Teaching Futures Studies: Some Lessons Learned Jim Dator For
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Politics of Designing Visions of the Future
DOI:10.6531/JFS.201903_23(3).0003 ARTICLE .23 Politics of Designing Visions of the Future Ramia Mazé Aalto University Finland Abstract Scenarios for policy and the public are increasingly given form by designers. For design, this means ideas about the future – futurity – is at stake, particularly in genres of ‘concept’, ‘critical’ and ‘persuasive’ design. While critical approaches are present in futures studies and political philosophy, design assumptions and preferences are typically not explicit, including gender norms, socio-ecological practices and power structures. Calling for further studies of the politics of design visions, I outline possible approaches and elaborate through the example ‘Switch! Energy Futures’. I reflect upon how competing visions and politics of sustainability become explicit through our process, aesthetics and stakeholders. Keywords: Futures Studies, Design, Design Theory, Visualization, Scenarios, Political Philosophy. Introduction The future – indeed, temporality – has only entered substantially into design discourse relatively recently. Design and other disciplines such as architecture, geography and geology have long been preoccupied with space rather than with time (Grosz, 1999; Mazé, 2007). Today, however, ideas about the future – or, in philosopher Elizabeth Grosz’ terms, futurity – is stake in many design arguments and practices. Assumptions about time, progress and futurity underlie popular rhetoric concerning ‘change’, ‘progress’, ‘transformation’ and ‘transition’, and design, along with many disciplines, is affected by the increasing hegemony of values framed as ‘newness’ and ‘innovation’ (e.g. Wakeford, 2014). Beyond mere rhetoric, design research and practice must further develop its approaches to futurity. Indeed, the future is itself might be conceived as a design problem (Reeves, Goulden, & Dingwall, 2016). -
Globalized Digital Networks and Horizontal Information Processing
In Situ Issue 1 In Situ 2009 Article 10 5-2009 Globalization’s Effect on Human Information Processing: Globalized Digital Networks and Horizontal Information Processing Tony Wang University of Pennsylvania This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/insitu/vol1/iss1/10 For more information, please contact [email protected]. Globalization’s Effect on Human Information Processing: Globalized Digital Networks and Horizontal Information Processing This article is available in In Situ: https://repository.upenn.edu/insitu/vol1/iss1/10 Wang: Globalization’s Effect on Human Information Processing: Globalize Globalization’s Effect on Human Information Processing: Globalized Digital Networks and Horizontal Information Processing Tony Wang Introduction In July of 2008, Nicolas Carr of the Atlantic wrote an influential article entitled, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” The predominant consideration of this ironically long article is the “deterioration” of human information processing caused by growth of information technology. The main culprit responsible for this downward trend is the Net, whose operating philosophy mandates the continual expansion of information accessibility, the reducibility of information to small bits, and the encouragement of constant consumption and generation of information. The epitome of this operating philosophy is Twitter, an extremely popular social networking website whose entire premise is based on users submitting updates about their life of no more than 140 characters (this sentence is longer than 140 characters). In true McLuhan style, Carr contends that the Net “remaps” our neural circuitry to emulate the very medium with which we access information. We are able to process more information in a shorter amount of time, but at the cost of being prevented from focusing on long pieces of prose for sustained periods of time: “Immersing myself in a book or a lengthy article used to be easy…. -
Implication of Two New Paradigms for Futures Studies1 Éva HIDEG
Implication of Two New Paradigms for Futures Studies 1 Éva HIDEG Abstract The paper considers the emergence of two recent perspectives in futures work. One is evolutionary futures studies. The other is critical futures studies. After describing aspects of each, the paper considers them as alternative rival paradigms in relation to criteria that include: the role of the human being as a subject, the role of interpretation and differences in methodological premises. It concludes that both have contributed to the development of futures methods but that a number of theoretical and methodological problems still remain unsolved. 1. Antecedents and main theoretical-methodological problems What has most characterised the road covered by studies of futures up to the 1980s was its emergence as an independent and structured field of science and as an independent sphere of social activity. Despite the fact that the theory and methodology of futures research had crystallised and solidified, the studies of futures had by no means become united. The paradigmatic differences interpreted according to Kuhn remained palpable 2. This was most detectable in the cultivation of two differing systems of approaches, namely in futures research, which adopts the criteria of classical science, and in futures studi es , which is more culture-based. Futures research, which moulds the particular criteria of science it wishes to adhere to more and more, worked on developing and adapting new methods and on uniformly solidifying the process of forecasting in different areas. Futures studies, however, interpreted the determination of the future, the future-shaping role of culture and the methodology of futures studies through the filter of research into culture. -
