“…future shock is no longer a distantly potential danger, but a real sickness from which increasingly large numbers already suffer.”–Alvin Toffler, in Future Shock
Alvin Toffler published those words in the Introduction to Future Shock, fifty years ago. If it was already a widespread malady in 1970, is it anything less than a rampant pandemic now? If you can’t see the trappings of it all over the world, I have a guide dog I want to sell you.

Cosmic Quote #111

Cosmic Quote #110
“An optimist stays up until midnight to see the new year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves.”– Bill Vaughan
If you’ve read my thread on quantum weirdness, you know where I stand on this. I’m in a state of superposition–simultaneously optimistic and pessimistic. So what does that portend for New Year’s eve? If you see somebody asleep on his feet at midnight, it’s probably me. Happy Old/New Year.

Cosmic Quote #109
“You call it procrastinaion; I call it thinking.”–Aaron Sorkin
It seems there is a theory that procrastinators are more creative. Aha! So the fact that I am years behind on the other threads on this blog should be proof positive that I’m incubating more brilliant ideas to dazzle you with. Right!? Or maybe I’m just lazy…

Cosmic Quote #108
“It took me three weeks to stuff the turkey. I stuffed it through the beak.”–Phyllis Diller
Hmm. Thanksgiving is the only day of the year my wife cooks. I suppose you can say it takes her a year to stuff the turkey. Wait–we are visiting relatives this year. The next one will take two years. Happy stuffing day.

Seeking Delphi episode #36: The Future of Nursing and Caregiving, Part One
“Constant attention by a good nurse may be just as important as a major operation by a surgeon.”
– Dag Hammarskjold

Image: Shutterstock
While many futures are generalists, there is a need for foresight professionals centered on specific fields, as well. Perhaps no area is more in need of innovative outlooks for the future than healthcare. With rising costs, aging populations and personnel shortages, the challenges are many. But so are the opportunities to employ emerging technologies. In the first part of a two part series, host Mark Sackler discusses these challenge with two nursing Ph.D.’s, Oriana Beaudet and Dan Pesut. Part One addresses the need for foresight both in nursing specifically and healthcare in general, as well as the global challenges of an aging population. Part two will drill down to individual ssues, including automation, robotics and artificial intelligence as caregiving tools for the future.
You can subscribe to Seeking Delphi™ on Apple podcasts , PlayerFM, MyTuner, Listen Notes, and YouTube
Episode #36, The Future of Nursing and Caregiving, Part 1
Episode #36 YouTube slide show
Links:
University of Minnesota School of Nursing
University of Minnesota Health Innovation and Leadership
Subscribe to Seeking Delphi™ on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe to Seeking Delphi™ on PlayerFM

Seeking Delphi episode #35: NASA, the next ten years, with Dan Dumbacher
This post reblogged from Seeking Delphi™
“I did not come to NASA to make history.”–Sally Ride
“Going to Mars would make NASA great again.”–John Grunsfeld
A new space race is upon us. But unlike the two-way competion days of the 1960’s and early 1970’s, it is now a multi-player competition to dominate and exploit the final frontier.
Where does NASA sit in all of this, in the rapidly changing world of the second space race? In Seeking Delphi episode #35, host Mark Sackler gets an overview of where the agency is headed, from former NASA program director for launch systems, Dan Dumbacher. There’s also a very special announcement of the upcoming ASCEND** space conference, slated for Las Vegas in November of 2020.
**Accelerating Space Commerce, Exploration, and New Discovery
You can subscribe to Seeking Delphi™ on Apple podcasts , PlayerFM, MyTuner, Listen Notes, and YouTube

Orion Capsule. NASA
Episode #35, NASA: The Next Ten Years, with Dan Dumbacher
YouTube slideshow for episode #35
Links:
Subscribe to Seeking Delphi™ on Apple Podcasts
Subscribe to Seeking Delphi™ on PlayerFM

Cosmic Quote #107
“I’m so ugly, when I open the door for trick-or-treaters, the kids give me candy.”–Rodney Dangerfield
Ah, poor Rodney. Who else would be born in ready-made Halloween costume? Enjoy the spookiest day of the year, and don’t let those ghouls get to you.

Cosmic Quote #106
“Life is wasted on the living.”–Douglas Adams
If anybody is counting, I’m pretty sure Mr. Adams has had more quotes in this series than anybody else. He should probably have his own series. Let’s hope this isn’t wasted on the late author: today is the 40th anniversary of the publishing of The Hitchhikers Guide to The Galaxy. Happy Birthday, Arthur Dent! I bet you can’t wait until he turns 42.

Cosmic Quote #105
“I’m a peripheral visionary. I can see the future but only way off to the side.”–Steven Wright
Oh, my. What does Friday taste like? Where are those “future of food” people when you need them? (I might add that any professional futurist knows that you have to look way off to the side, as well as straight ahead, to get any idea of what the future might really hold).