[Opinion] Report on the Future

There is a saying, “There is no present now, and no past in the future.” It means now is the time of rapid movement forward, and the time to come is more important than the past, determining the destiny. The concentrated areas for the coming 10 to 20 years ahead by the Bush administration are information technology, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and new energy. The U.S.’ “2015 report” states that global changes will be led by the following: population, resources and environment, scientific technology, global economy and globalization, the U.S. and the global management capabilities, and conflicts.

Japan also has seven new industry creation strategies: four areas of information home appliances, robots, fuel cells, and content industry; and three areas of welfare and health, energy and environment, and management assistance in the market expansion category. The Japanese government declared that it would focus on these by 2010. China, albeit too early to be thinking about future industries, strives to focus on “developing the west,” “investing in three provinces in northeast,” and “building an economically ideal society.” Meanwhile, India’s biotechnology and information technology are already at their peak and not something for the future.

The aforementioned are not only future projections. There is active research underway on individuals’ promising occupations. Timothy Mack, the chairman of the World Future Society, said, “Promising fields include extended life expectancy, jobs for the increasing number of the elderly, cultural fields as a result of higher demands for leisure activities, and development of new materials for the environment. Artificial Intelligence, hydrogen energy, and artificial organ areas are also included.” Other reports selected beauty and healthcare industries.

Then what would be the key words for Korea now? Probably eavesdropping, coalition government, regional conflicts, historical past, and left-right conflicts. There is nothing future-oriented except for Dr. Hwang Woo-suk’s team on “stem cells,” amid all the present issues to be resolved immediately, long-delayed ones, or political strife. Interestingly, future analysis of the U.S. is led by the CIA, contrary to the KCIA, Agency for National Security Planning, and National Intelligence Service, which focused on eavesdropping to pay loyalty to the policymakers.

Kim Chung-sik, Editorial Writer, skim@donga.com