Chapters derived from the 1997 World Futures Studies Federation Conference in Brisbane, titled "Global Conversations," on transformative scenarios, alternative renderings of what it means to communicate, and the purpose of communication. In general, "the ideals of the information society are eschewed for the vision of a gaia of civilizations, of authentic global communication." This means creating communication processes that are inclusive, especially in ways of knowing "others" in society: women, the non-West, and most significantly, future generations. Communication that is transformative essentially rejects modernity--capitalism--as unstable, destructive of nature, and oppressive. Transformation communication is future generations oriented, inclusive of alternative ways of knowing, critical of technology, and based on direct and structural free flows of ideas. The 17 essays include:

1) Anthony Judge on the quest for collective well-being through conversation in the present moment; 2) Darren Schmidt on departure from Western schools of thought that allows us to converse with "pre-emanants" or "ghosts of the future"; 3) Jérôme Bindé on the ethics of future generations (entailing a radical evolution in our understanding of responsibility, precaution, and heritage); 4) Tony Stevenson on the consequences of the Web for people, organizations, and communities, and the hope for a "communicative age" rather than a mammoth global cybermarket; 5) Sohail Inayatullah on transition from the information era to a gaia of civilizations (the Web could participate in the historical decolonization process giving power to communities and individuals…or can it?); 6) Levi Obijiofor on the telephone as the most important future vehicle of communication in Africa; 7) Rakesh Kapoor on two scenarios of India in 2100: rule of the techno-brahmins vs. the less likely vision of global partnerships (democratic, participatory, meritocratic, culturally diverse); 8) Ivana Milojevic on positive and negative aspects of communicating in the information era; 9) Margaret Grace and June Lennie on creating empowering online networks for women; 10) Alan Fricker on criteria for technology that liberates (compatibility with natural processes, accessibility for all, accountability to all).

[NOTE: Highly idealized, generalized, and righteous visions, with few if any specifics on transition from the rejected present to the desired future. Speaking of ethics, is this really helpful, or an inadvertent barrier to effective normative futures-thinking?]

Islam, Postmodernism, and Other Futures: A Ziauddin Sardar Reader. Edited by Sohail Inayatullah (Prof, Tamking U, Taiwan & U of the Sunshine Coast, Australia) and Gail Boxwell (Exeter U). London & Sterling VA: Pluto Press, March 2003/374p/$24.95.

A collection of Sardar's writings that offer a comprehensive introduction to his thought. Selections are in three parts:

1) Islam: rethinking Islam ("a serious attempt at jihad, at reasoned struggle and rethinking, to reform Islam"), reconstructing Muslim civilization as a dynamic problem-solving methodology, permanence and change in Islam, the Shari'ah as the core worldview of Islam (a system of ethics and values providing the major means of adjusting to change, but it has been abused and misunderstood), Islam and nationalism as contradictory terms, the potential of new information technologies for remaking Muslim societies and culture, reformist ideas and Muslim intellectuals;

2) Postmodernism: modernity playing havoc with traditional cultures, the next 50 years to be dominated by violent pendulum swings between modernism and postmodernism (the world cannot be ruled by either extreme), Walt Disney as the fast food of modern cinema (where we take on a refashioned, predigested history, as in Pocahontas), Christian-Muslim relations in the postmodern age, aliens and others in postmodern thought, Bosnia and the postmodern embrace of evil ("today's victims of the west will become tomorrow's demons of the west, and evil will have triumphed totally"), the Rushdie affair as a clash of worldviews (militant and dogmatic secularism vs. the religious worldview where freedom of thought and expression arise from the sacred);

3) Other Futures: the futures studies problem (it has been colonized by the west and "has become big business"), Asian cultures between programmed and desired futures (three possible cultural scenarios for the next 20 years: more-of-the-same, fossilization of alternatives, and balkanization in China, India, and elsewhere), non-western cultures in futures studies (bashing Francis Fukuyama, Paul Kennedy, and the World Future Society), medicine in a multicultural society, an Islamic perspective on development, a non-western view of chaos theory.

The 23-page introduction by the editors, entitled "The Other Futurist," notes that "more than any other scholar of our time, Sardar has shaped and led the renaissance in Islamic intellectual thought, the project of rescuing Islamic epistemology from tyrants and traditionalists, modernists and secularists, postmodernists and political opportunists." The editors go on to describe Sardar's dislike of disciplines as artificial social constructions, his constructive approach to rebuilding Muslim civilization and viewing Islam as an ethical framework, his call for Islam to be reinterpreted for every epoch, his response to Salmon Rushdie, and his goal to create intellectual and cultural space for the non-west. Gail Boxwell concludes with an impressive 12-page bibliography of Sardar's extensive writings in the 1976-2002 period, including co-authorship of Why Do People Hate America (FS 25:3/124).