Mirrorshade Women: Feminism and Cyberpunk
Mirrorshade Women: Feminism and Cyberpunk at the Turn of the Twenty-first Century Carlen Lavigne McGill University, Montréal Department of Art History and Communication Studies February 2008 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Communication Studies © Carlen Lavigne 2008 2 Abstract This study analyzes works of cyberpunk literature written between 1981 and 2005, and positions women’s cyberpunk as part of a larger cultural discussion of feminist issues. It traces the origins of the genre, reviews critical reactions, and subsequently outlines the ways in which women’s cyberpunk altered genre conventions in order to advance specifically feminist points of view. Novels are examined within their historical contexts; their content is compared to broader trends and controversies within contemporary feminism, and their themes are revealed to be visible reflections of feminist discourse at the end of the twentieth century. The study will ultimately make a case for the treatment of feminist cyberpunk as a unique vehicle for the examination of contemporary women’s issues, and for the analysis of feminist science fiction as a complex source of political ideas. Cette étude fait l’analyse d’ouvrages de littérature cyberpunk écrits entre 1981 et 2005, et situe la littérature féminine cyberpunk dans le contexte d’une discussion culturelle plus vaste des questions féministes. Elle établit les origines du genre, analyse les réactions culturelles et, par la suite, donne un aperçu des différentes manières dont la littérature féminine cyberpunk a transformé les usages du genre afin de promouvoir en particulier le point de vue féministe. -
Department of Futures Studies
DEPARTMENT OF FUTURES STUDIES UNIVERSITY OF KERALA M.Phil PROGRAMME IN FUTURES STUDIES SYLLABUS (Under Credit and Semester System w.e.f. 2016 Admissions) UNIVERSITY OF KERALA DEPARTMENT OF FUTURES STUDIES M.Phil Programme in Futures Studies Aim: The M.Phil Programme in Futures Studies aims to make the students to conceive and constitute objects for research that belong to interdisciplinary areas with special emphasis on science, technology and its relationship with society with a futuristic outlook. It also intends to equip the students with forecasting and futuristic problem solving methods in their basic areas of specialization. Objectives To introduce the students to advanced areas of research in their basic domain with a futuristic outlook. To make the students competent in literature collection pertaining to his/her study area. To make the students to do independent field work and data collection. To prepare the students for undertaking analysis with the help of computational tools and softwares. To prepare the students to undertake serious research and train the students in better scientific communication. Structure of the Programme Semester Course Code Name of the Course Number of No. Credits FUS-711 Interdisciplinary Research & Research 4 Methodology FUS-712 Scientific Computing and Forecasting 4 FUS-713(i) Technological Futures, Forecasting and 4 Assessment FUS-713(ii) Computational Chemistry 4 FUS-713(iii) Molecular Modeling and Molecular Dynamics 4 I FUS-713(iv) Optimization Techniques 4 FUS-713(v) Nonlinear Dynamics and -
Futures-Thinking Skills to Students and Educators Around the World and to Inspire Them to Influence Their Futures
Teaching about the Future Peter Bishop Sacramento CA 30 October 2030 We teach the future as we do the past. Our ASPIRATION is that every student is prepared to navigate an uncertain world and has the agency to imagine and create their preferred future. Our MISSION is to teach futures-thinking skills to students and educators around the world and to inspire them to influence their futures. We teach the future as we do the past. Today’s Purpose Enroll you in the campaign to accomplish something of significance “My name is Harvey Milk... And I am here to recruit you.” -- Milk, the movie, 2008 We teach the future as we do the past. The Invention of “the Future” • Ancient techniques, Delphic Oracle • Eschatology, End times • Enlightenment (Industrial revolution) – Sebastien Mercier, L’Ann 2440 (1770) – Marquis de Condorcet, Sketch for a Historical Picture of the Progress of the Human Mind (1778) – Thomas Malthus, An Essay on the Principle of Population (1798) • Science fiction – Jules Verne (1865), H.G. Wells (1898) • Trends – William Ogburn (1933), H.G. Wells (1901) • Theory (1950s) – Herman Kahn, RAND Corp – Fred Polak, Bertrand de Jouvenel, Gaston Berger We teach the future as well as the past. The Professionalization of the Future • Forecasting – from the Delphic Oracle to… – Trend extrapolation: William Ogburn, Recent Social Trends, 1933 – Econometrics: Lawrence Klein, Wharton Econometric Model, 1969 • Planning – from L’Enfant, Wash DC to… – Budget planning: Programming, Planning, Budgeting Systems (PPBS), 1961 – Urban planning: American Planning Assoc, 1978 – Strategic planning: Michael Porter, Competitive Strategy, 1980 We teach the future as well as the past. -
