future Shock by Alvin Toffler, world-renowned economist and political adviser Jacques Attali predicts how our world will look in the coming decades and a century from now.

Discussing the technological supremacy of the chemical industry, including pharmaceuticals, and how it will adopt a leading position to solve some of the largest global challenges humans have even seen, this book details how the industry will address climate change, aging populations, resource scarcity, globality, networks speed, pandemics, and massive growth and demand. Following a detailed introduction to some of the megatrends shaping our world over the forthcoming decades, the book goes on to provide several scenarios of how the world could look by 2050, including 'business as usual' and a 'sustainable' one. Chapter 3 gives a comprehensive overview of the current status, while providing a short historical review of the chemical industry, its origins, achievements and fundamentals. The following chapter reviews the potential impact of each of the selected megatrends on the industry, while Chapter 5 proposes how it could look by 2050. Several features of the chemical industry are presented and discussed, including the industrial relevance from an economical, technological and profitability point of view. The largest chemicals markets in absolute and per capita bases and the areas and countries with largest growth potential for chemicals, pharmaceuticals and feedstock. This chapter also reviews the impact of climate change on the chemical industry from a feedstocks and products point of view and, more specifically, the potential costs in reducing CO2 emissions. A final, concluding chapter summarizes the forthcoming megatrends and potential challenges, opportunities and the outlook for the industry as a whole.

"'Megatrends' are great forces in societal development that have profound impacts on states, markets, and civil society in the now and for the years to come. They can effectively be employed as a starting point for analyzing our world. Megachange: The World in 2050 looks at these sweeping, fundamental trends that are changing the world faster than at any time in human history. Including chapters on approximately twenty of these "megatrends," each elegantly outlined by contributors from The Economist, and rich in supporting facts and graphics, the book is a compelling read as well as a valuable research and reference tool. Groups the "megatrends" that are shaping our world into several categories: People, Life and Death, Economy and Business, and Knowledge; Each trend is covered in a concise but detailed chapter written by an expert from The Economist; Edited by Daniel Franklin, Executive Editor of The Economist. Packed with important information about the forces that shape our world, Megachange is a fascinating new look to the future from the experts at The Economist."--Publisher's website.