[NOTE: Some of these writings are quite possibly a key to a positive and viable future for Muslims and Middle Eastern countries. Inayatullah has performed a valuable service in bringing a selection of Sardar's distinctive ideas together and identifying key themes. Sardar, the current editor of Futures, should not be confused with the Indian philosopher P. R. Sarkar (1921-1990), analyzed by Inayatullah in Understanding Sarkar (Brill, 2002; FS 24:2/100).] (Ziauddin Sardar's writings analyzed)

Understanding Sarkar: The Indian Episteme, Macrohistory and Transformative Knowledge. Sohail Inayatullah (Mooloolaba, Australia; Tamkang U; Queensland U of Technology; U of Action Learning; www.metafuture.org). Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill, Jan 2002/366p/$49.00. (Order from <cs@brill.nl> or <cs@brillUSA.com.>)

Inayatullah, author and editor of a dozen books on futures topics, provides an extensive analysis of P. R. Sarkar (1921-1990), a controversial Indian philosopher, guru, and activist. "On one level we can boldly state that Sarkar's theory is more creative, inclusive, and holistic than other attempts by macro-thinkers throughout history. Within the Indian context, along with Gandhi, he stands out as the premiere thinker of this last century, if not the past few hundred years." The notion of opposites is central to his metaphysics, and his rationality is grounded in a universal humanism, or "neo-humanism" that has as its goal a consciousness personally considered as blissful, beyond pleasure and pain. To Sarkar, modernity is the irrational, and the rational leads to the spiritual--the maximization of individual and collective "happiness." To create a new culture, a new map of knowledge is required that frames self, society, Other, nature, and the transcendental.

 In 1955, Sarkar began his spiritual organization Ananda Marga (or The Path of Bliss), and a few years later he started Renaissance Universal and the more directly political PROUTist Universal. Until his death in 1990, Sarkar remained active in Calcutta composing over 1000 songs of the new dawn, giving talks on spiritual life, lecturing in over 120 languages on spiritual and social theory, providing leadership and managing his organizations, and helping to create self-reliant ecological communities.

Chapters discuss Sarkar's unique contributions, PROUT strategy (a central element is movements that organize the oppressed), Sarkar in the context of the Indian episteme (the goal of his theory is to create a condition where the physical, social, and cosmic worlds are in harmony), Sarkar's theory of history (the classic cyclical historical viewpoint, with the possibility of spiritual and economic transformation allowing an exit from history), Sarkar in the context of other macro-historians, and his social laws critiqued from various positions.

[NOTE: An impressive tour de force, clearly enabling an appreciation of a significant but completely non-Western worldview in several dimensions. Also see the chapter on Sarkar in Macrohistory and Macrohistorians: Perspectives on Individual, Social, and Civilizational Change edited by Johan Galtung and Sohail Inayatullah (Praeger, 1997; FS 19:11/501). Sarkar's texts are available at <www.prout.org>.

Another recent Inayatullah project is the editing of Vol 4 of The Knowledge Base of Futures Studies on a CD from the Futures Study Centre in Australia [available from the WFS Bookstore for $60.00] with all four volumes. The first three volumes, published in 1996 and totalling 1,187 pages, survey foundations, organizations, practices, and outlooks; see FS 18:10/452-454). Vol 4, What Futurists Think, provides 108 brief autobiographical entries by a wide range of futurists, such as S. Amin, C. Bezold, E. Boulding, Y. Dror, M. Garrett, T. Gordon, R. Eisler, L. Jennings, E. Masini, P. Mettler, etc., each explaining what has been influential, how they work, and their views on forces shaping the world.] (P. R. Sarkar explained

 A Society for All Ages (Special Issue). Edited by Sohail Inayatullah (Prof of Futures Studies, Tamkang U, Taiwan) and Colin Blackman (Foresight Editor). Foresight: The Journal of Futures Studies, 5:6, 2003/76p (available at <www.emeraldinsight.com/ft>).

A conventional view of the aging of the population focuses on older people and their future needs. A futures approach views aging populations as an important issue for everyone in society. This report includes four "stimulus papers" prepared for the Queensland Government in Australia (a futures perspective, a youth perspective, an aging perspective, and a planning perspective) as part of its project Queensland 2020: A State for All Ages. The project posed two questions: What opportunities and challenges will arise for the government in responding to aging of the population? What are the key elements of a future policy environment that supports a confident intergenerational approach?