Futures Studies: Theories and Methods Sohail Inayatullah >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Futures Studies: Theories and Methods Sohail Inayatullah >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> INTRODUCTION Futures studies is the systematic study of possible, probable and preferable futures including the worldviews and myths that underlie each future. In the last fifty or so years, the study of the future has moved from predicting the future to mapping alternative futures to shaping desired futures, both at external collective levels and inner individual levels (Masini 1993; Bell 1996; Amara 1981; Sardar 1999; Inayatullah 2000; Saul 2001). During this period, futures studies has moved from focusing on the external objective world to a layered approach wherein how one sees the world actually shapes the future one sees (Inayatullah 2002). In this critical futures approach — the poststructural turn — the external world is informed by the inner and, crucially, a person’s inner world is informed by the reality of the external. While many embrace futures studies so as to reduce risk, to avoid negative futures, particularly the worst case, others actively move to creating desired futures, positive visions of the future (Masini 1983). The identification of alternative futures is thus a fluid dance of structure (the weights of history) and agency (the capacity to influence the world and create desired futures). As the world has become increasingly risky — at least in perception, if not in fact — futures studies has been eagerly adopted by executive leadership teams and planning departments in organizations, institutions and nations throughout the world. While futures studies sits comfortably as an executive function by providing the big picture, there Blanca Muñoz, Campo magnético triple (detail) remain tangible tensions between the planning and futures frameworks. -
Entropy and Immortality
ARTICLE .39 Entropy and Immortality Charles Tandy Fooyin University Taiwan Abstract In part one (of two parts) I show that any purely physical-scientific account of reality must be deficient. Instead, I present a general-ontological framework that should prove fruitful when discussing or resolving philosophic controversies; indeed, I show that the paradigm readily resolves the controversy "Why is there something rather than nothing?" In part two, now informed by the previously established general ontology, I explore the issue of immor- tality. The analysis leads me to make this claim: Entropy is a fake. Apparently the physical-scientific resurrec- tion of all dead persons is our ethically-required common-task. Suspended-animation, superfast-rocketry, and seg-communities (Self-sufficient Extra-terrestrial Green-habitat communities, or O'Neill communities) are identified as important first steps. Keywords: all/everything, biostasis/suspended animation, Nikolai Fedorovich Fedorov, Kurt Gödel, knowl- edge, mind, Gerard K. O'Neill, ontology, paradigm, time travel Introduction: Caveat Emptor Futures studies or futuristic studies (or futuristics) is a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary enterprise. I myself happen to be both philosopher and futurist. Since most futurists and most read- ers of this article are not philosophers, I may need to briefly explain my style of presentation. Assertion, inference, and argument – used in a concerted, deliberative, disciplined way – are com- mon tools of philosophers past and present. Accordingly, a philosopher may sound unusually sure of herself for the purpose of professional discourse. In such way two philosophers may seem to be bitter enemies in their published works. But outside the publication world, the two may in fact be the closest of friends. -
Defense 2045: Assessing the Future Security Environment And
NOVEMBER 2015 1616 Rhode Island Avenue NW Washington, DC 20036 202-887-0200 | www.csis.org Defense 2045 Lanham • Boulder • New York • London 4501 Forbes Boulevard Assessing the Future Security Environment and Implications Lanham, MD 20706 301- 459- 3366 | www.rowman.com for Defense Policymakers Cover photo: Shutterstock.com A Report of the CSIS International Security Program AUTHOR ISBN 978-1-4422-5888-4 David T. Miller 1616 Rhode Island Avenue NW FOREWORD Washington,Ë|xHSLEOCy258884z DC 20036v*:+:!:+:! Joseph S. Nye Jr. 202-887-0200 | www.csis.org Blank Defense 2045 Assessing the Future Security Environment and Implications for Defense Policymakers AUTHOR David T. Miller FOREWORD Joseph S. Nye Jr. A Report of the CSIS International Security Program November 2015 Lanham • Boulder • New York • London 594-62791_ch00_3P.indd 1 11/6/15 7:13 AM hn hk io il sy SY ek eh About CSIS hn hk io il sy SY ek eh For over 50 years, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has worked to hn hk io il sy SY ek eh develop solutions to the world’s greatest policy challenges. Today, CSIS scholars are hn hk io il sy SY ek eh providing strategic insights and bipartisan policy solutions to help decisionmakers chart hn hk io il sy SY ek eh a course toward a better world. hn hk io il sy SY ek eh CSIS is a nonprofit organ ization headquartered in Washington, D.C. The Center’s 220 full- time staff and large network of affiliated scholars conduct research and analy sis and hn hk io il sy SY ek eh develop policy initiatives that look into the future and anticipate change. -
