Five Regions of the Future

Futurist Joel Barker was the first to apply the scientific concept of paradigm shifts to the world of business, which helped make his 1992 book, Future Edge (later republished as Paradigms), a national bestseller. He has spent more than twenty- five years studying how companies adapt (or fail to) to new breakthroughs.

Now Barker and fellow futurist Scott Erickson offer a bold new way of looking at today’s rapidly evolving technologies: as five distinct "ecosystems" that each operates with a distinct set of values, advantages, and disadvantages:
• Super Tech: Bigger, better, more! (e.g., fusion power)
• Limits Tech: Use what you’ve got (e.g., aerogel insulation)
• Local Tech: Think small, think home (e.g., electric wind turbines)
• Nature Tech: Be one with nature (e.g., organic plastics)
• Human Tech: What lies within us (e.g., stem cells)

From pet robots to hypersonic planes, from wave power to waterless toilets, Barker and Erickson give readers a totally new way to understand and take advantage of the future of technology. Five Regions of the Future is an essential book for anyone baffled by today’s technological onslaught.