Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Saturday Morning News
Interview With Trained Futurist David Zach
Aired December 29, 2001 - 11:52 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, as we teeter on the cusp of 2002, what can we expect? I never really heard of this title, but a trained futurist, David Zach joins us from Milwaukee. What a cool title, David.
DAVID ZACH, TRAINED FUTURIST: Yes, it is a cool title.
PHILLIPS: Well, let's get right into it, because we're running toward the end of the hour here and you have got some really things that came out of your, I guess your future research, and that is, the changes since 9/11, sort of the lighthearted thoughts.
We marked some of these, marriages and engagements are up, expecting a baby boom in June, divorces are always up. But let's talk about some of the other positives that you found here, things like puppy dog sales up 30 percent. This is all positive stuff.
ZACH: And this is all people trying to connect with somebody, you know, the romantic gifts, the marriages, the engagements. There is this sense that people are trying to connect and be affirmed by somebody other than themselves.
And all this technology that we're bringing is, you know, it's been telling us you don't need anybody else. You can be this little entity unto yourself, but after 9/11 we learned that wasn't true, and so we're searching for answers from other people.
PHILLIPS: Well you notice -- well that leads right into this next point. You say that people are not living in the present.
ZACH: They're either living in the past, trying to go back to a time where they felt safe and secure, or they're living in the future and running these scenarios through their heads of what if and oh my. What if this happens? So it's a lot of worrying, but not really grounded in the here and now.
PHILLIPS: Now some of the more serious things that I was reading here, counseling services are way up, prescriptions for Prozac way up, gun sales are up, and 41 percent of Americans rethinking their career choices. Wow.
ZACH: Yes, but there's also this fear because of rising unemployment. There's a lot of people rethinking but they don't know how to quite take those steps to try something new. So there's -- everybody's just kind of stuck in the moment as it were. They don't know where to turn.
PHILLIPS: Well, I notice too racial tensions are down. New focus on cultural education, these are definite positives.
ZACH: There's a tremendous curiosity out there, and you think back in like World War II. I don't think a lot of people wanted to go out and learn all about Japan or learn all about German culture.
But today, like one of the local bookstores here in Milwaukee, they can't keep Korans on the shelf. As soon as they're in, people come and buy them. And another friend of mine told me that people are actually taking Arabic because they want to be able to read this stuff in the original language.
PHILLIPS: Wow. Now what's common theme in all of this? Did you find some common themes?
ZACH: I think one of the more interesting themes is, my dad once told me that there are no atheists in foxholes. Neither are there individuals. And so that is a sense of trying to reach out, trying to connect.
There is, I think a real interesting trend is moving back towards organizations that made this country great. So you're seeing a surge in or stronger interest in organizations like Rotary, Kiwanis, but also Peace Corps enrollment is way up.
And then you look on the campuses, people applying towards getting into the CIA, the FBI, as well as the military is people are kind of affirming what is it that got us to this point in terms of being a great nation. But if you add in the curiosity and the cultural education, we're really kind of trying to step outside of our comfort zone.
The 1990s made us very comfortable and we had this sort of, this very dangerous attitude that we knew what the future was going to be. After 9/11, all bets were off and we stopped and started looking around.
And so one of the things you may see is more creativity because of this, more solutions coming because we don't know, and therefore we have to start looking. We have to look for new places and new ideas for answers.
PHILLIPS: What about top trends for 2002? What are some of your predictions?
ZACH: Well first of all, I would not make a prediction. I'd make a forecast.
PHILLIPS: Oh, a big difference.
ZACH: Yes. A prediction is, you're going to get hit by a bus at 2:45 tomorrow. A forecast is, there's a lot more traffic, so look both ways before you cross the street. I would say there are two sort of sets of forecasts that I could make.
One is if there is terrorism, more terrorism like a major terrorist strike again, gives me one set versus if there isn't. Deurbanization may happen if there is terrorism. There's a lot of people whose jobs are not defined by location. They're defined by access.
And I was working with one of the colleges in far northwestern Wisconsin where there's a lot of vacation homes, of people who live in either Milwaukee or Minneapolis or Chicago, and a lot of those people are saying, you know I have high-speed access up here and I have FedEx. I don't have to go back there.
And so if we have this perception that urban areas are going to be dangerous, you may see this deurbanization, and a lot of companies are now going through decentralization plans, so that if one pocket is taken out, they can still exist and still do their business.
PHILLIPS: David Zach, very interesting. We need to see more of civic nation and more people, more faithful people, a lot of good points that came across from your research. I appreciate you being with us.
ZACH: Thanks, Kyra.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
