Guest: Dr. Bruce Cordell. Topics: Using Maslow Windows to determine future space exploration and development trends. You are invited to comment, ask questions, and discuss the Space Show program/guest(s) on the Space Show blog, http://thespaceshow.wordpress.com. Comments, questions, and any discussion must be relevant and applicable to Space Show programming. Transcripts of Space Show programs are not permitted without prior written consent from The Space Show (even if for personal use) & are a violation of the Space Show copyright. We welcomed back Dr. Bruce Cordell to discuss new information pointing to a boom period of space exploration and development based on the trend analysis using Maslow Windows. During the first part of our discussion with Dr. Cordell, he went over Maslow Windows, what they are and why they can be used to suggest a coming boom period in space exploration/development. You can learn more about Maslow Windows and his work from his website, http://21stcenturywaves.com. He talked about the need for optimism and also told us what to look for in terms of precursors to the boom period. As you will hear, some of the precursors are very disruptive, even similar to what is going on in our economy today. Bruce then went into his latest post on his website, "State of the Wave: 10 Space Trends for 2012." We managed to get through most of the ten trends during both segments of our discussion, starting with #10 "Phobos-Grunt Symbolized A Key Approach To Mars Exploration." As you will hear, Bruce spent some time talking about the trends, his analysis of them, and some of the specifics underlying why he selected the item as a trend with his Maslow Windows analysis. Rather than go through each of the trends in this summary, I suggest you open up his website document regarding these 10 trends as you are listening to the discussion. Of the trends discussed in the first segment, we focused on China and also #8, Critical States. In the second segment, a listener asked Bruce how he knew the boom would be in space rather than the more typical terrestrial industrial economy. Don't miss what Dr. Cordell had to say about this. Bruce then returned to discussing the issue of critical states and the role they play in the economy as well as in political policy. Wild card items came up many times during the discussion, especially in the second segment. Euro zone issues topped the list for the wild card discussions. Another key trend talked about in this segment was #7, "Nasa's Kepler Discoveries Trigger A Copernican-level Expansion of Worldviews." In fact, a good portion of the rest of the program as well as callers focused in on this trend, the discovery of Earth-like planets, and even the search for ET. Dr. Cordell put forth many theories including those that we are alone in the universe and why that is so. This is a discussion you will certainly want to hear. Near the end of the program, we advanced to the #1 trend, "Several Wildcards Could Dramatically Influence U.S. and Global Trends in 2012 and Beyond." Here, Dr. Cordell talked about political realignments, the importance of our 2012 elections, and that people tend to support those that lead us to prosperity. Since that can be subjective among the voters, Dr. Cordell did elaborate on it before our program ended. Please post your comments/questions on The Space Show blog URL above. You can also email Dr. Cordell through his website and post on his blog as well.