Although I frequently drive through downtown Kokomo, I still marvel at new construction and recently completed marvels. A dozen years ago, who could have predicted todays Kokomo?

No one can predict the future. We can make predictions, and sometimes (just by virtue of statistical probability) they are going to be right. Tomorrow, for example, the temperature is going to be (1) typical, (2) warmer than usual or (3) colder than usual. If I make enough guesses, I will accurately predict the future temperature perhaps a third of the time.

Futurists men and women who specialize in studying trends and taking the futures pulse tend to offer visions of the future that are worth noting, even if they sometimes miss the mark. When documented changes are already occurring, we need to wake up and smell the coffee.

When I was a lad, one major fear was an over-crowded world. We were told mass starvation and a host of others woes would characterize our planet because the earth could not sustain the large population looming at our door.

I am not sure when the sky-is-falling bunch turned their focus elsewhere, but when was the last time you heard a political crusader rant and rave about overpopulation? There is a reason for this silence, according to bbc.com:

Its a largely untold story gradually, steadily the demographic forces that drove the global population growth in the 20th Century have shifted. Fifty years ago the world average fertility rate the number of babies born per woman was five. Since then, this most important number in demography has dropped to 2.5 something unprecedented in human history and fertility is still trending downwards ... The population will continue to grow as the Peak Child generation grows up and grows old. So most probably three or four billion new adults will be added to the world population but then in the second half of this century the fast growth of the world population will finally come to an end.

Our quest to consider the future leads us to Bill Gates. Bill Gates is not so much a futurist as he is a man who makes the future happen. Gates is quite concerned about germ warfare. According to futurism.com:

When billionaire and philanthropist Bill Gates gave a speech at the Munich Security Conference for the first time Saturday, he argued a very alarming possibility: the future of international security will be fought on the biological front. Specifically, Gates warned about the dangers of a bioterrorist attack that could wipe out 30 million people in less than a year and how were not prepared for it.

... What makes Gates warning even more alarming is the fact that bioterrorism can now be done from behind a computer. Its also true that the next epidemic could originate on the computer screen of a terrorist intent on using genetic engineering to create a synthetic version of the smallpox virus ... or a super contagious and deadly strain of the flu, said Gates.

His suggestion: We need to develop the facilities to develop vaccines within 90 days instead of the more typical two-year period. Will our governments take note?

Lets move on to renewable energy. Green energy is no longer a futurists dream, but a dream that is clearly materializing. One state, Texas, leads the way. According to theguardian.com:

For Texas, this most Republican-dominated, oil-rich and fracking-friendly of states has found itself with the improbable status of being a national leader in this growing form of renewable energy.

Texas has 11,592 turbines and an installed wind capacity of 20,321 megawatts, according to the American Wind Energy Association: three times as much capacity as the next state, Iowa. (California is third.) For the 12-month period ending in October last year, wind provided 12.68% of Texass electricity production equivalent to powering 5.7 million homes.

The ever-surfacing future has arrived and continues to arrive at breakneck speed!

Ed Vasicek is pastor of Highland Park Church and a weekly contributor to the Kokomo Tribune. Contact him at edvasicek@gmail.com

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Ed Vasicek: The ever-surfacing future has arrived - Kokomo Tribune