• An interactive on-line version of this questionnaire is available at http://mpcollab.org (see "Goals 2050" on left side of the page).
• Chinese version (Chinese word file)
• Spanish version of this questionnaire
• Russian version of this questionnare

Invitation

On behalf of the Millennium Project of the American Council for the United Nations University, we have the pleasure to invite you to participate in an international assessment of inspiring goals for 2050.

In the past, goals like landing a man on the moon or eradicating small pox were considered impossible, yet they excited many people who went beyond their selfish, short-term interests to great achievements. These kinds of audacious goals inspired cooperation to make a better world and yet were so simple to understand that they required little explanation.

What new audacious goals for the year 2050 would you suggest?

The results of this international assessment will appear in the 2002 State of the Future. Previous editions have been used by policymakers and educators around the world. The project previously developed a normative scenario for 2050.  While reference to this scenario is not necessary to answer this questionnaire, it might provide a useful reference; the scenario is available at: http://www.acunu.org/millennium/normscen.html.

Enclosed is the first round of a two-round questionnaire. Round 1 asks you to rate a list of goals and suggest additional ones that will inspire cooperation to improve the human condition. Round 2 will ask for judgments about the results of Round 1. No attributions will be made, but respondents will be listed as participants in 2002 State of the Future. A complimentary copy will be sent to all those who respond to the enclosed questionnaire.

The Project is funded by the sponsors listed below, with additional funding for this particular study from the Foresight and Governance Project of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Please contact us with any questions and return your responses to arrive at the AC/UNU Millennium Project by April 29, 2002.

Please respond by e-mail to acunu@igc.org with a copy to jglenn@igc.org and Tedjgordon@worldnet.att.net or fax to +1-202-686-5179 or airmail to: The Millennium Project, American Council for the United Nations University, 4421 Garrison St. NW, Washington, DC 20016, USA.

We look forward to including your views.

Sincerely yours,

Jerome C. Glenn, Director, AC/UNU Millennium Project
Theodore Gordon, Senior Fellow, AC/UNU Millennium Project

Section 1. Please rate the following goals for their importance, acceptability, and the possibility of achieving the goal by the year 2050. For the purpose of this questionnaire, importance is defined as the ability to improve the future for all, inspire global cooperation, and help other goals to occur. Acceptability is defined as the likelihood that at least one leader of government will eventually adopt the goal and commit the resources to achieve it. Possibility is defined as the likelihood that the goal will be achieved by the year 2050. For perspective, remember that the goal to land a man on the moon was only a ten-year goal; this study is exploring fifty-year goals.

Please use the following scales:

Importance
5 = among most important on the list
4 = of great importance
3 = important
2 = of little importance
1 = of no importance

Acceptability
5 = absolutely
4 = very likely
3 = likely
2 = unlikely
1 = unacceptable

Possibility of achievement
5 = virtually certain
4 = very possible
3 = possible
2 = little possibility
1 = impossible
 

	Goal	Importance	Acceptability	Possibility
1	Reduce the environmental impact of producing each unit of gross domestic product (GDP) by a factor of four
2	Invent a near perfect prediction system of natural disasters
3	Develop an interdisciplinary science of decision-making
4	End organized crime
5	Establish a system of world justice
6.	Eliminate virtually all corruption in government
7	Invent a perfect and universally available lie detector
8	Establish universally acknowledged global ethics
9.	Educate nearly all political leaders in values, ethics, and improved decision-making
10	Educate the majority of the world to the equivalent of a university degree
11	Improve human intelligence 50 points in 50 years
12	Eliminate all major infectious and inherited diseases
13	Establish economic systems that work for all (e.g., ends hunger and poverty)
14	Develop means for allowing individuals to triple their life span
15	Find effective ways of coping with addictive drugs
16	Map all brain functions
17	Make cities more livable (e.g. eliminate traffic gridlock, crime, insecurity, lack of help)
18	Provide clean and abundant energy
19	Understand the origins and likely futures of the universe
20	Move much of the industrial economy into space
21	Establish several permanent habitats throughout the solar system
22	Catalog all asteroids and comets for possible collision with earth and design protective systems
23	Create permanent ocean habitats
24	Eliminate weapons of mass destruction
25	Eradicate ethnic and religious barriers to peaceful co-existence
26	End water shortages and water pollution

Section 2. Please suggest additional goals for 2050 that you think have the ability to improve the future for all, inspire global cooperation, and help other goals to occur. Please give a short explanation for each of your suggestions.

Goal:
 

Short explanation:
 
 

Goal:

Short explanation:
 

Goal:

Short explanation:
 
 
 

Please return this questionnaire by April 29, 2002 via e-mail to acunu@igc.org with a copy to jglenn@igc.org and Tedjgordon@worldnet.att.net or fax to +1-202-686-5179 or airmail to: The Millennium Project, American Council for the United Nations University, 4421 Garrison St. NW, Washington, DC 20016, USA.

Thank you for your participation. We will send you the results in the 2002 State of the Future.

Millennium Project home page