National Research Council > Quotes

“Over time political pragmatism could trump ideology helped by a growing civil society that will begin to produce a new cadre of pragmatic, entrepreneurial and social leaders—something that authoritarian regimes consistently stifled.”
― National Research Council, Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds

“The shift in national power may be overshadowed by an even more fundamental shift in the nature of power. Enabled by communications technologies, power will shift toward multifaceted and amorphous networks that will form to influence state and global actions. Those countries with some of the strongest fundamentals—GDP, population size, etc.—will not be able to punch their weight unless they also learn to operate in networks and coalitions in a multipolar world.”
― National Research Council, Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds

“3. Russia could become a very troublesome country, trying to use its military advantage over its neighbors to intimidate and dominate. This outcome would be most likely if a Russian leader were facing rising public discontent over sagging living standards and darkening economic prospects and is looking to rally nationalist sentiments by becoming much more assertive in the Near Abroad.”
― National Research Council, Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds

“With low unit costs and the implicit assumption that cloud seeding could do no harm, and at the worst would be ineffective, the industry grew almost overnight. The commercial operations were paralleled by programs in the Bureau of Reclamation (which was to become a major supporter of weather modification studies), the Weather Bureau, the Department of Defense, and others. Almost immediately cloud-seeding programs sprang up in Australia, France, Israel, and South Africa. There also was a renewed interest in hail suppression in Alpine countries where such programs were already under way. By 1951 weather modification programs were active in about 30 countries.”
― National Research Council