wolven7 | Things you should know:

Futurism is a practice in which many have engaged, for some time now, but the idea of "predicting" the future has always had major flaws. We as a species are notoriously bad at forecasting the impact of certain technologies, or the confluences of events, context, and opportunities which will make a New use become either apparent or necessary. Recently, many people have taken to seeking the the shape of five minutes from now, rather than making sweeping claims about what life will be like in our colonies on the moons of Jupiter. These new futurists are doing more to understand the interconnections that go into making our socio-/eco-/enviro-political Present than weaving grand tales about tomorrow, and they do it with a level of insight and understanding not seen in some of the best think tanks around.

Some of these groups and individuals are:

John Robb at the blog Global Guerrillas: http://globalguerrillas.typepad.com/

Journalist David Forbes, at The Breaking Time: http://thebreakingtime.typepad.com

Jamais Cascio, of Open the Future: http://openthefuture.com/ and formerly of World Changing: http://www.worldchanging.com

The Team at Grinding.be: http://grinding.be

All of these people seek to understand and shape the future, each with their own particular perspectives, and acknowledgments of their attendant biases. I believe a consideration of this rising trend-- this particular kind of thinking about where we want to be through the lens of where we are now, and vice versa-- I think would be exactly the kind of thing you should be reading.

In addition, last night we went out to the bar, and had a great time. I went to the Religious Studies Alumni Meeting, earlier in the night, and had...well, too many hors d'oeuvres. That plus dinner (salmon fajitas, kind of greasy), plus booze, equalled a very upset stomach. Still, even accounting for the illness & the vomiting, I declare last night a ROUSING success! 4 out of 5 Caligulas.

That's my new rating system.

Later