Inayatullah presents four scenarios: 1) A Society for All Ages (smart and caring ageing driven by social values); 2) A Society Divided by Ages (driven by demographic imperatives and business as usual); 3) Virtual Worlds (driven by technology and anomie); and 4) Governmentalised (ageing bureaucracies and bureaucracies for the aged, driven by politics). The preferred scenario reflects the views of cultural creatives who envision gender partnership, ecological sustainability, personal spirituality, and a caring interventionist state committed to promoting life-long learning opportunities for all ages. That group is in contrast to traditionals (who align with a strong nation-state and patriarchy) and modernists (who prefer technology and materialism). Other topics: three intersecting concepts of justice as a framework for planning (intergenerational equity, gender equity, and social equity), City of the aged vs. City of all ages, and women's working futures.

Phillip Daffara (U of the Sunshine Coast) notes that "Research from the urban planning field indicates that if neighborhoods are physically planned for older people they work for everyone…Communities planned with older people in mind are also more ecologically sustainable. They rely less on car transport, focus more on the creation of walkable mixed-use village type living, and recognize the social importance of neighborhoods. Communities planned with a recognition of the special needs of older people emphasize intergenerational social contact and capital and are as a result more socially sustainable." [ALSO SEE Ageing, Housing and Urban Development (OECD, 2003; FS 26:2/066).]

(planning for aging society)

Youth Futures: Comparative Research and Transformative Visions. Edited by Jennifer Gidley and Sohail Inayatullah (Visiting Prof, Dept of Futures Studies, Tamkang U, Taiwan). Westport CT: Praeger, Sept 2002/266p/$64.95.

Youth worldwide are struggling to make sense of a world that has lost its meaning for them. In a time of the most rapid change known to history, the line between adapting and falling off is a very fine one. Too little attention is given in policy-making and education to the hopes and fears of young people. Topics include trends and challenges of cultural breakdown (four forces of change: self-centered egoism compromising needs of family and community, colonization of the imagination, secularization of culture, and environmental degradation), multiple perspectives on youth futures, partnership education for the 21^st century (by Riane Eisler), decolonizing ways of learning and research, neglect of future generations in school curriculum, optimistic visions from Australia, Japanese youth rewriting futures in the "no taboos" postbubble millennium, images of the future held by young Finns, youth in Singapore (showing "a remarkable readiness to conform to visions of the future elaborated by their ruling government"), future orientation of Hungarian youth, youth perspectives in the UK, youth culture in Norway, holistic education and visions of rehumanized futures, human development as a basis for positive future images, development of futures education practice, re-imagining your neighborhood to help students develop a greater sense of hope and possibility, the Creating Preferred Futures project for children and youth, gathering student opinions on futures work, future visions from 25 students in a small rural Queensland high school, and teaching futures studies to young people (case studies from five countries). (youth views of future)

Futures Research Methodology--Version 2.0 Edited by Jerome C. Glenn and Theodore J. Gordon (AC/UNU Millennium Project; <www.acunu.org>). Washington: American Council for the United Nations University, July 2003/c700p CD-ROM/$45.95. [Available from WFS Bookstore]

"The purpose of futures methodology is to systematically explore, create, and test both possible and desirable futures to improve decisions. It includes analysis of how those conditions might change as a result of the implementation of policies and actions, and the consequences of these policies and actions. Futures research can be directed to large or small-scale issues, in the near or distant future. It can project possible, probable, or desired conditions. It is not a science; the outcome of studies depends on the methods used and the skills of the practitioners. Its methods can be highly quantitative or qualitative. It helps to provide a framework to better understand the present and expand mental horizons." The use of futures methods enhances anticipatory consciousness, which in turn improves the foresight to act faster or earlier making the organization or individual more effective in dealing with change. "The value in futures research is less in forecasting accuracy, than in usefulness in planning and opening minds to consider new possibilities and changing the policy agenda."

The first version of this series, with 18 chapters, was written as part of the UNU Millennium Project Feasibility Study in the early 1990s. The Millennium Project became operational in 1996, and additional funding to produce this second 2.0 version was provided by the US Army Environmental Policy Institute. The 2.0 version has 27 chapters, mostly by Glenn and/or Gordon: environmental scanning, the Delphi method, the Futures Wheel, trend impact analysis, cross-impact analysis, structural analysis, the systems perspective, decision modeling, statistical modeling, technology sequence analysis, relevance trees and morphological analysis, scenarios, interactive scenarios, participatory methods, simulation and games, genius forecasting and vision, normative forecasting, S&T road mapping, field anomaly relaxation, text mining for technology foresight, agent modeling, State of the Future Index (SOFI) method, full-scale implementation of SOFI, the multiple perspective concept (by Harold A. Linstone), a toolbox for scenario planning (by Michel Godet), causal layered analysis (by Sohail Inayatullah), and frontiers of futures research methods. (methods of futures research)

Viable Utopian Ideas: Shaping a Better World. Edited by Arthur B. Shostak (Prof of Sociology, Drexel U). Armonk NY: M. E. Sharpe, Feb 2003/295p/$22.95pb.

