by Kate McCallum
Introduction
The explosive, accelerating growth of knowledge in a rapidly changing and increasingly interdependent world gives us so much to know about so many things that it seems impossible to keep up. At the same time, we are flooded with so much trivial news that serious attention to serious issues gets little interest, and too much time is wasted going through useless information. How can we learn what is important to know to make sure that there is a good future for civilization? Traditionally, the world has gained access to most of its knowledge through the education systems, the arts, media, and entertainment. Today and into the future, information flow will be even more pervasive, with ever increasing communication technologies emerging on the landscape of experience. In 2007 The Millennium Project conducted a global assessment of some elements of the future of education and learning.1 In 2011 the Millennium Project looked at the future of the arts, media, and entertainment. A distillation of the results is presented here.2(continue…)