A century of tomorrows : how imagining the future shapes the present / Glenn Adamson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Adamson, Glenn, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Forecasting--History.

Forecasting.

Forecasting--Study and teaching.

Futurologists--History.

Futurologists.

Futurism (Literary movement)--History.

Futurism (Literary movement).

Future, The.

Future, The--History.

Physical Description:

336 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

New York : Bloomsbury Publishing, 2024.

Summary:

An acclaimed cultural historian takes readers on an intellectual thrill ride through the kaleidoscopic story of futurology, a surprisingly powerful force in the modern world. For millennia, predicting the future was the province of priests and prophets, the realm of astrologers and seers. Then, in the twentieth century, futurologists emerged, claiming that data and design could make planning into a rational certainty. Over time, many of these technologists and trend forecasters amassed power as public intellectuals, even as their predictions proved less than reliable. Now, amid political and ecological crises of our own making, we drown in a cacophony of potential futures-including, possibly, no future at all. A Century of Tomorrows offers an illuminating account of how the world was transformed by the science (or is it?) of futurecasting. Beneath the chaos of competing tomorrows, Adamson reveals a hidden order: six key themes that have structured visions of what's next. Helping him to tell this story are remarkable characters, including self-proclaimed futurologists such as Buckminster Fuller and Stewart Brand, as well as an eclectic array of other visionaries who have influenced our thinking about the world ahead: Octavia Butler and Ursula LeGuin, Shulamith Firestone and Sun Ra, Marcus Garvey and Timothy Leary, and more.

Contents:

Introduction

Heaven and hell

Machine

Garden

Lab

Party

Flood

Conclusion.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 277-317) and index.

ISBN:

9781639730230

1639730230

OCLC:

1408379805

Publisher Number:

90100856654