Futurists are those who look to and provide analysis of the future. Futurists can refer to: Futures Studies, the field wherein scholars analyze patterns and trends in history in order to predict the future Futurists, management consultants advising corporations on trends Futurism (art), artists taking part in the Futurist art movement Futurism (Christian eschatology), a method of interpreting the book of Revelation. ...

Definition

The Oxford English Dictionary traces earliest English usage of the term futurist to 1842, referring to Christian scriptural futurists. The next usage occurs with the Italian and Russian Futurists of the early 20th century (1900s-1930s), an artistic, literary, and political movement that sought to reject the past and rather uncritically embraced speed, technology, and violent change. Curiously, early modern visionary authors like Jules Verne, Edward Bellamy, and even H.G. Wells were not characterized as futurists in their day, but rather as philosophers of foresight, a closely related term. The Oxford English Dictionary print set The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is a dictionary published by the Oxford University Press (OUP), and is the most successful dictionary of the English language, (not to be confused with the one-volume Oxford Dictionary of English, formerly New Oxford Dictionary of English, of... Futurism is an interpretation of the Bible in Christian eschatology placing the fulfillment of the prophecies of the Book of Revelation and the Book of Daniel in the future as literal, physical, apocalyptic and global rather in the past as literal, physical and localised (i. ... Futurism was a 20th century art movement. ... Jules Gabriel Verne (February 8, 1828–March 24, 1905) was a French author who pioneered the science-fiction genre. ... Edward Bellamy, circa 1889. ... H. G. Wells at the door of his house at Sandgate Herbert George Wells (September 21, 1866 - August 13, 1946) was an English writer best known for his science fiction novels such as The War of the Worlds and The Time Machine. ...

The use of futurist and its synonym futurologist in the modern context of thinking about and analyzing the future began in the mid-1940s, when German professor Ossip K. Flechtheim coined the term futurology and proposed it as a new science of probability. Flechtheim argued that even if systematic forecasting did no more than unveil the subset of statistically inevitable processes of change and charted their advance, it would still be of crucial social value.^[1] Futurology or futures studies (called futurism in the United States) is the study of the medium to long-term future, by extrapolating present technological, economic or social trends, or by attempting to predict future trends. ...

Also in the mid-1940s the first professional "futurist" consulting institutions like RAND and SRI began to engage in long-range planning, systematic trend watching, scenario development, and visioning, at first under WWII military and government contract and beginning in the 1950s, for private institutions and corporations. The period from the late 1940s to the mid-1960s laid the conceptual and methodological foundations of the modern futures studies field. Bertrand de Jouvenel's The Art of Conjecture in 1963 and Dennis Gabor's Inventing the Future in 1964 are considered key early works, and the first U.S. university course devoted entirely to the future was taught by futurist Alvin Toffler at the The New School in 1966.^[2] The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit global policy think tank first formed to offer research and analysis to the United States armed forces. ... SRI Internationals main campus on Ravenswood Avenue, Menlo Park, California SRI International is one of the worlds largest contract research institutions. ... Future studies reflects on how today’s changes (or the lack thereof) become tomorrow’s reality. ... Bertrand de Jouvenel (October 31, 1903, Paris -- March 1, 1987, Paris) was a French philosopher, political economist, and futurist. ... Dennis Gabor (Gábor Dénes) (June 5, 1900, Budapest – February 9, 1979, London) was a Hungarian physicist and inventor who is most notable for inventing holography. ... Alvin Toffler Alvin Toffler (born October 3, 1928) is an American writer and futurist, known for his works discussing the digital revolution, communications revolution, corporate revolution and technological singularity. ... The New School is an institution of higher learning in New York City, located around Greenwich Village in Lower Manhattan. ...

Today the term futurist most commonly describes authors, consultants, organizational leaders and others who engage in interdisciplinary and systems thinking to advise private and public organizations on such matters as diverse global trends, plausible scenarios, emerging market opportunities, and risk management. Can also describe those who deal in the trading of futures. Interdisciplinary work is that which integrates concepts across different disciplines. ... Systems thinking is an approach to integration that is based on the belief that the component parts of a system will act differently when isolated from the systems environment or other parts of the system. ... Look up trend, trendy in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A scenario (from the Italian, that which is pinned to the scenery) is a brief description of an event. ... Emerging markets are those countries that are on their way from a less developed to a developed country. ... For non-business risks, see risk or the disambiguation page risk analysis. ...

More generally, the label includes such disparate lay, professional, and academic groups as visionaries, foresight consultants, corporate strategists, policy analysts, cultural critics, planners, marketers, forecasters, prediction market developers, roadmappers, operations researchers, investment managers, actuaries and other risk analyzers, and future-oriented individuals educated in every academic discipline, including anthropology, complexity studies, computer science, economics, engineering, evolutionary biology, history, management, mathematics, philosophy, physical sciences, political science, psychology, sociology, systems theory, technology studies, and other disciplines.

Futures thinking

Main article: Futures studies

Futures thinking or futuring is often summarized as being concerned with "three Ps and a W," or possible, probable, and preferable futures, plus wildcards, which are low-probability but high-impact events, should they occur. Even with high-profile probable events, such as the fall of telecom costs, the growth of the internet, or the aging demographics of particular countries, there is often significant uncertainty in the rate or continuation of a trend. Thus a key part of futuring is the managing of uncertainty and risk.^[3] Future studies reflects on how today’s changes (or the lack thereof) become tomorrow’s reality. ...

Futurists and futures studies

Not all futurists engage in the practice of futures studies as generally defined. Preconventional futurists (see below) would generally not. And while religious futurists, astrologers, occultists, New Age divinists, etc. use methodologies that include study, none of their personal revelation or belief-based work would fall within a consensus definition of the futures studies term as used by most practitioners. Future studies reflects on how today’s changes (or the lack thereof) become tomorrow’s reality. ...

Famous futurists

Main article: List in Futurology article.

Futurology or futures studies (called futurism in the United States) is the study of the medium to long-term future, by extrapolating present technological, economic or social trends, or by attempting to predict future trends. ... Dr Patrick Dixon is a business thinker and futurist. ... Arthur Harkins, Ph. ... Stephen William Hawking, CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA, (born 8 January 1942) is a British theoretical physicist. ... Professor Michio Kaku Michio Kaku (born January 24, 1947 in the United States) is a theoretical physicist, tenured professor, and co-creator of string field theory, a branch of string theory. ... Laurie Anderson (born Laura Phillips Anderson, on June 5, 1947, in Glen Ellyn, Illinois) is an American experimental performance artist and musician. ...

References

External links

• The World Future Society and THE FUTURIST magazine.
• Changewaves Observations on the Future from Social Technologies, a Washington D.C. based futurist consulting firm.
• Futurist (ASF definition) Twelve developmental types of futures thinking.
• Global Change 50 videos, 500 articles and many presentations on world trends.
• longbets.com Bets on future events.
• Shaping Tomorrow 12500+ organised future links, 1700+ trends.
• predicto.net User generated predictions of future events.
• Futurismos A student program
• 3rd Wave Society Atlanta, Ga - Futurists meetup