It was twenty years ago last week that the Berlin wall ceased to be a barrier.  The wall of Berlin came down, starting several years of collapse and turmoil in what used to be called Eastern Europe.  This was one of the most remarkable, deeply moving events in my lifetime

My entire life up to that historic day of 11/9/89 was one lived with the world divided between the Western and Eastern Blocs.  It was an us versus them world and most geopolitical events were defined within this context.  As a young teenager, I had crossed through Checkpoint Charlie and always remembered the stark contrast between bustling West Berlin and the drab, empty East Berlin.  I chipped away two small pieces of the Wall on that trip and still have them encased in Lucite on a living room table.  To watch Checkpoint Charlie open up with hundreds of Berliners dancing on top of the wall brought tears to my eyes.

In “The Shift Age” book and in a presentation of the same name, I speak of the Threshold Decades, the 20 year period 1985-2005.  It is this 20 year period that will be seen by future historians as the threshold between the room of the past and the room of the future, between what was and what came to be.  There is no greater single geopolitical event of greater transformation that occurred during the Threshold Decades than the fall of the Berlin wall.

The fall of the wall was the start of the …

It is easy for us all to get caught up in our lives. It is also very easy to think that times have never been worse in the world, that the world problems of ‘our time’ are more serious than in the past. As a futurist, I try to look closely at the present, but from the perspective of the rhythms or waves of history and recent history to best get a clear view of the near future.

Leaving a U.S. full of news stories about Korean missiles, new killings in the Middle East [no real surprise there], civil war and terrorism in Iraq, fear of terrorism at home and a drifting and incompetent Presidency, I flew to Germany for a vacation trip with my son, starting with 6 days in Berlin.

Berlin is simply the most impressive city I have seen in a long time, but I will write about that in coming posts, as it truly feels like a city of the future. For now, let’s take a look at what I saw in one day within walking distance of my hotel.

First, an outdoor exhibit that has been up for 9 years called “The Topography of Terror” that is in a park-vacant lot that used to be the headquarters of the Gestapo and the SS. In exact and chilling historical detail this exhibit told the history of the two darkest parts of the Third Reich, profiled a number of victims as examples and then told the story of the Nuremberg …