NOVEMBER 8, 1999 VOL. 154 NO. 18

Beyond 2000: Questions for the Next Century

	ALSO IN TIME
	Visions 21: The Way We Will Be In the first of a series, TIME offers glimpses (and guesses) of what the world will look like in the next century Indonesia: Too Many Cooks? President Abdurrahman Wahid cobbles together a cabinet that appears to be more eclectic than effective Interview: Indonesia's new Foreign Minister looks abroad South Korea: That Strong-Arm Feeling Led by President Kim, Koreans look back fondly on a dictator Nepal: Warrior Culture In the Himalayas, recruiting season rolls around again for the Gurkhas, the world's most feared mercenaries
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	CNN @2000 The millennium that's drawing to a close saw enormous strides -- and setbacks -- for humanity. Our section features an interactive events guide, polls, message boards and quizzes ASIAWEEK Asia Trends 2000 Twenty trends recasting the region in the next century, plus essays by leading Asians

Yogi Berra, as usual, said it best: "prediction is very hard, especially when it's about the future." Yet as we come to the end of the 20th century--a century that saw us split the atom, crack the genetic code and allow Aunt Martha to auction off her turquoise dinnerware online--it is only natural to ask what the 21st century will hold for us. We trust that the future will outmarvel the past, but all we can say for sure is that our lives will change more swiftly than ever. In the following pages we ask what we hope are provocative questions about our health and the health of our planet. The sobering news is that we will have more people to care for; the good news is that technology and common sense should allow us to take better care of the place we call home. Meanwhile, the imminent mapping of the human genome--all 140,000 genes--could lead to rapid advances in treating heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's and perhaps even aids. One of our enduring traits--after all, we have not only survived this long but prospered--is our optimism that life does improve, that despite wars and epidemics and natural disasters, we are better off today than we were 100 years ago. Prediction is hard, but who can fault us for looking forward to the new century with wonder?

Below links open in a new window:
• All About Sex: We may only do it for fun
• Curing Cancer: Earlier detection may change everything
• Brain Power: Transplanting part of a mind may be possible
• Malthus Redux: We must work to prove him wrong
• Too Hot to Handle: We can't ignore global warming

Visit the Visions of the 21st Century homepage from TIME.com