My Oral Presentation

The Project was initiated in 1992 by the American Council for the United Nations University with the cooperation of the Smithsonian Institution and the Futures Group. Sponsors include Ford Motor Company, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Motorola Cooperation, Army Environmental Policy Institute, Shell International and General Motors. The U.S. EPA had funded some of the Project's research on population and environmental issues and has taken the results of the research into consideration when drafting policies and regulations. 

Participants of the Project include more than 200 futurist, scholars, and policy makers from 50 different countries who came together and discuss significant issues and developments from their respective countries that they feel will have a great impact on the living condition of humans at the millennium. Project participants have identified 15 global issues and made some recommendations on what actions to take to address such issues. The 15 global issues identified include: 

• 1. World population is growing; food, water, education, housing, medical care must grow apace
• 2. Fresh water is becoming scare in localized areas of the world
• 3. The gap in living standards between the rich and poor promises to become more extreme and divisive
• 4. The threat of new and re-emerging diseases and immune micro-organisms is growing
• 5. Diminishing capacity to decide (as issues become more global and complex under conditions of increasing uncertainty and   risk
• 6. Terrorism is increasingly destructive , proliferating, and difficult to prevent
• 7. Adverse interactions between the growth of population and economic growth with environmental quality and natural resources
• 8. The status of Women is changing.
• 9. Increasing severity of religious, ethnic, and racial conflicts
• 10. Information technology's promise and peril
• 11. Organized crime groups becoming sophisticated global enterprises
• 12. Economic growth brings both promising and threatening consequences
• 13. Nuclear power plants around the world are aging
• 14. The HIV epidemic will continue to spread
• 15. Work, unemployment, leisure, and underemployment is changing

I agree with some of the issues identified by the Project participants; most especially issues relating to world population, health, crime and conflict. These issues are important to address because they affect the quality of life and living conditions in which people will be exposed to at the millennium. By addressing these issues, hopefully, policy makers can make wise and favorable decisions/actions that will set the course of global development and societal achievements in the up coming decade.

One of the issues identified by the Project that is relevant to this class is "THE PROMISE AND DANGERS OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY". Information and computer technology has introduced new developments that have become an central part of civilization. For example, the Internet has affected the medium through which information is communicated and obtained like no other development in history. It is becoming the first location for the discussion of new ideas in publishing, advertising, and commerce. The Internet is one of the most cost effective way to link people and data around the world, spreading modern sciences and techniques, cultures, and various arts at a faster speed. One promise of the Internet is the potential it has to accelerate economic development, provide greater and faster access to the world's knowledge and become the medium for which third world countries could participate in the world's economy. As prices for computers, software, and telecommunications continue to fall, it is hopeful that all forms of information technology will become more accessible to third world and underdeveloped countries. 

The danger of information technology and the Internet include credit and bank fraud, manipulation and exploitation of information, the difficulty in establishing the authenticity of information, pornography issues, privacy and property rights, the creation and spread of viruses, and a new medium through which students can cheat.

Actions recommended by the Project's participants to address this issues were:

• 1. Provide more free Internet access to public libraries and schools.
• 2. Create incentives for foreign investors to accelerate the introduction of computer communications and related equipment to developing countries.
• 3. Promote policies that expand network capabilities that tend to help avoid communications overload.
• 4. Create an on-going global forum to freely explore the potentials of the emerging world of cyberspace.
• 5. Recognize potential impacts of information technologies on employment and institute large-scale and entrepreneurial training for emergent or growing economic activities.
• 6. Develop systems to protect children and people's rights not to be exposed to unwanted information.
• 7. Develop computers and software for theirs world and non-western cultures.
• 8. Change medical and education laws to accommodate on-line consultation.
• 9. Promote tele-national citizenship (third world people who live and work in the First World but help develop their countries via tele-commuting).
• 10. Strengthen international property rights to encourage developments of information technology products that can be marketed in developing countries.
• 11. Encourage a hands-off posture toward the regulation of the content and use of international networks such as the Internet.

A. The Millennium Project is funded through private donations as well as government funds. Sponsors for the Project include Army Environmental policy Institute (AEPI), Deloitte & Touche LLP, Ford Motor Company, Foundation for the Future, General Motors, Hughes Space and Communications, Monsato Company, Motorola Corporation, Pioneer Hi-bred International, Shell International, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), UNU, UNDP, and UNESCO.

Q. Why is it important for law makers to decide what the future should be? 
                                                                 Corey Egami

A. I don't think that law makers decide what the future should be.  It is important for law makers to decide what the future should be so that they could have an idea of what the living conditions would be for the people. By anticipating and predicting how the future would be, law makers could take actions to address aversive situations that may threaten the lives of people. 

Q. What countries are involved in the Millennium Project? 
                                              Craig Kawamura   &   Evelyn Moss

A. Participants of the Project come from different countries, however there are 10 nodes which represent the countries that are responsible for organizing research projects in their respective region. The ten NODES are Central Europe, Tokyo, South America, Beijing, Moscow, Tehran, India, London, South Pacific, and Cairo. 

Q. Do you think that the introduction of technology into third world and developing countries, without taking into account their culture and values, might actually be doing more harm than good? Russ Muramatsu

A. I don't think that the introduction of technology into third world and developing countries would do harm to their culture. I feel that information technology will benefit them at a more global view in that improvements in infrastructure, education, health and medicine, and in the economy will would be possible with the introduction of information technology.

Q. How can information technology help poor third countries?
                                                                                 Sean Marrs

A. Information technology can help third world countries be improving conditions in the economy, education, health, and medicine. With the introduction of information technology into third world countries, it is hopeful that it would boost their economic activity and thus, generate revenues that could be used in improving the living standards of its people. For instance, with information technology and all that it could offer, it is possible that third world countries could increase their annual food production and create revenues through importation and exportation of material goods. Revenues could be used in improving infrastructures such as sewage and roads, as well as health conditions. In this way, information technology will offer third world countries the hope of improving the living conditions of its people.

Q. How do you think it will be possible to make information technology available to third world countries?     Valerie Iinuma

A. One way to make information technology available to third world countries is to create some kind of incentives for investors to introduce and make available information technology into third world countries. 

Q. In your opinion, what do you think is the most important or necessary change that needs to be made in information technology for the next millennium?     Sheri Leiberman

A. I think that the most important change that should be made are in the areas of education and training in information technology. 

Q. How does the subject affect you or our class? Do you think that we should accommodate more online university?      Carolyn Agmata

A. I think that we should accommodate more online university because of the potential benefits it has to offer to society. With online university more people will be able to pursue a secondary education. Online university provides for a medium of higher education without being physically present, which means that people don't have to move to another state to attend college.

Q. How do you feel about online universities? How do we make online universities more creditable?             Wilfred Lee

A. I think that online universities is a great way for people to pursue a higher education. Time and other personal issues constrain people from attending college, and perhaps with online university people will have the opportunity to further their education without having to be physically present in a university.

To make online university more credible, I think that some criteria should be established to determine the credibility of the university. Perhaps, course work should be similar to traditional universities. 

Q. What is the Millennium Project?    Kyle Michibata

A. The Millennium Project is an international and global collaboration to provide for early warning and analysis of global issues, developments, opportunities, and strategies for the millennium. If is a global effort to address global issues that will have a great impact at the millennium.

Q. What global issues do you believe will affect society the most at the millennium?  Albert Ne

A. I believe that issues concerning world population, health, and information technology will affect society the most at the millennium. It is critical that actions be taken to address problems of increasing world population and the declining resources to accommodate such an increase.