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World Future Society Houston, TX July 23-July 25, 2000 Pathways IV adds to a growing body of work within WFS conferences begun at San Francisco in 1997, continued in Chicago and Washington, and synthesized to date with the book Pathways to Sustainability: The Age of Transformation, available at http://ceres.ca.gov/tcsf/pathways. In three years, over 75 presenters and thousands of participants established this foundation as part of the emerging global "meta network" building a better future. In our rapidly changing and increasingly complex world, six core themes of building capacities for transformation, leadership, learning, strategies, tools and resources, are supported by a web of interdependency that includes creating local think tanks, applying consensus democracy, using electronic communications in the "Digital Economy," and conducting "Conversations on Ethics, Values and Relationships" in local communities about their future. All of these elements support an "Emerging Future Framework" of what is working now, to understand the actions of millions of people and tens of thousands of organizations worldwide. This expanding global network increases in strength as capacities are built, strategies are embraced and linkages among communities increase. With technology making information increasingly available, there is no absence of information, but its value and how we use it are ever more important questions. This year Pathways focuses on identifying the information we need, transforming it into knowledge and using it wisely to create a sustainable future in the 21st Century. Conferee participation will be a key element of each session. SESSIONS 1. Information, Knowledge, Wisdom and Our Common Future: Sunday Thursday, July 23, 1999 following opening plenary session: 9:00pm As the opening of the fourth year of the track Pathways to Sustainability, this session will review the global integration of information, how we currently create, transfer and manage knowledge and the transformational capacities now being built to do so wisely in an increasingly complex future. If you are someone looking for ways to integrate your knowledge and wisdom into the efforts of a growing global network, this session will provide a context for your efforts and additional opportunities to apply them. We will compare the local level, where knowledge integration and management are more closely woven, with higher levels and their increasing specialization. We will also focus on the promises of technological society to produce an ever increasing quality of life and the consequences for the natural and human systems in which it operates. Can we move across the spectrum from data to information to knowledge to wisdom as we create the future? Brief introductions of each of these elements will precede full participant dialogue. Joseph Kruth, President, Arete, Inc., Chair, Tahoe Center for a Sustainable Future, Glenbrook, NV F.L. "Rick" Smyre, President, Communities of the Future, Gastonia, NC Chris Thompson, Future's Director, Scottish Council Foundation, Edinburgh, Scotland Keywords: education, future's methodologies, learning, knowledge management, sustainability, technology 2. Building Capacities for Transformational Learning The concept of transformational learning is a keystone idea from Communities of the Future. Members of the national advisory council of the Center for Transformational Learning in Grand Rapids, MI will introduce three important concepts as a part of its ongoing program of work: The principles of transformational learning Developing a network of "future institutes" at community colleges Building capacities for transformational learning in local communities Ed Duffy, Vice President for Development, York Technical College, Rock Hill, SC. Joe Grubbs, Assistant Professor, Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids, MI Tom Lombardo, Professor, Rio Salados Community College, Tempe, AZ F.L. "Rick" Smyre, President, Communities of the Future, Gastonia, NC Keywords: future's methodologies, learning, sustainability 3. Building Capacities for a Knowledge Democracy A node of the Center for Communities of the Future, the New Democracy Center, (a partnership between the Blacksburg Electronic Village and COTF) has established a pilot network of interested communities to do research and development on how to build capacities for an electronic republic. As the creation of an electronic infrastructure leads to the potential of more direct citizen participation, how an electorate prepares itself to make informal decisions will be the central feature of a knowledge democracy. Andrew Cohill, Director, Blacksburg Electronic Village and New Democracy Center, Blacksburg, VA. Bill Hammerman, Director, Petaluma Net, Petaluma, CA. Keywords: future's methodologies, information technology, knowledge management, technology 4. Building Capacities for a Digital Economy The ideas of E-business and E-commerce (a subset of e-business) are hot topics in the private sector. The Center for Development of the Digital Economy in San Antonio (a node of the Center for Communities of the Future) focuses its work on how to prepare the thinking and organization of business, educational and political leaders in order to develop new capacities for local small businesses and entrepreneurs as they compete in a fast-paced, interconnected and global economy. Ken Oilschlager, President, State of Kentucky Chamber of Commerce Ernest Gerlach, Director, Center for Development of the Digital Economy Steve Ahlieneus, President, McAllen ( TX ) Chamber of Commerce Keywords: future's methodology, information technology, technology 5. Education, Values and Society This session will consider the relationships between education, learning, consumption and sustainability, with a special focus on underlying values and learning to be a citizen of the 21st century. Education offers a wide range of potential outcomes, from helping individuals acquire citizenship skills to becoming more discriminating consumers, with unlimited desires. Learning can identify individual values to participate as co-creators of a future that is both personally rewarding and collectively sustainable. A major issue of the 21st Century will be to what extent these values are adopted by a broader base of humanity. Recent studies reveal that high levels of affluence and consumption, usually by the most educated, without compensating factors such as community involvement and close relationships, correlate to personal depression. How can we create a capacity to transform ourselves and shift a world preoccupied with materialism to one that respects ethics, values and relationships while enjoying the benefits of the material world and the rapid advances in technology? We will consider these issues and continues the discussions from Chicago in 1998 and Washington in 1999 on Ethics, Values and Relationships, with full participant dialogue. Lauren Huddleston, Director, Consortium International, Pagosa Springs, CO Prasad Kaipa, President, Mithya Institute for Learning, Campbell, CA Joseph Kruth, President, Arete, Inc., Chair, Tahoe Center for a Sustainable Future, Glenbrook, NV Keywords: education, learning, knowledge management, information technology, sustainability, values |
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Pathways to Sustainability IV: Knowledge, Transformation and Wisdom in the 21st Century |
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