ABSTRACT
It is the nature of change that big events erupt suddenly and noisily, grab the headlines and shake the world. Changes that often have more impact on mankind’s longterm future tend to take place much more slowly and quietly. It is in our nature to pay too much attention to short-term events and tentative viewpoints; larger, seismic shifts happen on a scale too great for us to easily bring into focus. Futurists concur that the world at the start of the third millennium is on the verge of an era of massive and unprecedented change, change so dynamic and far-reaching as to make many facets of society virtually unrecognisable during the next few decades. We are already starting to feel tremors from what will be tectonic transformations. In this context, we might remind ourselves of the adage ‘the future belongs to those who prepare for it.’
