Norman Macrae

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Norman Alastair Duncan Macrae CBE (1923 – 11 June 2010)[1] was a British economist, journalist and author, considered by some[who?] to have been one of the world's best forecasters when it came to economics and society.

Career[edit]

Macrae joined The Economist in 1949 and retired as its deputy chief editor in 1988. He foresaw the Pacific century, the reversal of nationalization of enterprises, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the spread of the internet, which were all published in the newspaper during his time there. He contributed to the books The Third World War: August 1985 (1978) and The Third World War: The Untold Story (1982), both attributed to General Sir John Hackett but mostly written by several collaborators.[2][3]

Not to get bored, Macrae's first ten years in retirement produced the biography of John von Neumann (the mathematical father of computers and networks), a column for the UK Sunday Times, and a 'Heresy Column' for Fortune. He was the father of mathematician, marketing commentator, and author Chris Macrae. 2025 REPORT, their joint future history on death of distance first published in 1984, forecast that 2005–2025 would be humanity's most critical decades, irreversibly impacting sustainability. The last update of 2025 Report was published in Swedish in 1993 as Den Nye Vikingen[clarification needed]

Honours[edit]

Books[edit]

  • Macrae, Norman (1984). The 2024 Report: A Concise History of the Future 1974–2024. Sidgwick & Jackson. p. 198. ISBN 0-283-99113-5.[5]
  • Macrae, Norman (1985). The 2025 Report: A Concise History of the Future, 1975–2025. Macmillan Publishing. p. 272. ISBN 0-025-79090-0.[6]
  • John von Neumann: The Scientific Genius who Pioneered the Modern Computer, Game Theory, Nuclear Deterrence, and Much More (1992), Random House, reprinted by the American Mathematical Society, 2008, ISBN 978-0-8218-2676-8.[7][8]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ "The unacknowledged giant". The Economist. 17 June 2010. Retrieved 18 June 2010.
  2. ^ Michaels, Jeff (1 August 2016). "General Sir John Hackett's The Third World War: Or, How to Think about a Future War with Russia Today". Defence-in-Depth. Defence Studies Department, King's College London. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
  3. ^ Clare, Phil (31 October 2019). "Why the Future of History Still Matters". Wavell Room. Retrieved 15 December 2022.
  4. ^ a b Macrae, Norman. (2000). John von Neumann: the Scientific Genius who Pioneered the Modern Computer, Game Theory, Nuclear Deterrence, and Much More, Random House (1992), reprinted by the American Mathematical Society (2008), p. 406.
  5. ^ W.R. Mead (21 March 1985). "W.R. Mead reviews 'The 2024 Report' by Norman Macrae and 'The Resourceful Earth' edited by Julian Simon and Herman Kahn". LRB. 7 (5): 9. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  6. ^ Marsh, Jeffrey (September 1985). "The 2025 Report, by Norman Macrae". Commentary. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
  7. ^ "Review of John von Neumann by Norman Macrae". Publishers Weekly. 28 September 1992.
  8. ^ "Review of John von Neumann by Norman Macrae". Kirkus Reviews. 15 June 1992.

External links[edit]

  • The Norman Macrae Archive A Collection of his Articles and Books
  • NormanMacrae.com the first fan web started by Scots and friends from Singapore and all spaces east
  • Norman Macrae Ning Where Entrepreneurial Revolution Networks, started in 1976, converge to debate how to make 2010s youth's most productive decade – with access to all Norman's signed surveys but not the other 3000 leaders he wrote for The Economist
  • Entrepreneurial Revolution For over 4 decades: friends of Norman Macrae have been compiling one of the most complete sources – to map where economics is taking humanity, inspired by the Hippocratic Oath that Keynes demanded of his final alumni conditioned by his finding that the world would increasingly be ruled only by economics.
  • Future Economists Network Obituaries and invitations to continue unfinished networking goals like those that Muhammad Yunus and Norman complied at 85th birthday party celebrated by 30 Social Business Entrepreneurs at Royal Automobile Club and those that a remembrance dinner to Norman hosted by Japan embassy in dhaka and featuring Fazle Abed on the future of university coalitions designed to empower women's sustainability development goals
  • ongoing millennials projects of Norman Macrae Foundation include family of regional webs aiming to linking reporting of economists of end poverty in time for 175th celebration mediating that in 2018