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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Hi Robin!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Great to see you on the list. You asked: “</span><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>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?”<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>I have a MSc in this area. The most known academic master’s degree in this area is at the University of Houston <a href="http://www.uh.edu/technology/programs/graduate/foresight/">http://www.uh.edu/technology/programs/graduate/foresight/</a> (which changed its degree from Future Studies to Foresight) and University of Hawaii <a href="http://www.futures.hawaii.edu/academic-offerings.html">http://www.futures.hawaii.edu/academic-offerings.html</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Here is a podcast I created many years ago (before apps, etc.) <a href="http://www.natasha.cc/futurists.htm">http://www.natasha.cc/futurists.htm</a> Jim Dator runs the Futures program in Hawaii, Wendy Schultz is at Cambridge (or was), and the others were independents back then.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Journals: not really. The World Future Society tries to do this, but not successfully and it is not an impressive group. Many individuals have their own types of journals/zines, but again nothing really at your level. There is a group, Association of Professional Futurists. I was a member for a couple of years and left because it ended up being a tool to support one particular set of people and not everyone <a href="http://www.profuturists.org/">http://www.profuturists.org/</a> . A smart person who is a friend of mine exemplifies what most futurists do once they get a master’s degree from Houston or Hawaii; <a href="http://www.alsekresearch.com/joanfoltz.html">http://www.alsekresearch.com/joanfoltz.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Criticism of futurists: from my experience, many people think futurists are riding on the coat-tails of innovators/entrepreneurs. The great futurists I am grateful to have known and/or worked with are Alvin Toffler, John Naisbitt, Buckminster Fuller and FM-2030. They were true visionaries. The academic futurists, again from my experience, are not visionary (more conservative types) and want to get paid by DARPA, IBM, etc. to forecast possible futures. The techniques and models are quite good, but again it is more a matter of statistics, mathematics, and formula strategy, which is fine and I value. I teach a couple of courses (undergraduate and graduate) where I use some of these methods/tools for my student’s assignments. STEEP, Environmental Scanning, SWOT, Strategy Canvas, Backcasting, etc. are all useful and I value them.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Best to you and your family!<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Natasha<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><a href="http://www.natasha.cc/"><span style='color:windowtext'>Natasha Vita-More, PhD</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:4.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Faculty, University of Advancing Technology<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Chair, Humanity+<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Fellow, Institute for Ethics & Emerging Technologies<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><i><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Founder: H+Lab / H+TV<o:p></o:p></span></i></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>_______________________________________<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>New Book at <span style='color:#E36C0A'><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1/188-1002006-3563941?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=the%20transhumanist%20reader&sprefix=the+transhumanist+re%2Caps&rh=i%3Aaps%2Ck%3Athe%20transhumanist%20reader"><span style='color:#E36C0A'>Amazon</span></a>!</span><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><img border=0 width=67 height=96 id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image001.png@01CF19E9.393C4800" alt="cover email"><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Robin D Hanson<br><b>Sent:</b> Wednesday, January 22, 2014 3:42 PM<br><b>To:</b> ExI chat list<br><b>Subject:</b> [ExI] What's Wrong With Academic Futurists?<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>Howdy everyone. I've been away from this list for many years, but thought I might try it again. I've been lurking for a few days to get a feel, but not sure it has told me that much. So let me start out by asking a question.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>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?<o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'>Robin Hanson <a href="http://hanson.gmu.edu">http://hanson.gmu.edu</a><br>Res. Assoc., Future of Humanity Inst., Oxford Univ.<br>Assoc. Professor, George Mason University<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'>Chief Scientist, Consensus Point<br>MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030<br>703-993-2326 FAX: 703-993-2323<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:13.5pt;font-family:"Helvetica","sans-serif";color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>