2004 Ten-Year Forecast: Perspectives [SR-829]

Long a mantra at the Institute for the Future, this principle is particularly important in times that serve up more than the usual quantum of surprises and uncertainty. Indeed, this decade has so preoccupied us with surprises that nearly halfway into it, it is the first decade in a century to have no name. Perhaps it is because events are still too new to allow a label to settle in. Or perhaps the name-defining event has yet to occur. Until a name emerges, however, the very namelessness of the decade is itself a compelling indicator of the challenge of making sense of the next ten years.