Raymond Kurzweil is an American computer scientist, author, inventor, and futurist. He is involved in fields such as optical character recognition (OCR), text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition technology and electronic keyboard instruments. He has written books on health technology, artificial intelligence (AI), transhumanism, the technological singularity, and futurism. Kurzweil is a public advocate for the futurist and transhumanist movements and gives public talks to share his optimistic outlook on life extension technologies and the future of nanotechnology, robotics, and biotechnology.
Ubiquitous computing is a concept in software engineering, hardware engineering and computer science where computing is made to appear anytime and everywhere. In contrast to desktop computing, ubiquitous computing can occur using any device, in any location, and in any format. A user interacts with the computer, which can exist in many different forms, including laptop computers, tablets, smart phones and terminals in everyday objects such as a refrigerator or a pair of glasses. The underlying technologies to support ubiquitous computing include Internet, advanced middleware, operating system, mobile code, sensors, microprocessors, new I/O and user interfaces, computer networks, mobile protocols, location and positioning, and new materials.
The technological singularity—or simply the singularity—is a hypothetical future point in time at which technological growth becomes uncontrollable and irreversible, resulting in unforeseeable consequences for human civilization. According to the most popular version of the singularity hypothesis, I. J. Good's intelligence explosion model, an upgradable intelligent agent will eventually enter a positive feedback loop of self-improvement cycles, each new and more intelligent generation appearing more and more rapidly, causing a rapid increase ("explosion") in intelligence which ultimately results in a powerful superintelligence that qualitatively far surpasses all human intelligence.
David Pearce is a British transhumanist philosopher. He is the co-founder of the World Transhumanist Association, currently rebranded and incorporated as Humanity+. Pearce approaches ethical issues from a lexical negative utilitarian perspective.
Futurists are people whose specialty or interest is futurology or the attempt to systematically explore predictions and possibilities about the future and how they can emerge from the present, whether that of human society in particular or of life on Earth in general.
Futures studies, futures research, futurism, or futurology is the systematic, interdisciplinary and holistic study of social/technological advancement, and other environmental trends; often for the purpose of exploring how people will live and work in the future. Predictive techniques, such as forecasting, can be applied, but contemporary futures studies scholars emphasize the importance of systematically exploring alternatives. In general, it can be considered as a branch of the social sciences and an extension to the field of history. Futures studies seeks to understand what is likely to continue and what could plausibly change. Part of the discipline thus seeks a systematic and pattern-based understanding of past and present, and to explore the possibility of future events and trends.
Peter Schwartz is an American business executive, futurist, author, and co-founder of the Global Business Network (GBN), a corporate strategy firm, specializing in future-think and scenario planning. In 2011, Schwartz became an executive at Salesforce.com, where his roles include Senior Vice President of Strategic Planning and Chief Futures Officer.
Kriengsak Chareonwongsak is a Thai scholar and politician. He established the first future studies research institute in Southeast Asia, and was a Member of Thailand's House of Representatives, was on the executive Board for the Democrat Party, and has published on both scholarly and popular topics.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to futures studies:
Perry J. Kaufman is an American systematic trader, rocket scientist, index developer, and quantitative financial theorist. He is considered a leading expert in the development of fully algorithmic trading programs.
Daniel Burrus is an American technology futurist, business adviser, author, and public speaker in the areas of business strategy, global trends, and disruptive innovation. He has written on the topics of business transformation and technology-driven trends, with his book Flash Forsight becoming a New York Times Bestseller in 2011.
Causal Layered Analysis (CLA) is a future research theory that integrates various epistemic modes, creates spaces for alternative futures, and consists of four layers: Litany, Social and Structural, Worldview, and Myth/Metaphor. The method was created by Sohail Inayatullah, a Pakistani-Australian futures studies researcher.
Jeff Watson was a Canadian game designer, writer, and educator. His principal topics of interest were pervasive and environmental game design, creative process design, and participatory media. He served as an assistant professor of interactive media and games at the USC School of Cinematic Arts, was an associate faculty member with the USC Game Innovation Lab, and directed the Situation Lab.
Youngsook Park is a leading futurist from South Korea She serves as Chair of Millennium Project Korea Node. She also represents several global futures research organizations such as TechCastGlobal, and Davinci Institute. She has been Information Officer of the British Embassy Seoul (1982–2000) and Director of Public Diplomacy of the Australian Embassy Seoul (2000–2010) where she was trained as a futurist by attending World Future Society conferences, and other futurists meetings. Park is known for bringing global futurists to Korea for the last 30 years, and is a co-organizer of Korea Future Forum along with News1, a Korean news agency, inviting famous futurists to Seoul to speak on futures.
Threatcasting is a conceptual framework used to help multidisciplinary groups envision future scenarios. It is also a process that enables systematic planning against threats ten years in the future. Utilizing the threatcasting process, groups explore possible future threats and how to transform the future they desire into reality while avoiding undesired futures. Threatcasting is a continuous, multiple-step process with inputs from social science, technical research, cultural history, economics, trends, expert interviews, and science fiction storytelling. These inputs inform the exploration of potential visions of the future.
Andy Hines is an American futurist, head of graduate studies in Foresight at the University of Houston, and author of several books on strategic foresight. Hines is a professional futurist, co-creator of the framework foresight method, Assistant Professor and Program Coordinator of the Graduate Program in Foresight at the University of Houston, Principal of foresight consulting firm Hinesight, and former organizational futurist at Kellogg Company and Dow Chemical. He has written extensively on futures studies, strategic foresight, foresight research methods, the role of organizational futurists, and the consumer landscape.
Pero Mićić is a German professor for Foresight and Strategy at Steinbeis-Hochschule Berlin, as well as author, public speaker and management consultant. He is the founder and CEO of the FutureManagementGroup AG. Mićić lives in Eltville, Germany.
Noah Raford is an American futurist and specialist in public policy, strategy and emerging technologies. He is a founding executive of the Dubai Future Foundation and the Museum of the Future, and is currently the Futurist-in-Chief and Chief of Global Affairs at the Dubai Future Foundation. He was responsible for a project claiming to be the world's first fully functional 3D printed building and a blockchain strategy for Dubai.
Bryan Alexander is an American futurist, author, Georgetown University Senior Scholar and the creator of The Future of Higher Education Observatory. Alexander was one of the first experts to envision the peak in US higher education enrollment and is a key contributor to the academic and popular culture conversation about higher education.
Stuart Candy is an Australian futurist and designer. Candy is a Fellow of the World Futures Studies Federation, Museum of Tomorrow. He is the first Research Fellow of The Long Now Foundation. His work deals with futurism and designing experiential futures through immersive storytelling.
