Dear Friends:
During the coming weeks and months, there are a number of areas that I will be watching and reporting about in detailed postings on this blog. This is merely a preliminary listing of subjects to be covered and trends to be tracked, and I welcome other culturists, economists, political pundits, social researchers, scientists, bloggers and thinkers of all types to suggest topics which you would like to see covered and trends that you would like to see monitored and reported about. Your input is critical, and will be given due consideration. You may comment directly on any post (e.g., right on this site), or send your information to me directly at FreeDECastle001@yahoo.com. Expect a prompt response. Please do not burden me with apocalytic speculation and other suppositions and whinings about the end of the world -- when the end of the world does indeed arrive, I will simply stop posting...and you will probably have to stop complaining as well. It's only fair.
On a serious note though, for the time being, and for the foreseeable future, I will post as if the world were a going concern, and that my readers are reasonably intelligent, inquisitive and proactive persons who want to prepare for the future and to benefit by applying new information to their decisionmaking rather than stand idly by and watch the future turn into the past.
Some of the selected chart targets are categorized below, in no particular order of priority or importance:
*Privacy, piracy, identity theft, data mining, intrusive technologies, database accumulation, movement tracking, coding, profiling, recordkeeping and reporting, smartcarding, RFID, scanning;
*Advancement of women, minorities, ethnic groups, economic classes in business, consumerism and politics;
*Outsourcing and offshoring trends;
*Internationalism and treaty-formation;
*Technological advances;
*Changes in the regulatory environment and compliance requirements;
*Emerging and declining economies and countries;
*Shifting world demographics;
*Changing belief systems and "conventional wisdom";
*Education and employment trends;
*Culture and consumerism;
*Economic, trade, commodities FOREX, interest and monetary trends and implications;
*Changes in qualification, behavioral and other social standards;
*Movement tracking -- Environmentalism, Religious Fundamentalism, Political Action Groups, NGOs and other groups, clubs and fraternal orders;
*International and intranational alliances in formation, as well as wars and animosities fomenting;
*Industry domination, multinational collusion;
*Individuals and companies on the rise or decline;
*Developments in healthcare, medical treatment, wellness, longevity, the quality of life and the Human condition;
*Longer-term investment trends.
I am optimistic that these posts will be information-intensive and highly useful. Where appropriate, I will hyperlink to other blogs and websites of interest which provide meaningful and credible detail about any of the subjects covered. And I will not waste your time...as we never truly know just how much we have of it.
In a departure from my characteristically antisocial solo style, I will absolutely invite and encourage guest bloggers and interviewees to contribute to postings, and will give full attribution to every contributor. I am anticipating acting as the de facto coordinator and moderator of a massive group effort. It is also wise to bear in mind that trends, when disclosed early-on in the appropriate media by credible sources, often turn into self-fulfilling prophesies. In aggressively promulgating a prediction of the future, we may, in fact, be creating it!
Faithfully,
Douglas Castle
p.s. The character depicted in the upper left-hand corner of this post translates (loosely) to "book". There is great significance and relevance to the use of this particular character in this post -- I leave it to my insightful and intelligent readers to determine what it is. ~~~
