Institute For The Future

Artifact from the Future: Feral Zones

Some places just aren’t safe to drive—and your insurance company knows it. What’s more, it can warn you as you enter feral zones where it simply won’t provide coverage. And some of these zones might take you by surprise. You don’t have to go to Afghanistan to find an economy dominated by the opium trade. Northern California’s seemingly pastoral Mendocino County, long known for its hidden forests of marijuana, is now a growing zone for poppies and headquarters for a nationwide drug distribution network that keeps the unemployed living an apparently middle-class existence.

This Artifact from the Future is a snapshot of what might emerge if forecasts about the future materialize. It was developed as part of our 2012 Map of the Decade which offers an overview of the major forces that are shaping this century—and creating turbulence in the coming decade. It is an at-a-glance tool for exploring the fundamental question: What is possible?

Like all IFTF’s Artifacts from the Future, this image offers insights into future everyday lives and is intended to give you an immersive look at a possible future change.