Numbers, Trends and Truths

This is the hard evidence that futurists are using for their predictions. Without evidence, there can be no scientific basis for prediction. A skeptic of any theory should first go to the evidence to explain where the theorist has gone wrong.

• Circumcision Appears to Reduce AIDS Risk in Men -- (International Herald Tribune -- December 14, 2006)
  http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/12/14/news/aids.php
  Circumcision appears to reduce a man's risk of contracting AIDS from heterosexual sex by half, according to U.S. government health officials. Circumcision has been working so well that continuing clinical trials was determined to be unethical and two of the trials in Africa have been stopped. Directors of the U.S. and international funds for fighting the disease said they would now consider paying for circumcisions.
• Internet Economy Passes New Milestone -- (Physorg -- January 15, 2007)
  http://www.physorg.com/news88056135.html
  Americans spent over 100 billion dollars shopping on the Internet in 2006, and growth in e-commerce is likely to extend its strong pace in the coming years. This could put e-commerce in a position to account for 4.7 percent of total US retail sales in five years, up from 2.7 percent at the end of 2006, with significant implications for the way 'everyday' American companies do business.
• Louisiana Slowly Slipping into Gulf -- (Physorg -- January 2, 2007)
  http://www.physorg.com/news86929148.html
  A new report by scientists studying Louisiana's sinking coast says the land here is not just sinking, it's sliding ever so slowly into the Gulf of Mexico. Researchers have known for years that the swampy land under south Louisiana is sinking (potholed streets and wobbly porches and floors are visible evidence of that) but a lateral movement of the land into the Gulf enters largely unstudied terrain.
• There are more than 4 million closed-circuit television cameras in Britain - about one for every 14 people.
• Dirty water kills 5,000 children a day.
• Average human male testosterone levels have dropped by 1% a year for the past 20 years.
• A NASA satellite has documented changes in Arctic sea ice cover between 2004 and 2005. The extent of "perennial" ice - thick ice which remains all year round - declined by 14%, losing an area the size of Pakistan or Turkey. The last few decades have seen summer ice shrink by about 0.7% per year.
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• Study Acquits Sun of Climate Change -- (CNN -- September 15, 2006)
  http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/science/09/15/global.warming.sun.reut/index.html
  The sun's energy output has barely varied over the past 1,000 years, raising chances that global warming has human rather than celestial causes. Researchers found that the sun's brightness varied by only 0.07 percent over 11-year sunspot cycles, far too little to account for the rise in temperatures since the Industrial Revolution.
• India is now the country with the most people with HIV in the world; an estimated 5.7 million at the end of 2005, overtaking South Africa, which had 5.5 million. -- (BBC -- May 30, 2006)
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• Long term cell use raises brain tumor risk. A Swedish study's figures show that those who make mobile phone calls for 2000 hours or more in their life had a 240 percent increased risk for a malignant tumor on the side of the head the phone is used. (ZDNet -- March 31, 2006)
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This is a frightening prospect considering the wireless age we are entering. Cancer rates should be expected to rise as wireless connections become more prevalent, making a cure all the more necessary.

• 2.6 Billion people are without Sanitation. 1.6 million children under the age of five die because of it every year.
• More than 1 billion adults are overweight and 300 million of them are obese.
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• 1.1 Billion people are without clean drinking water
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• 67% of students use the internet. 47% of black students use the internet, and 44% of Hispanic students. This means there is still an ethnic divide on the internet favoring white children.