"Viable utopian ideas are an energizing resource for helping meet the never-ending challenge to `complete the work,' an artful combination of dream, detail, and determination." Our dreams help us focus beyond the present, and require us to define what we are really seeking. The task is a moving target, with each generation defining it and pursuing it anew, in every area of life. The 47 brief essays, in 14 parts, serve to introduce this many-faceted subject. 1) Challenges: Personal in Nature: private dreams and collective ideals, obstacles on the path to a viable utopia (why altruism is considered deviant behavior, while materialism and egoism are seen as basic aspects of human nature); 2) Challenges--Conceptual in Nature: Michael Marien on trends in betterment thinking and recent betterment proposals (also in The Futurist, March-April 2002), Joseph F. Coates on utopia as an obsolete concept (would-be utopians must supply complex and detailed images if they are to have any credibility in directing the evolution of society), Tsvi Bisk on the value of vision and the rehabilitation of utopian thought, Roger Kaufman on the importance of being able to define and measure a clear vision; 3) Methods: Even Better Tools: Ross Koppel on modest steps toward an ideal world, Lane Jennings on the value of utopian poetry (including three of his poems from Virtual Futures, 1996; FS 18:10/457), Harris Sokoloff on rethinking rules of engagement by building common ground, Robert Merikangas on the utopian university of the people that helps create better lives for all of us.

4) Methods: Information Technology: human utopia and the web, how the Internet will revolutionize democracy by making government smaller and more localized, the new meaning of "the Collective." 5) Looking Inward: understanding opposing viewpoints, co-creating a utopian world with the "mirror effect"; 6) Looking Homeward: utopias and city planning, distributed floating cities as a laboratory for exploring social utopias (hundreds or thousands of self-supporting and eco-friendly floating cities across the planet), the vision of Resort Circles (a network of communities bringing together the best elements of an ecovillage, a small college, and a modern resort), the effect of technology on the meaning of home; 7) Schooling Possibilities: the utopian public school of tomorrow, neo-utopian ideas to reform delinquency programs (e.g., a Youth Center with counselors as friends); 8) High-Schoolers on Utopia: visions from a class of 25 Pennsylvania students, personal visions by two teenagers; 9) Choices: Very Personal: a transformative view of nine abortion possibilities, overcoming challenges that keep males and females apart, Wendell Bell on choosing your future (by considering what is possible, probable, and preferable, and then pursing your goal with tenacity).

10) Choices: Societal: building deserving organizations, the social democratic society that unions can build with greater public wealth for all, Jon Van Til on utopian conceptions of the voluntary sector; 11) Nation-Building Aids: cultivating the possibilities of grassroots movements, survival of a traditional non-Western culture in Yap, national policies to prevent ethnic conflict, a proposed World Senate with nine elected members from each of the world's 15 regions [also see proposal for a Global People's Assembly, FS 25:1/005] and a World Corps Academy; 12) The Big Picture: Global Transformation: Jacque Fresco and Roxanne Meadows on social design for a global civilization, soft solutions for hard problems, Sohail Inayatullah on P.R. Sarkar's eutopian PROUT vision of the future [see FS 24:2/100]; 13) Looking Forward: combining a spiritual perspective with social action in the developing world, creating a US Department of Peace; 14) Drawing It Together--and Moving On: our future as a species, prospects for immortality, utopias and dystopias in outer space. [NOTE: A bountiful buffet of ideas for college students, clearly showing that utopia ain't what it used to be. Each essay has a brief introduction, and appendices suggest follow-up reading and web sites. An earlier volume of 44 essays edited by Shostak, Utopian Thinking in Sociology (American Sociological Association, July 2001; FS 23:7/344), overlaps only slightly with this volume, which claims 42 of the 47 essays published here for the first time.] (utopian ideas for a better world)

Teaching Futures Studies (Special Issue). Edited by Sohail Inayatullah. Journal of Futures Studies (Tamkang U, Taipei, Taiwan; <www.ed.tku.edu.tw/develop/JFS>), 7:3, Feb 2003, pp1-64.

