By: Alireza Hejazi 

 

Imagining myself in an elevator, I talked to a friend about my profession as a futurist.

My friend: Once you said that you are a futurist, are you? What do you exactly do for the folks?

Me: Yes, I help business prepare for surprises they don't see.

My friend: What business are you in?
 

Me: Well, foresight is a profession. You know, foresight is the forward-looking equivalent of history. It is an intellectual form in which a society renders account to itself of its probable and possible futures.

My friend: How do you study the future?

Me: We do not study the future to know in advance just what is going to happen, but rather to create a better future for ourselves and for others. Our future is fundamentally undecided, and therefore unpredictable. Our power as ordinary people to influence the future of the world at large has recently received unexpected support from the mathematicians and computer scientists studying chaos.

My friend: What kinds of futures research you have?

Me: Two kinds of futures research exist: Empirical and normative. Futures studies may be divided into “hard” and “soft,” corresponding to the distinction between the methods and perspectives of the exact sciences and those of the humanities. A futurist is a person who has achieved 'futures literacy'. He has explored the futures domain and become competent in its ideas and methods. A futurist has studied the futures literature and knows how to help others use futures knowledge.

My friend: And, what types of foresight?

Me: There are three main kinds of foresight: Pragmatic, Progressive and civilization foresight. Meanwhile, strategic foresight is the ability to create and maintain high-quality forward views and to use the insights arising in organizationally useful ways.