The way we will be 50 years from today : 60 of the world's greatest minds share their visions of the next half century

The world is an uncertain place, which is why the future and the unknown absolutely fascinate us. Veteran television journalist Mike Wallace asked the question "What will life be like 50 years from now?" to sixty of the world's greatest minds. Their responses offer a fascinating glimpse into the cultural, scientific, political, and spiritual moods of the times. Edited and with an introduction by Mike Wallace, this book provides an imaginative and thought-provoking look into our collective soul and the critical issues that underlie our hopes, prayers, fears, and dreams for life in the 21st century. Contributors include former presidents, leading scientists, noted writers and artists, respected religious leaders, and current political figures, including: Vint Cerf, Vice President of Google; known as a "Father of the Internet" Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D., a geneticist who led the Human Genome Project Dr. Wanda Jones, Director of the Office on Women's Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Ray Kurzweil, an inventor whose developments include the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind and the first text-to-speech synthesizer General James E. Cartwright, Commander of United States Strategic Command Kim Dae-jung, the former President of the Republic of Korea Ronald Noble, Secretary General of Interpol Norman Borlaug, Nobel Peace Prize winner; called "the father of the Green Revolution" Carol Bellamy, former Executive Director UNICEF, first former volunteer to serve as director of Peace Corp, and current president and CEO of World Learning Gerardus 't Hooft, Professor of Theoretical Physics at Utrecht University in the Netherlands; Nobel Prize in Physics Craig Newmark, Internet pioneer and founder of craigslist Sixty Leading Luminaries, Including Scientists, Writers, Artists, Religious Leaders, Businesspeople, And Politicians, Offer Their Thoughts On What Life Will Look Like By The Middle Of The Twenty-first Century. As We May Live / Vint Cerf -- A Revolution In Medicine / Francis S. Collins -- A Tiny Dot In Cosmic Time : A Big Period In Human Time / George F. Smoot -- What's Ahead : Figures Don't Lie? / Christian De Duve -- What A Climatologist Cannot Know About The Next 50 Years (but What He Does Believe) / John R. Christy -- No More Heart Disease / Louis J. Ignarro -- The End Of Psychiatric Illnesses / E. Fuller Torrey -- Simon Caplan's Day / Arthur Caplan -- Fifty Years From Now : Today's Baby Reaches Middle Age / Wanda Jones -- Blogging From The Future / Craig Newmark -- Progress Accelerates Exponentially / Ray Kurzweil -- An Economist Predicts / Thomas C. Schelling -- Diary Entry : 2058 / Chandrasekhar (spike) Narayan -- Deciphering The Mega-trends / James E. Cartwright -- The Way We Will Be 50 Years From Today? / Jody Williams -- The Era Of Great Change Is Coming / Kim Dae-jung -- The Future Of Crime / Ronald Noble -- The Future Of Food / Norman E. Borlaug --^ What Does It Mean To Be Human? / Richard Clarke -- A Brain Scientist's Perspective / Richard Restak -- In Harmony With Earth's Water Cycle / Sandra Postel -- How Will Science Transform Human Society? / Gerardus 't Hooft -- Where Are All The Robots? / Shigeo Hirose -- Wind Farming In Pollyanna Land / Peter Doherty -- Letters To My Grandchildren And Great-grandchildren / Stuart L. Pimm -- Future Cars And The Jetsons / Malcolm Bricklin -- A World Without Borders / Abdulla Salem El-badri -- Technology, Security, And Liberty In 50 Years / Lee H. Hamilton -- Our Place In The Universe / Steven Beckwith -- Snapshot Of A World With The New Nation Of California / Tim Mack -- Our Children, Our Future / Marian Wright Edelman -- Landscapes And Living Conditions / Valli Moosa -- Go Green By Thinking Blue / Leon E. Panetta And James D. Watkins -- The Paradox / Aaron Ciechanover -- The Transformation / Elias A. Zerhouni -- A World Without Breast Cancer / Nancy G. Brinker --^ Hope For People With Brain Diseases / Stanley B. Prusiner -- A Physician's View Of The Future / Victor Sidel -- Clean Energy For Progress / Claude Mandil -- Co2 For Good / Nancy Ho -- To Open The World To All People / Michael Shermer -- The View As I Glide By / Joseph L. Bryant -- One Tuesday In Australia / Barry Marshall -- Wake-up Call On Global Warming / Carl Pope, Daniel Becker, And Allison Forbes -- Dateline : 50 Years Into The Future / Keith B. Richburg -- Leaps And Eurekas / Gregory A. Poland -- Snapshots Of The Future With Infectious Disease : Living In A Brave New World With Age-old Scourges / Earl G. Brown -- The Age Of The Global Citizen / Carol Bellamy -- Some Words From Dr. Future / James Canton -- Some Warnings, Some Worries, And A Call For Leadership / Douglas Osheroff -- How Our Knowledge Will Increase / Lyman Page -- We Will Have Learned Our Lesson / Carol M. Browner -- The Future Of The Soul / Richard Dawkins --^ A Bird's-eye View Of The Next 50 Years / Peter Marra -- Global Climate Change And Our Children / Nsedu Obot-witherspoon -- A Way Back To Wilderness / William H. Meadows -- Future World : The Bad, The Good, And The Ugly / Lawrence M. Krauss -- Always So Much More To Discover / John C. Mather -- Startling Advances And What Stays The Same / Ahmed H. Zewail -- The Earth In 50 Years : Rescue Or Ruin? / Ross Gelbspan. [edited By] Mike Wallace. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 241). The world is an uncertain place, which is why the future and the unknown absolutely fascinate us. Veteran television journalist Mike Wallace asked the question "What will life be like 50 years from now?" to sixty of the world's greatest minds. Their responses offer a fascinating glimpse into the cultural, scientific, political, and spiritual moods of the times. Edited and with an introduction by Mike Wallace, this book provides an imaginative and thought-provoking look into our collective soul and the critical issues that underlie our hopes, prayers, fears, and dreams for life in the 21st century. Contributors include former presidents, leading scientists, noted writers and artists, respected religious leaders, and current political figures, including: Vint Cerf, Vice President of Google; known as a "Father of the Internet"Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph. D., a geneticist who led the Human Genome ProjectDr. Wanda Jones, Director of the Office on Women's Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human ServicesRay Kurzweil, an inventor whose developments include the first print-to-speech reading machine for the blind and the first text-to-speech synthesizerGeneral James E. Cartwright, Commander of United States Strategic CommandKim Dae-jung, the former President of the Republic of KoreaRonald Noble, Secretary General of InterpolNorman Borlaug, Nobel Peace Prize winner; called "the father of the Green Revolution"Carol Bellamy, former Executive Director UNICEF, first former volunteer to serve as director of Peace Corp, and current president and CEO of World LearningGerardus 't Hooft, Professor of Theoretical Physics at Utrecht University in the Netherlands; Nobel Prize in Physics CraigNewmark, Internet pioneer and founder of craigslist