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The Role of Futurists
A Comment from David Pearce Snyder
According to all the public opinion polls since 9/11, more people say that they consciously think about the future than they did before 9/ll. And, people are now aware, as never before, that the future may turn out to be implausibly different from what we expect or desire. Still, we live in a short-term world. In fact, the mechanisms of human perspective make things that are nearby - in time or space - look bigger, sound louder, smell stronger - than things which are far away. In the overall scheme of things, attention to the short term is surely a fundamental survival trait.
However, if we allow American society to become enthralled by the oncoming headlights of half a dozen short-term issues, the nation and its institutions will loose any long term sense of direction or purpose. When you suddenly find yourself in the direct path of a bunch of speeding 30-ton trucks, you are very likely to forget that your original intention had been to get to the greener fields and forests on the other side of the highway. Therefore, I believe that an important function of futurists is to provoke renewed attention to - and investment in - the long term future whenever society and its institutions become pre-occupied with the present.
The Camel and the Donkey
A Sufi Story
Provided by Paul Schumann
Once upon a time a camel and a donkey were walking together. The camel moved smoothly with long strides while the donkey moved impatiently, stumbling frequently. The donkey asked his companion, "How is it that I am perpetually in trouble? I am always falling and hurting myself in spite of the fact that I look carefully downward as I walk. You never seem to be aware of what surrounds you. Your eyes are fixed on the horizon, and you keep going fast without stumbling."
The camel smiled serenely and answered, "By looking down you do not see anything until it is too late to change your steps. You think that haste is speed and that by looking you can see. And, you think that seeing near is the same as seeing far. You assume that I am looking at the horizon. However, I am merely gazing ahead so as to work out what to do when the far becomes near. And I remember what has gone before, and do not need to look back and stumble once again."
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