5 Hard Questions about Emerging Technologies We Can’t Afford Not to Ask
In the near future access to information and new technology may make profits and privacy obsolete, and force us to redefine the boundaries between humanity and machines
November 12, 2014 |By Kristel van der Elst


Which economic systems will be most successful in providing equal access to the social and economic benefits of technology?
Credit: U.S. Marine Corps via flickr

SA Forum is an invited essay from experts on topical issues in science and technology.

Editor’s note: This week the World Economic Forum is holding its Global Agenda Council meetings in Dubai. More than 1,000 experts (including Scientific American Editor in Chief Mariette DiChristina) have gathered to discuss big world problems such as climate change, poverty, water shortages, energy and innovation. This is the last in a series of articles by WEF’s Kristel van der Elst, head of Strategic Foresight, on discussions that have taken place in the past year under the Forum’s auspices about ...

Read more on http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar..._TECH_20141118


What Impact Will Emerging Technologies Have on Geopolitics?
By Fred Guterl | November 12, 2014 |



The World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council meetings are going on this week in Dubai. More than 1000 experts (including Scientific American editor-in-chief Mariette DiChristina) have gathered to discuss big world problems such as climate change, poverty, water shortages, energy and innovation. Here we are publishing a series on discussions that have taken place in the past year under the Forum’s auspices about emerging technologies, written by WEF’s Kristel van der Elst, Head of Strategic Foresight (her first was this article on impacts to society). Here is her piece on impacts to geopolitics.

Four geopolitical questions we can’t avoid when we think about emerging technologies

by Kristel van der Elst, World Economic Forum

Not so far in the future, resources might no longer be closely linked to territories, it might be possible to visualize another person’s thoughts and predict the actions and decisions of world leaders before they act. What would this mean for our geopolitical landscape? ...

Read more on http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/...n-geopolitics/