College of Education

The purpose of this paper is to present a new paradigm and an innovative technology for thinking about the future. The concept of time synchronization is introduced as a technology to improve individual competency for balancing the continuous construction of reinterpreted pasts, presents and futures in order to cope with the acceleration of change, complexity, and uncertainty. This new paradigm is driven by recognition of three factors: 1. Humans are both conservative and novelty generating. 2. Novelty is a key factor of life and humans address novelty through pattern-evolving creativity. 3. Reality is defi ned through the unique ability of humans to anticipate and defi ne experience in terms of pattern and category. Th is article asserts that rapidly expanding human plurality and novelty require new models concerning relationships of past, present, and future. Such models should adequately address the rapidly changing and more complex conditions in which they are constructed and de...

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of leading global mega forces and their importance to the future of natural resource decisionmaking, policy development, and operation. Global mega forces are defined as a combination of major trends, preferences, and probabilities that come together to produce the potential for future high-impact outcomes. These forces are examined in terms of their possible, probable, and preferable future impacts on natural resources. The paper is presented in two stages. First, it identifies seven commonly cited categories of existing, emerging, and projected global mega forces for direction and implications. Next, two technological mega forces with potential for high impact—networked sensoractuator technologies and electronic performanceware systems—are identified and examined in detail.

Foresight is essential for long-term planning and forward-looking decision-making in forestry, where planning horizons often span many decades. But generating foresight is challenging due to the increasing pace and complexity of change and growing uncertainty about the future. Most change that could affect or even disrupt forestry in the future originates outside of the field, such as social, technological, economic, and environmental changes. The Forest Futures Horizon Scanning project (Forest Horizons) aims to generate foresight by identifying early signals of change from outside forestry that professionals within the field may not be aware of or pay close attention to. This article draws on the database of signals of change uncovered in the Forest Horizons project and identifies fifteen key emerging changes that could help shape the long-term future of forestry. Study Implications: The long-term nature of forestry has compelled foresters to be forward-looking and plan many decade...