THE WORLD TO COME - WHAT WE CAN DO NOW

The paper will first discuss certain sociocultural trends such as popu lation growth, increased life expectancy, the labour force and educati on, and look at how these are affecting society as a whole. Such trend s are linked with the global economy and the industrial sector as well as the environment. The consequences of such trends are a number of p roblems which face the world in the future, particularly in developing countries. These problems include overpopulation, levelling off of fo od supplies, diseases, natural resources depletion, and conflicts and clashes in areas where immigration and cultural differences exist. Suc h problems are discussed together with their implications. Some ideas are then given on how these future difficulties might be overcome; and it is clear that information will have an enormous role to play in th is respect. Topics covered comprise global awareness (for example of t he environment, birth control, women's rights, healthcare) through edu cation and information; frontierless transactions; global information access, dissemination, communication and transfer of knowledge; knowle dge build-up and transfer through CDROM archiving of latent skills and know-how; and the like.