[ExI] What's Wrong With Academic Futurists?

[Robin D Hanson]

On Jan 22, 2014, at 11:19 PM, spike wrote:
>…There is an academic specialty of futurism. That is, there are professors, journals, and even some departments which specialize in that topic. Do people here often read or cite such folks? It seems not, but then the question is why not. What is the problem with academic futurists such that people on a future oriented list like this aren't much interested in them?

I see references to academic futurists, such as the local Singularity Institute, which is Ray Kurzweil’s group.  You’re right, there seems to be fewer references to futurism than there once was, but the traffic here is a lot lower than it was in the 90s as well.

I'm talking about the kind of futurists mentioned here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Futures_studies
The kind that publish in the journals listed there. The Singularity Institute isn't part of that.

I sure pay attention to what Anders has to say. Might be a little close to home for you, as a prophet has no honor in his home town.

I don't think Anders Sandberg publishes there much either.

Robin Hanson  http://hanson.gmu.edu
Res. Assoc., Future of Humanity Inst., Oxford Univ.
Assoc. Professor, George Mason University
Chief Scientist, Consensus Point
MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030
703-993-2326 FAX: 703-993-2323



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