Search Foundation Website

 

Announcements

2011 Kistler Prize
Call for Nominations

Deadline: September 30, 2010

Streaming Video

Cosmic Origins: From Big Bang to Humankind

Where Does Humanity Go from Here?

Interview with Dr. J. Craig Venter

 

Planned Events

“Water – The Crisis Ahead”

Humanity 3000 Workshop
April 2010

Peter Ward Lecture

Walter P. Kistler Lecture Series
June 16, 2010, Seattle (revised date)

Young Scholars Inquiry

Young Scholars Seminar
June 2010

Lecture

Walter P. Kistler Lecture Series
September 2010

11th Annual Kistler Prize

September 2010

Humanity 3000 Seminar

November 2010

 

RECENT Events

Brian Fagan Lecture

Walter P. Kistler Lecture Series
November 2009

10th Annual Kistler Prize

October 2009

Donald Johanson Lecture

Walter P. Kistler Lecture Series
September 2009

Walter P. Kistler Book Award

April 2009

 

Recent Publications

Foundation News Vol. 12

Fall 2009
[1.9 MB PDF]

“Anthropogenic Climate Change: A Worst-case Scenario” Executive Summary

“Future of Planet Earth” Proceedings

“Energy Challenges” Executive Summary

 

All Foundation publications are available for download from our Publications page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2010 at Foundation For the Future

 

For fourteen years Foundation For the Future has brought together leading thinkers and scholar experts from multiple disciplines to discuss the important issues that will have an impact on the long-term future of humanity, then published transcripts or video or audio captures of those conversations and authoritative viewpoints. Last year we introduced a new program, the Walter P. Kistler Lecture Series, to bring to the public, free-of-charge, direct access to expert information on topics that impact humanity.

 

NEWS AND PLANNED EVENTS

“Water – The Crisis Ahead”

Humanity 3000 Workshop
April 2010

Water is emerging as a bigger crisis for humanity than oil, but few in the general public are aware of the urgent need to address this issue. In this invitation-only workshop, Foundation For the Future will put sharp focus on the subject by convening internationally recognized experts for face-to-face discussions on the coming water crisis. More…

 

“Our Flooding World” by Dr. Peter D. Ward

Third Lecturer of the Walter P. Kistler Lecture Series
June 16, 2010 (revised date) • Town Hall, Seattle

University of Washington professor and paleontologist Peter D. Ward will speak on sea-level change. Dr. Ward is a professor of biology and of Earth and space sciences at UW, and an astrobiologist with NASA. Among his more acclaimed books are Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe (with Donald Brownlee, 2000) and Under a Green Sky: Global Warming, the Mass Extinctions of the Past, and What They Can Tell Us About Our Future (2007). His latest book, The Flooded Earth: Our Future in a World Without Ice Caps, will be released in June. This lecture is free-of-charge to the public. More…

 

“The Future: Young Scholars’ Inquiry” Seminar

June 2010

After six months of research and preparation, a class of 10- and 11-year-olds will meet at the Foundation For the Future building for an all-day seminar addressing humanity’s long-term future. The students will deliver PowerPoint presentations resulting from their research into specific future-oriented topics. In addition they will participate in small-group sessions and plenary discussions, following the basic format of the Humanity 3000 Program to arrive at their own conclusions about the most critical issues facing humanity.

 

11th Annual Kistler Prize

September 2010

The annual Kistler Prize recognizes original contributions to the understanding of the connection between the human genome and human society, especially those contributions stemming from research conducted with courage and conviction despite opposition from peers or the public. The nominating period for the 2010 Kistler Prize has concluded; the winner will be announced in 2010.
 

RECENT EVENTS

“Water: The Elixir of Humanity” by Dr. Brian Fagan

Second Lecture of the Walter P. Kistler Lecture Series
Seattle, WA | November 2009

Dr. Brian Fagan takes us on a journey through humanity’s complex relationship with water over the past 5,000 years. From the present, he looks into the future, into a world where the wars of coming generations are likely to revolve around access to water in an increasingly warmer and drier world. More…

 


 

Dr. Svante Pääbo Receives 10th Annual Kistler Prize

Seattle, WA | October 2009

Foundation For the Future has selected Dr. Svante Pääbo as the 2009 winner of the Kistler Prize. Dr. Pääbo, a biologist specializing in evolutionary genetics, is Director of the Department of Genetics at Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany.

Dr. Pääbo was honored for a body of work with ancient DNA, beginning in 1984 with the demonstration of DNA survival in a 2,400-year-old mummy. More…
 
 

“Darwin and Human Evolution” by Dr. Donald C. Johanson

First Lecture of the NEW Walter P. Kistler Lecture Series
Seattle, WA | September 2009

Foundation For the Future launched its latest program, the Walter P. Kistler Lecture Series, on September 29 with a lecture by renowned paleoanthropologist Dr. Donald C. Johanson, discoverer of the 3.2-million-year-old hominid “Lucy,” perhaps the best known and most studied fossil hominid, which revolutionized the study of human origins. More…


 
 

David Archer Receives Walter P. Kistler Book Award for 2009

Seattle, Washington | April 2009

Dr. Archer is the 2009 recipient of the Walter P. Kistler Book Award, which recognizes authors of science-based books that make important contributions to the public’s understanding of the factors that may impact the long-term future of humanity.

In The Long Thaw, Dr. Archer discusses the scientific realities of humankind’s continuing increases in the release of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. More…