ES.256 | Spring 2008 | Undergraduate

The Coming Years

Lecture Notes

The lecture notes provide a summary of what was discussed during class. Also included in the table are questions related to the assigned readings. Students are expected to come to class prepared to discuss the questions.

SES # TOPICS LECTURE NOTES
1 The recent past and the near future (PDF)
2 Techniques in futurology (PDF)
3

Historigraphic theories: class struggle, cycles, and paradigm shifts

Reading Questions (PDF)

(PDF)
4 Catastrophic change, power laws, and fractals (PDF)
5 Disasters and collapses: nuclear war, global warming, peak oil, bioterrorism (PDF)
6 The singularity (PDF)
7 World changing, revelations, and revolutions (PDF)
8 Future politics (PDF)
9 Society in motion (PDF)
10 Science and technology No notes available
11

Economics and demographics

Reading Questions (PDF)

(PDF)
12 Describing the future (PDF)
13 Memetics (PDF)
14 Final project presentations (PDF)

Course Info

Instructor
As Taught In
Spring 2008
Learning Resource Types
Lecture Notes
Written Assignments
Activity Assignments