World of Wonders
Shaping Tomorrow
知 の創造

Anthony Sellick
John Barton
Ai Ogasawara

Preface
World of Wonders looks at some of the latest trends that are shaping theworld. Each of the chapters examines a topic or issue that affects our lives
today, or that will change our lives in the future. We hope you will find these
topics interesting and thought provoking, and that they will stimulate you tolearn more about these issues.
The topics covered in the 20 essays cover a lot of ground. They range froma new look at the very familiar, such as the nature of money and new uses forsilk, through the impact of demographic change on the job market and healthservices, to a vision of the future that includes robot surgeons and syntheticmeat. We hope that you will actively seek to develop your own opinions on theissues raised in this book, and that you will debate them vigorously.
As well as notes in Japanese following each essay, each chapter contains a
pre-reading vocabulary exercise, and post-reading exercises are presented totest your comprehension of the essays.
Finally, while we have tried to ensure that the material in this book isup-to-date, due to the fast-changing nature of some of the topics, it is inevitablethat by the time the book is published, some things may have changed.
We hope you enjoy the book.
Anthony Sellickiii

Contents
Chapter 1

Information Overload［情報化時代を生き抜くために］���������������������� 1

The World of Culture
Chapter 2
Chapter 3		
Chapter 4		

Chapter 5		

It’s Not the End of the World — Yet! ［未来を決める現在］����������� 6
Can You Spare Me Some Time? — The Impact ofVolunteering［他人のためだけではない―ボランティア考］������������������� 11
Something to Read? — The Future of Print ����������������������� 16［書籍ビジネスの変遷］

Cash or Card? — The Rise of a Cashless Society���������������� 20［現金が消える?―キャッシュレス社会の到来］

The World of Health
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8		

Chapter 9		

Machine Medicine［ロボットが切り拓く医療の近未来］��������������������� 25
The Power of Laughter［見直される笑いの効能］������������������������ 29
Let’s Get Physical — The Truth About Exercise ����������������� 34［健康によい?悪い?―エクササイズの真実］

Health Services in Crisis — Is There a Solution?��������������� 38［高齢化時代の医療サービスを考える］

The World of Science
Chapter 10		

Chapter 11		

Chapter 12		

Chapter 13		Head in the Clouds — The Rise of Cloud Computing��������� 43［データは雲の上に?―クラウド・コンピューティングという選択］

A Touch of Silk — Silk’s Amazing Properties��������������������� 48［驚異の繊維、絹糸の可能性］

The Wireless Future of Medicine ��������������������������������������� 53［最新テクノロジーが支える医療の現場］

A Matter of Taste — Would You Eat Synthetic Meat?��������� 57［合成肉はいかが―未来の食肉］

The World of Business
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17		

What is Money?［貨幣の歴史を紐解く］�������������������������������������� 62
Google — Taking Over the World?［世界を席巻するグーグル社の行方］�� 66
A Job for Life? — Not Any More［変わる社会、変貌する職業観］��� 71
The End of the Road? — The Threat of Global Gridlock����� 75［車社会の袋小路?―渋滞と新たなビジネスチャンス］

The World of Politics
Chapter 18		

Chapter 19		

Chapter 20		iv

Immigration and Demographic Change — Problems and Solutions�� 80［人口変動―移民問題と出生率］

Taking Back Freedom — Living off the Grid ��������������������� 84［古くて新しい“シンプル・ライフ”の意味］

Globalization and the Future of the Nation State �������������� 89［変貌する世界の行方］

Chapter

1

Information Overload

Words to KnoW
Choose a word from the list below to complete each sentence�

1. He

tried to place the blame for his crime on an innocentperson.

2. She chose to
her parents and refused to marry him.
3. The diamond was huge but nearly worthless because of its many.

4. We must be
when investigating claims of alien visits.
5. The crop circles that appeared around the world are a good example of a.
hoax

readingflaws

skeptical

insidiously

defy① 02〜06

1 C02D Today, we can get all kinds of information, from weather reports tomedical advice via our computers and our mobile phones. In addition, many
governments are allowing the public easy access to more and more information,
helping us to get a better idea of the state of our nations and the effectivenessof our politicians than ever before. The Information Age is a democratic

5age: anyone can consume, analyze and provide information. For example, inaddition to traditional media like newspapers and TV, we can now get news
and information from blogs and media websites like YouTube. The information
we find can help us to live better, healthier, more enjoyable lives.
2 C03D However, the sheer volume of information available to us today posesa problem: with so much information available, how do we judge its quality?
110

A study published in the British Medical
Journal found that more than 40 percent ofhealth advice websites contained incorrector misleading information. Much of the5erroneous information we encounter is theresult of ignorance or carelessness by theauthors, but there are also many cases of
misinformation being distributed deliberately.
For example, a racist group created what

10

seemed to be a high quality history website
about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. but which
actually sought to devalue Dr. King’s
achievements by spreading lies about his life.

The huge amount of information
available to us today can leave us
feeling lost and confused, or evenmislead us, unless we ask the rightquestions of it.