Nine articles from a Nov 2002 International Conference on Teaching Futures Studies at Tamkang U:
1) James Dator (U of Hawaii) on lessons from 35 years of futures teaching: few futurists have fully develop theories of social change and stability, futures continues to be dominated by Western and male views, "futures studies" does not study the future but only "images of the future," most people get into futures believing that it is possible to predict the future (and some persist in that notion);

 2) Natalie Dian (Vision Center for Futures Creation, Sweden) on re-thinking how and why adults should be educated for the future through futures studies;

3) Fabienne Goux-Baudiment (euroProspective, France) on the need and feasibility of an open university for futures studies in Europe;

4) Graham H. May (Leeds Metropolitan U, UK) on lessons from 25 years of futures teaching: it is great fun, it may be more successful to build futures up by contributing to other disciplines (a stand-alone MA is a high-risk strategy), ways must be found to exploit the clear student interest in futures;

5) Christopher B. Jones (U of Houston, Clear Lake) on the strengths and weaknesses of the pragmatic UHCL program ("the future of the program is still unclear") contrasted with the theory-focused U of Hawaii-Manoa program;

6) Sohail Inayatullah (Tamkang U & U of the Sunshine Coast) on five main pillars of futures studies that define the field: macrohistory, anticipation, alternatives, ways of knowing, and transformative knowledge (visioning desired futures, action learning);

7) Ryota Ono (Aichi U, Japan) on the values from teaching futures studies in Singapore and Japan (options, an open mind, possibilities and hope);

 8) Patricia Kelly (U of the Sunshine Coast, Australia) on accommodating the apparent demands of market-driven education systems without losing the value base of futures thinking; 9) David Hicks (Bath Spa University College) on a rationale for a futures dimension in the school curriculum (pupil motivation, anticipatory skills, critical thinking, clarifying values, creative imagination, a better world). [ALSO SEE: Advancing Futures: Futures Studies in Higher Education

Questioning the Future: Futures Studies, Action Learning and Organizational Transformation. Sohail Inayatullah (Visting Prof, Tamkang U; <s.inayatullah@qut.edu.au>). Taipai, Taiwan: Tamkang U Center for Futures Studies <future@mail.tku.edu.tw>, March 2002/240p.

"Futures studies is the systematic study of possible, probable, and preferable futures, including the worldviews and myths that underlie each future."

The reasons behind this study are not only academic but about transforming the future, so that a more sustainable world can be created. Chapters describe differences between futures studies and policy analysis, types of futures studies (predictive, interpretive, critical, anticipatory action learning), scenarios as the foundational method, causal layered analysis (opening up past and present to create alternative futures, communicating futures in cross-cultural environments, future generations thinking (a values-based intergenerational approach committed to the planetary family), macrohistory and the future [see Galtung and Inayatullah, eds, Macrohistory and Macrohistorians, Praeger, 1997; FS 19:11/501], tips and pitfalls of the futures trade (patience, real participation, alternative scenarios, preferred vision, metaphors, eclecticism), trends in futures studies (toward anticipatory action learning, complexity, and moral futures), using the future to transform organizations, Q&A for the busy manager who does not see the value of futures thinking, action learning among all stakeholders (enabling wiser outcomes because goals are negotiated by participants), layered questioning (a reflexive process of opening up spaces), creating a learning organization (constantly challenging predictions or providing alternative predictions), change fatigue and the emotive dimension [see 24:5/249], necessities to create a successful future (leadership, action learning, scanning for context, inclusion of stakeholders, evaluation, contingency plans). [NOTE: Swings massively between complex and simple, macro-historical and highly practical. The 34-page annotated bibliography continues in the same vein, bringing together the new and (mostly) old, as well as profound and trivial items.]

(futures studies and organization change)

Futures of Futures Studies (Special Issue). Edited by Richard Slaughter (Swinburne U, Melbourne). Futures, 34:3/4, April-May 2002, 239-363.

Assembles nine contrasting overviews:

1) Wendell Bell (Yale U) on criticisms of futures studies by Michael Marien and others, futures studies compared to established disciplines, the community of futurists, a transdisciplinary matrix for futures studies, the growth of intellectual capital in the field, criteria for who is a futurist, and prospects for futures studies (they "may be bright, contingent upon expanding the presence of futures studies in the curricula of colleges and universities throughout the world");

2) Eleonora Barbieri Masini (Gregorian U, Rome) on a vision of a humanistic future by examining the futures of cultures, promoting futures-thinking for school children (an area that needs to develop greatly in the next 50 years), considering women's contribution to building a different society, and promoting cultures of peace;

3) Michael Marien (FS) on the disabling myths of futures studies (that it is a field, that it does what no one else does, that most futurists are generalists, that FS is a community rather than multiple communities, etc.), the six basic categories of futures-thinking and 115 terms that have been used (the "Five P's and a Q" include Probable futures, Possible futures, Preferable futures, Present changes, Panoramic views, and Questioning), 12 generic continua on which futures-thinkers can be located (as regards culture, style, disposition, time-frame, ideology, identity, grounding, rigor, etc.), and a "reality-based vision" for promoting futures studies (a shared vision, emphasis on a serious global information system, a widespread and evaluated academic presence, multiple excellences, "second profession" recruitment, a respected public presence, adequate funding) [request reprint from <mmarien@twcny.rr.com>];

