Conclusion

Futures studies is the art and science of taking responsibility for the long-term consequences of our decisions and our actions today. The Conclusion proposes that once we know there is not one predictable future, we are freer to imagine alternative futures and work towards creating the futures we prefer—for self and humanity. The grand global challenges faced by humanity may seem insurmountable, but the sense of fear and hopelessness often comes from not knowing enough. By working collaboratively for positive change, whether in the area of climate change, alternative energy, humanitarian causes, health, economics, or transforming education, we can create a critical mass for creating positive futures.

5. Technotopian or human-centred futures?

A vital question with regard to the future is how we deal with human futures. While high-tech futures are of interest to some futurists, many futures scholars are focused on the potential social, cultural, and environmental impacts of rapid unprecedented change, including exponential technological developments. ‘Technotopian or human-centred futures?’ describes two contrasting approaches to human futures and their inherent values and ethics: ‘human-centred futures’, which is humanitarian, philosophical, and ecological; and ‘technotopian futures’, which is dehumanizing, scientistic, and atomistic. It also considers the history of the struggle between these two approaches, which has been waged since at least the European Enlightenment, and still challenges us today.

2. The future multiplied

What if there is not one future that can be colonized and controlled, but many possible futures that can be imagined, designed, and created collaboratively? In everyday language we speak of a singular future, which has both conceptual and political implications. ‘The future multiplied’ outlines early future research—influenced by scientific positivism—with its predictive-empirical approach, then discusses pluralism in the social sciences and the shift to multiple futures thinking. Pluralizing the future opens it up for envisioning and creating alternative futures to the status quo. The chapter concludes with a variety of methods used in multiple futures research approaches, including the four-step Swinburne methodology used in strategic foresight applications.

Introduction

The Introduction highlights some of the tensions one might expect when reading about the future, most notably between scientific prediction and ungrounded speculation. It discusses the many ways to name the study of the future, whether the future is a time or a place, and the quest to tame time through clocks and calendars. It steers a course between Malthusian doomsday catastrophes and the panorama of Cornucopian techno-optimism. While we may feel we are locked into a worrying future that we cannot escape from, learning about different ways to think about the future gives us more choice and empowers us to create alternative futures from the myriad possibilities out there.

6. Grand global futures challenges

The challenges we face for near and long-term futures have been called a crisis of crises. ‘Grand global futures challenges’ synthesizes these complex and interconnected major global futures challenges into twelve clusters of issues across three domains: environmental, geo-political, and socio-cultural. The first mind-map includes current trends likely to create major problems for futures of humanity. The second includes counter-trends, twists, and surprises. These alternative futures have potential to mitigate, disrupt, or reverse the dominant trends and enable others to imagine and create alternatives to the disturbing trends being forecast. Finally, the focus is on three Grand Global Challenges: growing urbanization, lack of (or inadequate) education, and the climate crisis.

1. Three thousand years of futures

By understanding how humans in the past have framed the future, we can gain a deeper appreciation of the significance of futures thinking. ‘Three thousand years of futures’ explores the history of time consciousness, beginning with prophets in Judaeo-Christian and Persian cultures, the sibyls of ancient Greece, and Plato’s utopian vision. It then considers the Renaissance period, which represented a revolution in thinking and culture that pointed to a radically different future, and the 18th-century European Enlightenment. The dark side of progress—as portrayed by Malthus—is discussed along with Cornucopianism, which emerged in response. Finally, the effects of the two world wars on states’ future planning is considered.

4. Crystal balls, flying cars, and robots

In spite of the substantial body of futures literature with its conceptual and methodological innovation and engagement with real world issues, misconceptions abound in academic, professional, and policy circles. The term ‘future’ is increasingly used in these circles without reference to the published futures studies material. ‘Crystal balls, flying cars, and robots’ considers general misunderstandings and the trivialization of futures research by the media. Futurists are not crystal ball gazers; they are not all involved in high-technology, flying machines, space-technology, and science fiction; and future studies is not dominantly involved with robotics, drones, and artificial intelligence. The concepts of transhumanism, posthumanism, and dehumanization are also discussed.

3. The evolving scholarship of futures studies

Many futurists over the years came to the realization that attempting to predict the future, based on scientific positivism, was not the most productive way to approach futures studies in our complex world. ‘The evolving scholarship of futures studies’ describes four different futures approaches that have followed on from the positivist predictive-empirical future: critical futures, cultural futures, participatory futures, and integral futures. Over the last five decades futures scholars have developed new language, concepts, and methods to articulate the breadth and depth of the futures studies field and have made important contributions to advancing our ideas about the complex relationship between time consciousness and futures.