Our Core Beliefs
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We share common core beliefs and values about the future and our role in creating the future we prefer.
The future is creatable, so we have choice.
The future is not something that just happens to us. The future is something we do.
There is a knowable future.
While much of the future is unpredictable and full of surprises, there are aspects of the future which are relatively knowable, if we take the time to look.
The future creates the present.
Our images of the future – what we expect, what we fear, what we hope for, what we prefer – all exert an influence on our decisions in the present. Change our image of the future in a way that matters to us and we make different decisions today.
If you don’t go far enough back in memory or far enough ahead in hope, your present will be impoverished.
- Ed Lindaman
In order to live fully in the present, one must remember the past and anticipate and imagine the future.
The purpose of anticipating the future is not so that one can figure out what to do in the future.
Rather, the purpose is to fold an enhanced understanding of the future back on the present, and make better decisions right here, right now.
Freedom means being able to participate in the creation of your own future.
If you cannot participate, you are not truly free, and if you are uninformed you cannot participate as fully.
Science Fiction as effective futuring.
Many, perhaps most professional futurists avoid association with the Science Fiction writing community. We embrace it. We have found that many of the best science fiction writers provide us with the very best in exploring probable, possible, and preferred futures, both in their fiction work and in their occasional non-fiction books. In fact, if you want to learn about the long term future, read a good science fiction book and then think about how it relates to where we are and where we want to go in the future.
The future is not something that just happens to us. The future is something we do.
Rather than being something to fear, the future is best seen as a challenge and an opportunity. Imagining it, learning about amazing possibilities, seeing what futurists, science fiction writers and other visionaries see, creating the future, all can be a rich source of fun and enjoyment. And, the best way to change the present is to revise our ideas about the future.
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