4) Eva Hideg (Budapest U) on the two paradigms of futures studies (futures research based on the criteria of classical science and futures studies which is more culture-based) and on evolutionary futures studies and critical futures studies;

5) Sohail Inayatullah: on the evolution of futures studies in five areas: from forecasting to anticipatory action learning, from reductionist to complex analysis, from horizontal to vertical methods of futuring, from short-term empiricist research to the return of long-term history, and from scenario development to moral futures [i.e., "better futures" - see 24:4/195];

6) Marcus Bussey: on the need for futures studies to incorporate into its methods and practices a sense of mystery founded on a critical spiritual sensibility (visioning and imaging workshops are growing in power and sophistication);

7) H. A. Linstone (Portland State U) on long waves, corporate planning, three multiple perspective types (Technical, Organizational, Personal), and implications of the fifth long wave upswing based on infotech;

8) Andy Hines (Dow Chemical) on the confluence of organizational needs and futures studies strengths (four key needs are to be more future-oriented, to think more deeply and systematically, to be more creative, and to better deal with change);

9) Richard Slaughter on the rise of futures studies in the last half century, the civilizational challenge (rejection of the industrial flatland, the ideology of economic growth, technological narcissism, and short-term thinking), and strategies for "futures studies as a civilizational catalyst" (shared meta-goals, de-colonizing futures knowledge and building up non-Western approaches to understanding, community access to foresight, design of foresight cultures in organizations and societies, raising the profile of professional standards in futures work, a quantum jump in use of FS in educational contexts, taking Ken Wilber's Integral Vision "very seriously," designing institutions of foresight for the well-being of humankind, etc.; the central task for the futures community is to turn attention away from obsolete industrial era patterns to "the task of envisioning and designing the structural underpinnings of the next level of human civilization." [NOTE: Much to choose from as to what is happening and what ought to be done.] (futures of futures studies)

Advancing Futures: Futures Studies in Higher Education. Edited by James A. Dator (Director, Hawaii Research Center for Futures Studies, U of Hawaii). Praeger Studies on the 21^st Century. Westport CT: Praeger, May 2002/409p/$69.95;$27.95pb.

Chapters written by 29 people from 12 different countries, describing the theories and methods underlying the courses they teach in futures studies.

1) Overviews and Histories: Wendell Bell on the systematic study of possible/probable/preferable futures; Eleonora Masini advocating closer cooperation between social sciences and futures studies; Reed Riner on the future as a sociocultural problem; W. Warren Wagar on the role of history in future studies; Richard Slaughter on the foundations of critical futures studies; Sohail Inayatullah on multicultural futures;

2) Explaining and Defining: Peter T. Manicas on the asymmetry of explanation and prediction; Peter Bishop on social change and futures practice; Erzébet Nováky on changes in the image of the future and in education; Éva Hideg on the transformation of futures research in Hungary; Mike Mannermaa on evolutionary perspectives in futures studies; Jan Huston on maximizing evolvability; Kaoru Yamaguchi on future-oriented complexity and dynamism;

3) Courses and Methods: Ikram Azam on futures studies in Pakistan; Kuo-Hua Chen on futures studies in Taiwan; Markku Sotarauta on teaching a future-seeking communicative policy process; Graham May on his course in foresight and futures studies at Leeds University; Sam Cole on global issues and futures for planners, Christopher Jones on futures as autobiography; Jordi Serra on concepts and methods; Anita Rubin on images of the future as tools for coping; Paul Wildman on consulting and teaching futures studies through the World Wide Web; David Hicks on post-modern education requiring teaching in a spirit of hope and optimism; Oliver Markley on his graduate-level course about visionary futures;

4) Concerns and Issues: Ian Lowe on incorporating futures visions into teaching; Arthur Shostak on co-creating a futures course with working-class union members; Ernest Sternberg on diagnosing global change; William Halal on the transition to a technical world of great complexity and change.

[NOTE: The most extensive collection of essays on teaching futures studies ever assembled. However, all of these essays (except two by Azam and Chen) were published in a special issue of American Behavioral Scientist (Nov-Dec 1998; FS 20:11/550) and have not been updated. One can readily agree with Dator that "it is proper that futures studies become a normal, widely accepted part of each university everywhere on the planet" and that "a futures orientation should be a specific part of all academic endeavors." But there is no assessment or even speculation here as to whether futures literacy courses are expanding in number and quality, and in fact having any influence in "advancing futures."] (futures studies courses)

The Futures of Development: Selections from the Tenth World Conference of the World Futures Studies Federation. Edited by Eleonora Masini (Gregorian U, Rome), Jim Dator (U of Hawaii), and Sharon Rodgers (U of Hawaii). Paris: UNESCO Future-Oriented Studies Programme (Bureau of Studies and Programming), Aug 1991/491p(8x11).

