WORLD FUTURE FUND
DESCRIPTION
World Future Fund is an international research institute founded in 1995. Our goal is to help change the direction of world history. We certainly don't claim to be able to do this alone. However, we do see ourselves as a catalyst for positive change. We also have a strong commitment to social justice.
Our planet is a world out of balance. We are borrowing from the future at a pace unprecedented in history. There needs to be a giant change in direction. We need to start building for a real future. This is our goal. It is a realistic goal. Our planet has the technology. What we need is a political commitment to victory.
Today's environmental trends have no future. There is a very simple choice. People will implement reforms or nature will do the job for them.
It is very important to understand that most of the major reforms cannot be implemented on an individual or local basis. These reforms require a centralization of government power and international cooperation. In other words reform is a matter of politics and political philosophy. This is why we have spent a great deal of time studying history and political philosophy. We have learned that democracy does not rule by divine right but by the assumption of civil responsibilities by those who vote. Today, there is no greater civil responsibility than the transformation of today's world economic order to a system that is compatible with the hard realities of nature. Democracy failed and committed suicide in ancient Greece and Rome. That will happen here if reform does not come.
Time remains the same. History remains the same. Nature's laws remain the same. Nature's laws apply to all nations and all political systems. Nature has existed for billions of years. Humans in their current form have only been here for 80,000 years. Nature's laws are remorseless. They cannot be changed by human political systems.
Every age in history has a theme. Ours is debt. The whole structure of the modern economy is an environmental debt against the future. In the last 30 years environmental debts have been compounded by growing financial debts.
Debt is like a drug. It creates a false sense of security by pushing problems into the future. The problem is that the global future is refusing to stay in the future. It is turning into today.
Since 1995 all the world's disease experts have warned about a coming epidemic. They warned that America needed to adopt national health insurance like every other modern state. These warnings were ignored. A million Americans got killed by COVID.
Meanwhile America's endless wars to assert a position of global dominance have cost $8 trillion and millions of deaths. Today America is involved in a very dangerous hot war with Russia and may get into a war with China.
Clearly American elites need to wake up and see a vision of real national security. They need to accept a world of independent states.
The World Future Fund website has more than 3,000 pages and many more links. Many of our pages have hit number one positions in the world's leading internet search engines. Our web site contains much high quality documentary material that cannot be found anyplace else.
We stand at a turning point in the tiny time period (80,000 years) that we have been on this planet. Nature's billions of years stretch out behind us and before us.
Huge changes are coming to our planet with or without the cooperation of our leaders. It is our belief that change would be best if it took place in an orderly, nonviolent manner. We can change direction. There is still time but time is short. Unfortunately, we believe we have already passed the tipping point on many issues so there is likely to be a large number of fatalities no matter what happens.
Some of our leaders have thought that they would be able to serve out their terms and enjoy the benefits of power before the coming storms arrive. Others have egotistical delusions about building a fairy tale future which will never take place. These people are going to learn some very hard lessons.
Time is running out. People should work for non violent, peaceful change today. Tomorrow, nature will impose changes on them whether they want to cooperate or not.
Our job is to educate people and leaders to make the needed reforms. It is also our job to warn those in power of the consequences of failure.
The World Future Fund is certified by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service as a non-profit corporation. All contributions are tax deductible.
Here are some of our key reports:
Building a Sustainable Future: An Outline of Reform
Visions of the Future: An Introduction to Future Watch Studies on Our Site
Portrait of Our Planet: A Collection of Charts and Pictures (PDF)
Political Models
Success of European Social Welfare State
Economic Democracy: Labor on Company Boards in Germany
Global Social Justice
U.S. Reports
The Need For a Manhattan Project on Renewable Energy
Building a Real Economic Future
You can also check the site index of our entire site.
Here are some useful sources of information.
Reading List and Links on Global Future Studies
Signs of the Times (News Stories on Relevant Events)
Creative Videos on the State of the Planet
MANAGEMENT TEAM
The World Future Fund is run by a professional management team with many years experience in the non-profit world. It is backed up by a global network of expert consultants with critical foreign language and research skills. Details on the senior management of the organization can be accessed clicking here.
GLOBAL POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY, CULTURE AND RELIGION PROJECTS
The destruction of the biological foundations of life on this planet is not just a physical problem. It is a moral problem. This is why we need to
explore the relationship between the physical dimensions of the world's current self destructive policies and global ethical world outlooks in terms of religion and philosophy.Global reform cannot take place in a vacuum. The seriousness of the current crisis mandates an awareness of common values in world religions and philosophies if a political critical mass is to be reached that will be able to reverse current global policies. All the great philosophers and world religions demand a level of self sacrifice for future generations. There are differences in world religions. These are serious. However, current global environmental policies are a complete contradiction of any kind of ethical vision.
We believe in using the power of the internet to bring vital documentary material to the reader's attention. We have already posted reading lists on global religion, philosophy and political theory on the WFF web site. We are also placing key works of philosophy and history on the web site and linking to others. In this way, the WFF web site can serve as a true virtual university. A person will not have to go to a library and spend hours searching for books. The poorest person can get educated if they can get internet access.
Eventually, these reading lists could be expanded to be a basis for college courses on world religion and political theory.
A key part of the reading list on political philosophy will educate people about the importance of the centralized power of the national state as the key instrument for reform. Global environmental problems cannot be solved without a centralization of state power. There are few things more dangerous than the current efforts to attack the centralization of power in our world.
