ABSTRACT
This chapter 1 explores the effects of current IT policies and corporate and government praxis in the arena of technological development and use. It also explores global trends that lead toward futures that a majority of the world population, arguably, would not choose and should actively seek to avoid.
It emphasises growing discrepancies between information rich and information poor, segregated by an invisible technologically-imposed boundary and further controlled by surveillance technology creating newer social cleavages and IT-harems. The chapter also explores current visions for the future of employment in an information society and concludes with 'wicked' policy issues for urgent consideration.