Selections from the biggest WFSF conference ever, held in Beijing (PRC) in September 1988, are in ten sections:

1) Future of the Future: Johan Galtung on the decline in futures studies, Harlan Cleveland on the ingredients of success, Renée-Marie Croose Parry on the need for futures studies to make the leap toward pro-existence;

2) Norms and Values of Development: J.C. Kapur on the decline of consumerist utopias, Walter M. Kroner on the architect's power to design our future, Anthony M. Mlikotin on sources of the future in human nature, Radmila Nakarada on principles of balanced development (balancing the possible and desirable, the traditional and modern), Satish C. Seth on futures consciousness, Henryk Skolimowski on building quality of life and ethical values into models of sustainable development, Ibrihim Abdel Rahman on development and cultural identity;

3) Culture: Eleonora Masini on alternative cultural futures, Benjamin T. Hourani on post-industrial society and Third World development, Sohail Inayatullah on PROUT (Progressive Utilization Theory) as a viable strategy to transform the capitalism system, Bart van Steenbergen on the influence of the East on cultural renewal of the West, Wu Xiaolong on political culture as key to the world future;

4) World Economy: James Brock on applying futures studies in business ventures, Anna Coen on scenarios of consumption and employment in Italy, Jiri Farek on technological progress in developing countries, Brian Murphy on macromarketing and development, Kaoru Yamaguchi on a paradigm shift in economics that moves beyond Toffler's Third Wave;

5) Environment and Development: Raimondo Cagiano de Azevedo on the growing importance of population issues, Nandini Joshi on the charkha (hand-spinning wheel) way of altering the techno-economic process, Hwa Yol Jung and Petee Jung on "ecopiety" as a new ethic for securing a safe future, Eugene B. Williams on effective health care, Jerzy A. Wojciechowski on globalization from the ecology-of-knowledge point of view;

6) Rural and Urban Development: Tibor Hottovy on spatial impact of new technology in Sweden, James Robertson on investment in local economic self-reliance, Ibrahim Jammal and Michael Gurstein on reversing inequities in rural-urban development, Mesbah-us-Saleheen on future urban growth in Bangladesh;

7) High and Traditional Technologies: Bao Zhong-Hang on outer space as the fundamental way out for humankind, Deng Shoupeng on ten high-tech industries of the future, Qin Pinduan on the future impact of robots, Ana Maria Sandi on impact studies of high technologies, Tony Stevenson on policy issues for communicating in the Pacific, I.G. Ushkalov and B.A. Kheifets on the challenge of the technical revolution, Clement Bezold and Robert Olson on alternative futures for infotech and the information industry in 2000;

8) Changing Political Institutions: Yehezkel Dror on 8 proposals to upgrade capacity of central minds of government to engage in social architecture and 22 principles for advanced policy reasoning, Gong Xiangrui on the long-range goal of building a socialist political system with a high degree of democracy, Jiang Shunxue on the military future in China, A.J.N. Judge on governing sustainable development through metaphor, Tetsuo Ogawa on the future of Japan beyond the hegemonic state, Hiroshi Ouchi on the Asian Pacific system in 2000, Tuk Chu Chun on prospects for a Korean confederation as an interim arrangement for reunification;

9) Education, Women, Children: Ruthanne Kurth-Schai on children's images of the future, Mitsuko Saito-Fukunaga on the future for Japanese women, Allen Tough on nine goals for the next 100 years, Xiao Qi-hong on cultivating capable people in China, Rick Slaughter on the premises and promises of Critical Futures Study, William H. Boyer on a proposed "universal curriculum" grounded in human rights. Concludes with working group reports on development values, culture, world economy, ecological development, rural-urban development, political institutions, education (with notes on four generations of futurists), women, children, and entrepreneurship. [NOTE: West meets East in perhaps the most diverse futures compendium ever; frequently idealistic, but a useful contrast to the generally more short-term thinking of the UNDP Round Table, above.]

(WFSF Beijing Conference proceedings)

.Humanity 3000: Seminar No. 2 Proceedings. Foundation For the Future. Bellevue WA: FFF (www.futurefoundation.org), Aug 2000/373p/$10.00 ($20.00 outside US).

The Foundation, established by inventor/businessman Walter P. Kistler in 1996, seeks to promote scholarly research to better understand the factors that have an impact on the quality of human life and the long-term survivability of humanity. Following the first seminar in April 1999 [see Seminar No. 1 Proceedings, Fall 1999; FS 22:1/005], this second seminar held in September 1999 continues to ponder issues on the thousand-year future of humanity.

