Over the years, I've often laughed at all the predictions which are made by technology Futurists in hindsight. Of course it's very easy to laugh at those who make predictions after the fact, and it isn't very easy for any of us to predict the future any better than their best efforts. Not long ago, someone came to me and wanted to join our think tank, and help us out with trying to save the planet from the Mayan calendar.

Well, I didn't really know what to say, nevertheless they are not a member of our think tank as you might imagine. The reality is that no one who has ever predicted the end of the world has ever been right, at least not yet. And that one day when someone is correct, after that what difference does it make anyway? Do you see my point? And I'm not giving kudos to the late-night talk show listeners or conspiracy theorists; I'm just stating the facts as I see them.

In the Wall Street Journal there was a fun article on March 6, 2012 entitled; "In Thailand, It's Hard to Predict Future of Fortunetelling - Seer Is Fined, Astrologers Fume; More of Us are Going to Get Sued," by James Hookway. The article stated;

"Telling the future can be a risky business. When French seer Nostradamus published his prophecies in the 16th century, he wrote in obscure verses apparently to prevent anybody calling him a heretic," and " Thai soothsayer Thongbai Khamsri has a more humdrum problem: Lawyers, "Knowing the future has brought me nothing but trouble," says Mr. Thongbai, 73 years old, at his mountaintop retreat near Thailand's border with Cambodia."

You know, in the United States we also have a bit of lawyering and lawsuits going on when it comes to forward looking statements from corporate CEOs and CFOs. But what we don't have is a line of lawsuits against financial analysts, politicians, industry alarmists, or Futurists in this country. If we did we'd be in serious trouble. It's important to listen to what everyone has to say, and when someone rings the alarm bell, it makes sense to take a look at their data, their premise, their theories, and then proceed accordingly.

If we fail to plan ahead, we are planning to fail. Strategic planning is quite important. Certainly it is in our government, political bodies, businesses, and every other aspect of the human endeavor. We can't ask people to stop predicting the future, and we can't sue everyone who was wrong. voyance immediate