Similarly, news stories in newspapers and on TV news programs can be15

influenced by the political positions of their editors. This can sometimes leadto opinions being presented as if they were facts. In 2006, the Project for
Excellence in Journalism found that while personal opinions were presented
in 4 percent of news reports on CNN, they occurred in 68 percent of the reportson the rival Fox News Channel. More insidiously, a Fox News program secretly

20

altered photographs of New York Times journalists, making them look olderand uglier.
3 C04D We should also be careful before we buy anything, especially online.
Many products make claims that defy common sense or are simply impossible.
Checking customer comments or review sites can often help us to make a25

decision about buying a product, but we should still be careful as such comments
are sometimes faked. In 2010, a British university professor was discovered tohave posted positive comments about his own books (and negative comments
about his rivals’ books) on the Amazon website. Always keep in mind the oldadage, “If it seems too good to be true, it probably is.”30

4 C05D So what else can we do to identify and protect ourselves from poor quality
information? A good approach is to take everything with a pinch of salt.
Journalists are trained to ask who, what, where, when, why and how about
any information, and it is good practice for us to do the same. For example, weshould consider who has produced the information: are they experts, amateurs

2Chapter 1 Information Overload

or cranks? When was the information produced? If it is too old, then maybe
it will not be of use to you. What was the source of the information? Has thewriter made any references to other sources of information? If there are any
references, check them to see if they really say what the writer has claimed.
If there are not, try to find an independent source of information and see if

5

the two agree. Where did the money come from? Knowing who paid the writer
can be very informative as many organizations will only fund informationthat presents them in a good light. Consequently, knowing where the money
came from can be a good guide to errors and bias in information. Why was theinformation produced? Is it intended simply to explain something, try to sell

10

us something, or try to get our support? A simple explanation is unlikely to bedeliberately misleading, but could be factually incorrect. Information produced
in order to persuade us to buy a product or to support a viewpoint will containsome biases at the very least. Finally, how did you find the information? If
you simply found it via a link on a website, then it will probably have all of15

the same flaws that the original website had. Try doing a different search andlooking for different sources of information. You can also check to see if thewebsite has been listed on a webpage that identifies and describes Internet
hoaxes and urban legends, such as snopes.com.
5 C06D In order for us to best take advantage of all the opportunities that theInformation Age brings us, it is necessary for us to maintain a skeptical attitude.
By questioning, rather than simply accepting, the information we come across,we can make sure that we are rarely deceived and always end up better, rather
than less, informed.

320NotesBritish Medical Journal「ブリティッシュ・メディカル・ジャーナル」世界 5 大医学誌の 1 つProject for Excellence in Journalism ＝ PEJ「卓越したジャーナリズムのためのプロジ
ェクト」米国の非営利・独立系調査研究機関 Pew Research Center（2004 年設立、本部ワシントン）が行う 7 つのプロジェクトの 1 つ。特定の主義・主張に偏らない客観的事実に基づいた分析を旨とし、シンクタンクではなく「ファクトタンク（fact tank）」と称している。TheState of the News Media を毎年発行。米国メディアの現在を知る最良の報告書の 1 つといえる。CNN ＝ Cable News Network 米ケーブルテレビのニュース専門放送局 Fox News
Channel = FNC「FOX ニュース」米ニュース専門放送局 If it seems too good to betrue, it probably is.「うまい話には訳がある」（ことわざ） take [it] with a pinch ofsalt「話半分に聞く」 snopes.com E メールを介して人々の間に広がっている都市伝説や、ネット上のうわさ話などが読めるウェブサイト。米カリフォルニア州在住の Mikkelson 夫妻が1995 年にサイトを立ち上げて管理しながら、そうしたうわさ話や情報の真相をリサーチしている。2001 年 9 月 11 日以降はアクセス数が 10 倍に増加した。

Questions For Understanding
Check the best answer for each question.
1. What does the passage imply about the information available to us?
That the amount of information is so large that it is overwhelming.
a.
That it is relatively easy to cope with the amount of informationb.		 available.
That we need to develop critical skills to assess the information 		c.		 available.
That we can rely on the providers of the information not to misleadd.		 us.
2. Which of the following is not given as a reason why incorrect information
is sometimes produced?
In order to change our opinions about various topics.
a.
In order to sell us products that are fake or which do not work.
b.
In order to fool us into believing something which is not true.
c.
In order to show us how to judge the quality of information.
d.
3. What does the passage tell us about customer comments and review sites?
That they are useful tools and always reliable.
a.
That they are useful tools and usually reliable.
b.
That they are useful tools but nearly always unreliable.
c.
That they are useful tools but rarely reliable.
d.
4

Chapter 1 Information Overload

4. How does the passage suggest we approach the information we are given?
That we should trust the information providers.
a.
That we should remember that information providers sometimesb.
make mistakes.
That we should treat all information as unreliable and incorrect.
c.
That we should consider the reasons the information was producedd.
and its purpose.

suMMar Y① 07

Fill each space with the best word from the list below�
The huge 1)of information available to us today brings

with it a problem. Amongst the useful and reliable information that weneed is information that is 2)

or which has an unwelcome

contained within it. If we treat these sources of information3)

as reliable, we are in danger of being 4)

by it. Instead, we must

approach information as if we were journalists investigating it in order toprotect ourselves from error. By identifying 5)

and distorted

information, we can ensure that we make the most of the information we.

6)

consumevolumemisleading

erroneousbias

deceived55