From the editorial office. Organizing the discussion of the article by A. V. Akimov*, commissioned by us based on his latest book**, we proceeded from the scientific significance of the problems raised by Alexander Vladimirovich. We are talking about the possible consequences for the nature and forms of interaction between modern civilizations of the expected increase in the population of the "third world" countries with a decrease in the number of inhabitants of the developed world both in the foreseeable and in the more distant future. The scientific analysis of these problems also has a political and practical aspect, since its results cannot be ignored in the attempts of the international community at various levels to bridge the gap and distrust existing between civilizations, and to reduce intercultural, interreligious and interethnic tensions by establishing mutual understanding and agreement between them. Employees of the Institute of Information Technology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, ISAA MSU, IMEMO RAS were invited to participate in the correspondence discussion. The set and angle of consideration of the issues raised in A. V. Akimov's article (and book) was left to the discretion of orientalists. Unfortunately, for various reasons, not all those invited were able to participate in the discussion. Nevertheless, the reports received and published by the editorial office, in our opinion, give an idea of the nature and scale of possible threats and challenges to humanity and outline the direction of further discussion of the problems raised during the discussion. General comments. The task of creating a long-term forecast of human development may seem impossible from an unscientific, everyday point of view. But within the framework of a scientific approach to the problem, this is not impossible. The only requirement is to rely on the already identified facts and trends of changes, without losing connection with them in the future - when building hypot ... Read more