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        "Records of the Domestic Policy Council (Clinton Administration)",
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    "ocrText": "just an H.G. Wells fantasy when my grandmother was a child. Small pox, a once dreaded\ndisease, was eliminated. There were also considerable social and political changes: in the\nUnited States women were granted the right to vote, prohibition left an indelible mark on \"the\nroaring 20's,\" segregation was outlawed, the dust bowl and the Great Depression were\ndevastating events. Around the world the Soviet Union was created, oil became a primary energy\nsource, there were 2 world wars and numerous other conflicts, the rise of the cold war, and on\nand on.\nMy grandmother witnessed an enormous amount of change, technologically, politically, and\nsocially. When she died the world was a much different place than when she was a girl. Since\nmy grandmother's death in 1980, technology has continued to advance, readily visible in such\ndevelopments as personal computers, the internet, and medical advances. Political changes have\ncontinued as well, such as the break up of the Soviet Union, the reunification of Germany, the\nreversal of apartheid in South Africa, and events in the near-east and eastern Europe. Social\nchanges also continue: the number of \"traditional family\" households (married parents and\nchildren living together) in the US has dropped to less than 30% of all households, efforts to\nimprove opportunities for minorities have continued for groups such as disabled people and\nhomosexuals.\nYou may dispute the value or the wisdom of some of these developments and may even resist\ntheir occurrence, but you cannot deny that they are occurring.\nIn England in the early 19th century, Luddites resisted technological change and its associated\neconomic upheaval, by destroying textile machinery. They couldn't stop it, though their efforts\ndid result in changes to minimize the upheaval. In the US in the 1960's Martin Luther King, Jr.\npromoted social and political change to eliminate discrimination against minorities. He was\nlargely successful and advanced the process considerably. These examples show that it is\npossible to change the course of the future, by our actions and the decisions we make each day.\nSo, what will happen in the next 100 years? Mapping of the human genetic code, the DNA\ninformation that defines our physical form and abilities, is already 75% completed and is\nexpected to be completely mapped by 2002. This will greatly enhance our understanding of\nhereditary diseases as well as the biological processes determined by the genetic code.\nEnvironmental degradation will continue, loss of wildlife habitat, loss of species, contamination\nof ecosystems, until we learn to live sustainably without polluting the Earth.\nHuman population will continue to grow until equilibrium is reached between births and deaths.\nThe human population in 1930 was 2 billion and now, in 1999, is 6 billion (as of October 12)\nand, if present trends continue, will reach 9 billion by 2050. And that will result in social and\npolitical tensions.\nI have had the good fortune to be directly involved in the development of the International Space\nStation. This project, involving 16 nations, is the largest cooperative peacetime venture ever\nundertaken. Significant technical and scientific advances will come from this long-term\nlaboratory in space. Of equal importance, in my opinion, are the benefits derived from\ncooperating with other nations, including nations that in this century and as recently as only a"
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