Global Challenges Foundation
Artificial Extreme Future Bad Global Global System Major Asteroid Intelligence Climate Change Global Governance Pandemic Collapse Impact Artificial Extreme Future Bad Global Global System Major Asteroid Global Intelligence Climate Change Global Governance Pandemic Collapse Impact Ecological Nanotechnology Nuclear War Super-volcano Synthetic Unknown Challenges Catastrophe Biology Consequences Artificial Extreme Future Bad Global Global System Major Asteroid Ecological NanotechnologyIntelligence NuclearClimate WarChange Super-volcanoGlobal Governance PandemicSynthetic UnknownCollapse Impact Risks that threaten Catastrophe Biology Consequences humanArtificial civilisationExtreme Future Bad Global Global System Major Asteroid 12 Intelligence Climate Change Global Governance Pandemic Collapse Impact Ecological Nanotechnology Nuclear War Super-volcano Synthetic Unknown Catastrophe Biology Consequences Ecological Nanotechnology Nuclear War Super-volcano Synthetic Unknown Catastrophe Biology Consequences Artificial Extreme Future Bad Global Global System Major Asteroid Intelligence Climate Change Global Governance Pandemic Collapse Impact Artificial Extreme Future Bad Global Global System Major Asteroid Intelligence Climate Change Global Governance Pandemic Collapse Impact Artificial Extreme Future Bad Global Global System Major Asteroid Intelligence Climate Change Global Governance Pandemic Collapse Impact Artificial Extreme Future Bad Global Global System Major Asteroid IntelligenceEcological ClimateNanotechnology Change NuclearGlobal Governance -
Futures Studies Jim Dator Hawaii Research Center for Futures Studies Department of Political Science University of Hawaii at Manoa
Futures Studies Jim Dator Hawaii Research Center for Futures Studies Department of Political Science University of Hawaii at Manoa Published as "Futures Studies ," in William Sims Bainbridge, ed., Leadership in Science and Technology. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Reference Series, 2011, Vol. 1, Chapter Four, pp. 32-40. Who Are Futurists, and What Do They Do? It is a common cliché to assert that all humans are futurists. Without a doubt a distinct human capability is to dream, scheme, plan ahead, and then create the technologies necessary to strive for and perhaps attain the dream. But many other species do so as well. Humans are not unique in this except for the scope of their dreams and the power of their technologies. But if all humans are futurists, then humans are also chemists, physicists, historians, priests and everything else. Yet we still needed physicists and engineers to get to the Moon in spite of eons of dreams and stories about space flight, and it seems even the most fundamental and protestant among us still feel the need for some kind of priests to keep us out of hell, and so it probably is the case that futurists can be useful in helping us think more clearly about the causes and consequences of our dreams and fears about the futures. No one can accurately "predict" exactly what "the future" of anything of consequence will be, though there are many charlatans who say they can, and who are paid big bucks for their "predictions", almost all of which prove not only to be false, but dangerously so. -
Ed 071 192 Author Title Institution Report No
ED 071 192 Eh004 792 AUTHOR Marien, Michael,_Ed. TITLE The Hot List Delphi. _An .7Exploratory Survey of Essential Reading for the Future.- INSTITUTION Syracuse Univ..ResearchCorp.,N.Y. Educational Pelicy Research Center.. REPORT NO EPRC-ER-6 PUBDATE 72 NOTE 99p.. AVAILABLE FROMEPRC Publications, 1206 Harrison Street, Syracuse, NeW York 13210 ($1.50) EDRS PRICE MF-$0.65 HC-f3.29 DESCRIPTORS *Annotated Bibliographies; Changing Attitudes; *Educational Change; *Futures; *LiteratureReviews; *Social.Change IDENTIFIERS *Eicplotatoty Reports;- Futures Research ABSTRACT This:report:lists 236booksand_ articles of which 192' haVe been rated by -a panel of 1 --gullified:,futurists. The findings-of this survey are beinT:made -- available to aid' in-the professionalization,of the field,tof future_ sresearch;to encourage and better -Surveys such as this one; and to providea somewhat authoritative list of selected readings for ,policymakers, professionals, students, and Concerned citizens who wish to further their -understanding -of futures, futurists, and fixturistics. The docUments- are rated according -to -merit andreadingaudience...Futures docUments are annotated and ,classified according to (1). general overviews;(2) general symposia and antholOgies; (3) technology and its impacts;(4). population, resources and environment:, (5) government and international relations:, (6) business and economics_;: (7)- the individual, the family,, and youth; (8) :comiunications and- education; (9) .futUres-mclassicanz; -(10)- utopiaS and Science-fiction; (11)-, ziethodology; and (12) :bibliographies and directories. From thete documents, 36 were selected as- a ,recommended -basic. library -fOr futurists.The-review also includes information about =how to acquire the documents surveyed...A related docuinent is ED- 061 '636., (Author/DN)- U.S. DEPARTMENT OF WEALTH.