Man is not an island. He is not an isolated individual. Man exists in the context of community. The term "community" in today's world needs to be understood as the planet. A case study of what it should not be limited to is the "local" community. "Community" means participation in the affairs of the national state. It is through the power of the national state that global political power can be created that will be strong enough to deal with today's global problems. Here are our key programs:
OUR
GLOBAL EDUCATION PROJECT ON POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION
LOOKING BEYOND A "WEST IS BEST" VIEW OF HISTORY
The major problems of today's world require international cooperation. Pollution from China ends up in America. The "lungs of the planet", the world's rain forests, are almost exclusively in Third World nations. Without international understanding and cooperation there is no hope.
The key question is how that understanding is reached. We believe that a precondition of international understanding is education. People need to learn about other cultures. This is why we have translation sites listed on our web. This is why we have launched this project. This is why we feel that the study of history from a global point of view is vital. Click here for a description of this project.
GLOBAL TOTALITARIANISM RESEARCH PROJECT
The deepening global environmental crisis is going to have serious political implications. At the moment we are living in a state of political paralysis. The data shows a continuing downtrend in just about every area. However, we have political structures that seem unable to reform themselves. A key point of our indicators project to try to get people to work for nonviolent, peaceful change so that democratic reform can take place.
However, the magnitude of the problems and the dismal performance of the present political order make it only prudent to look at what will happen if things do not turn around. We need to understand the political forces that are likely to come to power.
The term totalitarianism was invented by Mussolini but the philosophy it represents is actually thousands of years old. Those who do not remember the past are doomed to repeat it. Unlike any other study that we know of, our study looks back into ancient history in the east and the west to analyze political trends that may emerge in the future.
GLOBAL MEDIA AND POPULAR CULTURE PROJECT
It has been said that the indirect message can sometimes be far more powerful than the direct message. Film, art and music can influence the subconscious part of the mind. This is why are studying both global pop culture and the use of art in politics. We have created detailed links to the media around the world. Via our site you can see waht is on the air in Tokyo or New Dehli. A particular concern of ours is to show low income people how to get started in the music business using the power of computers via our WFF Home Recording Guide. We also plan to communicate with key people in the media and entertainment industries worldwide to see how positive messages can be placed into artistic projects.
EDUCATION FOR THE DEVELOPING WORLD
We are very committed to the idea of the internet as a means of
education for the people of the less-developed world.
We deliberately do not use frames on our web and keep graphics to a
minimum so that people in the developing world who do not have the money
for high speed internet access will be able to read our site.
Our pages are coded to be readable on most mobile phones.
This is particularly important since the speed of access slows down as
viewers get farther away or are in countries that do not have modern
telecommunications networks. Via the internet the world's poor will be able to get access to libraries that they could not hope to reach otherwise.
WORLD
FUTURE FUND LIBRARY
A FOUNDATION OF RESEARCH AND EDUCATION PROGRAMS
A key part of the organization is the World Future Fund Library. This contains books on history from all over the world. It also receives key newspapers and magazines. Via cable TV it monitors news and educational programs. All this is connected to the use of the Internet and various online services for research and educational purposes.
THE WORLD FUTURE FUND AS A VIRTUAL UNIVERSITY
CREATING MODEL COURSES
The Internet will enable the World Future Fund to serve as a virtual university. It could create model courses that any visitor to the web site could take. These courses could also serve as models for university courses. Our current reading and links lists are designed from the ground up to be a basis for this.
SCHOLARS NETWORK
Our web is designed to be a clearing house for information and a guide to scholars who wish to study various fields. We want to guide people to original source material and encourage the study of matters that are not getting adequate attention. Our reading lists are a starting point in this area.
We do not make grants to individuals. However, we do have a program to hire scholars on a consultant basis. We can also make grants to universities for use by a specific scholar.
GEOGRAPHIC FOCUS OF WFF ACTIVITIES
Our primary focus is the United States of America. America is the number one world power, with a level of global dominance without parallel in history. Our indicators focus on American government actions. Beyond America we are concentrating on four other key areas of the world, the European Union, China, Japan and India. This enables us to focus on five major governments: USA, the EU, Japan, China and India. Ultimately, however, we intend to expand our coverage to other areas of the world.
On a selective basis we do provide grants to other non-profits in areas where we feel we can use a grant to influence another non-profit to take action that we might not. There are few things more foolish that having nonprofit organizations duplicate each others' work. In some cases we feel it is better for us to make grants to other organizations than to take action ourselves. We are particularly interesting in funding organizations in the Third World.
We have already made a number or grants in the field of inter-religious dialogue trying to encourage real communications and nonviolent solutions to serious conflicts
EDUCATING OTHER NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS
In coordination with plans to help educate and distribute relevant information via the media, the WFF will also seek to assist other public interest 501 c 3 organizations in understanding the need for more investment in the future and how this relates to them. Again, the web site will be used. Efforts to share information and avoid duplication of work will be explored in a careful manner.
PROFESSIONAL BUSINESS STRUCTURE
AND FINANCIAL ACCOUNTABILITY
The nonprofit world demands professional experience as well as good intentions. We have hired major firms of the highest professional standing for legal, accounting and investment services. We try to follow the most strict principles of law and accounting so that our contributors can know that their money is being well spent. This costs time and money but we believe it is the cornerstone of building a strong base for future growth.
CONCLUSION
What we do is unique. We know of no other organization that combines the study of the realities of our world with political and religious viewpoints. Our planet has the money and it has the technology to build a viable future. What it does not have is the political will to achieve this goal. This is where we come in to discuss the relationship between religion and political philosophy, along with the core needs of our world that have to be met. The huge popularity of our websites is a vindication of this strategy. We live in a world of different religions and different political systems. We must come together to deal with the future crises we face. No one country or system should have the right to dominate all others. Martin Luther King observed that we must have the wisdom to live together or we shall die together as fools.