Earl Joseph (Founder of Minnesota Futurists) died on Friday ... 23 Feb 2007

in Hennepin County Municipal Hospital from a peritonial aoritic aneurism suffered almost two weeks ago.

He went straight to the ICU there, but never recovered.

Earl Joseph (Founder of Minnesota Futurists) died on Friday ... 23 Feb 2007 Also See VirtualTeamTactics (Future Thought Leadership Tribute) Earl was President (Retired) of Anticipatory Sciences Incorporated Futurist, computer engineer Earl Joseph

 

 

Also See VirtualTeamTactics (Future Thought Leadership Tribute)

 

Earl was President (Retired) of Anticipatory Sciences Incorporated

& Advanced Energy Technology Company, Walden University Professor (Management Department), St. Thomas University Professor & Metropolitan State University Faculty; born in St. Paul, Minnesota; received a degree in mathematics from the University of Minnesota in 1951; has been a futurist & management consultant since 1957. Earl has been chosen to be the World Futures Society’s 2001 Annual Conference chair. Earl received the 2001 Community Connections Award from Normandy College.

 

Earl's credits include: A pioneering scientist, management consultant, & futurist in many fields; 3 computer patents; the systems architect of 5 major computer systems; authored chapters in 50 books & had published over 500 technical, managerial, educational, and scientific papers; makes over 100 presentations per year (over 4000 in his career). He has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Business Week, U. S. News & World Report, Science News, and many other national publications. Has received two contracts from the U. S. Air Force to advance the state-of-the-art of strategic management and futuring efforts. Earl was the Science Guest of Honor at the 25th anniversary meeting of MINICON 25. In 1996, during the 50th year of computers, Earl was honored with his picture on a poster for the event, elected to Beta Phi Beta, and has received numerous honors from various professional associations. The Wall Street Journal claims Earl was the first in Corporate America to have the title of “Futurist,” Business Week claims he was one the first to use the phrase “smart machine” and forecast that the central processing unit (CPU) of computers would become a “bulge in the cable.” He was a member of an early 1970’s team that initially studied and outlined the design of The Internet. He convinced the Defense Department at a Naval Academy workshop to fund the development of Very High Speed Large Scale Integration (VLSI/VHSI) circuit chip technology that lead to today’s chip advances.

 

Earl's main consulting services were in strategic & visionary management: forecasting, futures research, COMPUTERS, issues management, planning, teaching, training, etc.. He researches the future of many areas including the future of libraries. Earl’s professional activities includes: the founder and a current director of the Minnesota Futurists (a chapter of the World Future Society); Founding Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Minnesota Computer Industry Coalition (MCIC); member of the IEEE, ACM, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Robotics Section of Society of Manufacturing Engineers, the Society for General Systems Research and the founding president of its Minnesota's chapter; past Chairman of a Metropolitan Young Adult Ministry; President of the Twin Cities chapter of the ACM for 1976/77 and 1986/87; Co-Program Chairman of the 1981 Society for General Systems Research International Conference; General Chairman for ACM 75 conference, and the World Futures Society’s 1991 conference “Creating the 21st Century.” Earl is an adjunct professor and a visiting lecturer at the University of Minnesota designing and teaching graduate level courses on alternative futures. He is the former futurist in residence at the Science Museum of Minnesota; a distinguished visiting lecturer for the IEEE Computer Society; lecturer for DPMA, WFS, ACM and ASM.

Earl is listed in American Men and Women of Science; Who's Who in the World, Midwest, Finance, & Management (Marquis). Listed in the National Reference Institutes for Who’s Who among Human Service and Education Professionals. Board Member of: Chairman of the Board of Future Systems; on the Board of Directors of Dorn Swenson Meyer (Colle & McVoy Public Relations), Chairman of the Board of Advanced Energy Technology Company (and its founding CEO) and Expo Graphics. Earl has designed and taught 100’s of university level courses in the areas of computers, business, management, marketing, advertising, entrepreneuring, futures, and other topics. Taught at all education levels; K-12, college and graduate.

 

Until 1983, Earl was with Sperry Univac for 32 years as a computer scientist including 20 years as a staff scientist/futurist. Earl directed and managed large complex computer and communications projects, departments and divisions and performed the system design, logic design, programming and manufacture of a number of computers. Earl is an internationally recognized leader as a futurist, manager, scientist, computer architect, professor, systems designer/engineer, lecturer and consultant in the diverse fields of future studies, human resource development, computers, AI, peace, medical, social, agriculture, economics, business, education, nanotechnology, expert systems, defense, and manufacturing. He is the founder and Editor of the journal Futurics; Advising Editor for the journals Futures, Human Resource Development Quarterly, and the Journal of Cultural and Educational Futures; Editor of the newsletter Future Trends; Former Editor of the Systems Trends newsletter and MCIC Newsletter; has been featured worldwide on 100's of TV and radio programs and in science fiction books. The ERA 1101 computer started the computer industry in Minnesota and Earl was its first programmer. Earl’s picture at the 1101 computer console was on a poster at the 1999 Minnesota state fair. In 1960 Earl had in operation the first embedded computer, now known as a “smart machine,” it was for the Nike Zeus Multifunction Array Radar and missile detection system for a Anti-Ballistic Missile system.

 

 

 

Futurist, computer engineer Earl Joseph

Earl Joseph, a computer scientist and a pioneering futurist who forecast a world to be, died of an aneurism in Minneapolis on Friday.

Joseph, a Minneapolis resident who was a native and longtime resident of St. Paul, was 80.

He would synthesize trends and probabilities in various fields to forecast the future, said his colleague, Brian Toren, a leader at the Minnesota Futurists group, which Joseph founded about 40 years ago.

"He had the knack to be able to pull various research areas and trends together and come up with some fairly accurate possibilities," Toren said.

In the late 1970s, Joseph "was talking about growing limbs and fingers," Toren said. "He was already looking at these possibilities and discussing them in public."

In 1981, Joseph wrote a two-part series about the computer-robot revolution.

"Advances in technology amplify our ability to accomplish tasks," Joseph wrote, citing the increased power of a plow over a hoe and a word-processing system over a typewriter.

With the increase in smart machines, "we as individuals will be able to do for ourselves what experts do for us now," Joseph wrote.

Joseph worked for Sperry Univac for 32 years until 1983. For 10 years in the 1950s and '60s, he headed the company's work on the military's Nike Zeus antiballistic missile system. He was a computer design engineer, and held three patents in that field.

In the early 1980s, he founded Anticipated Sciences, serving as a futurist for companies and governments around the world.

His daughter-in-law Terry Cox-Joseph of Hampton Roads, Va., said he enjoyed collecting data.

He "sat and digested information. He was brilliant at" marrying the technological and the creative, Cox-Joseph said.

According to the Minnesota Futurists' website, Joseph has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, U.S. News & World Report and many other national publications.

 

He is the author and editor of futurist publications, and was the founder and editor of the journal Futurics.

He has taught futurist courses at the University of Minnesota and the University of St. Thomas.

In 1951, he graduated from the University of Minnesota with a bachelor's degree in mathematics.

 

He was a Navy veteran of World War II

His wife, Alma, died about 12 years ago.

He is survived by his friend Mildred Balk of Minneapolis; sons Earl Joseph of St. Paul and Vincent Joseph of Newport News, Va.; daughters Rebecca Sabino of Smithfield, Va., and Rene Leer of Minneapolis; three grandchildren and one great-grandchild.

Services are being planned for the Twin Cities area.Ben Cohen