Three fishbowl discussion groups focused on the roles and definition of science and the future role of technology, the concept of conscious evolution (and the notion of thrival as better than mere survival), and how to educate broadly enough and fast enough. In  imaging life in the year 3000, participants shared such commonalities as massive communications capabilities, space colonization, breakdown of the nation-state, artificial intelligence, widespread boredom, and extended human life span.

Differences centered on optimism vs. pessimism, virtual reality vs. reality, democracy vs. dictatorships, humans vs. synthetic or enhanced people, linguistic diversity vs. one language, and positive technology vs. failed technology. Discussion topics of greatest interest to participants centered on evolution, governance/ethics, humans, science/technology, and sustainability.

The bulk of the Proceedings, as before, are devoted to a transcript of the discussions. An initial 58-page section reproduces prepared statements by the 27 participants on the factors most critical to long-term survival, the greatest potential in your field, and the desired vision of the 1000-year future. Some selected comments: Olugbenga Adesida desires development of a global ethics based on a compact for equity and justice, and effective global governance.

Ed Ayres focuses on solving the puzzle of mass-denial--the pervasive unwillingness to deal with the global threats we face (which will probably require "a  fundamental redesign of the information environment").

Wendell Bell seeks to increase knowledge of what is possible, probable, and preferable through futures studies.

Clement Bezold emphasizes just, efficient, and sustainable use of resources, and development of shared global visions toward a world that works for all humans and supports all life.

Eric J. Chaisson considers evolution and energy [see 23:5/250] and speculates that the next great evolutionary leap forward for our civilization might well be "ethical evolution" by development of a planetary culture.

Clement C. P. Chang expresses concern about distributive injustice and conflict between rich and poor.

David E. Comings foresees virtual eradication of all diseases and virtual elimination of aging, with longevity over 200 years and limitless energy from nuclear fusion and other technologies.

Christian de Duve, concerned with the ever-accelerating growth of knowledge and power, argues that "humanity is fated to exercise increasing control over its own future and that of life on Earth."

Jay W. Forrester states that "population growth will determine the future well-being of humanity" and that "the future will be one of increasing turmoil and conflict as different societies compete for limited environmental opportunities."

Susantha Goonatilake foresees fresh Asian (non-Eurocentric) initiatives in a few decades on the implications of technology and what defines the human condition.

Sohail Inayatullah points to a multicultural/civilizational ethic, global governance, a Gaian approach to nature, and local decentralized economies.

Anthony Judge proposes development of a language and mode of dialogue appropriate to working collectively with the ecology of fundamental differences ("there is a widespread, misguided belief in the adequacy of existing language").

Peter H. Mettler thinks it most important that humanity develops a general code of conduct to avoid the suicide of the species.

 Francisco Sagasti keys in on the search for a new program to orient the direction of human evolution over the next several centuries; the Baconian program has run its course.

Elisabet Sahtouris insists that long-term survival is questionable, and "everything depends on what we do in the next few years, the next decade, and in the rest of the first century of the millennium"; this involves understanding cosmic creativity and living systems, and making the shift to caring and sharing.

Ziauddin Sardar hopes for evolution of a multicivilizational world and new pragmatic modes of dissent. Gregory Stock sees a robust future for humanity and little that can derail the rapid advance under way. Brian Swimme views the greatest potential before us as reinventing the human being. Crispin Tickell hopes for a

greatly reduced population of responsible citizens of diverse quality of life and culture, in harmony with their natural surroundings. Also includes abstracts of 31 background papers, most not by participants in this Seminar.

(2nd Humanity 3000 seminar)

Coherence and Chaos in Our Uncommon Futures: Visions, Means, and Actions. Edited by Mika Mannermaa (Turku School of Economics), Sohail Inayatullah (Queensland Institute of Technology) and Rick Slaughter (U of Melborne). Turku, Finland: Finland Futures Research Center (Turku School of Economics, PO Box 110, FIN-20251), June 1994/337p.

Selections from the XIII World Conference of the World Futures Studies Federation, held in Turku in August 1993. Includes Peter M. Allen on chaos and evolution, Jim Dator on the future of culture (betting on the rise of Confucian cultures and the precipitous decline of Western civilization), Sohail Inayatullah on chaos and general evolutionary theory, Tae-Chang Kim on a HAN philosophical perspective (HAN being the essence of Korean mentality, integrating monism and dualism), Pentti Malaska on the late-modern dilemma of progress, Mika Mannermaa on alternative futures perspectives on coherence and chaos, Ziauddin Sardar on non-Western cosmological views of coherence and chaos and the need for holism, Sam Cole and Victoria Razak on the futures of cultural complexity in "time-bomb" (cultural polarization) and "time-share" (cultural pluralism) scenarios, Auli Keskinen on time bombs of our time (wicked problems that need defusing, such as population growth), Laurence A.G. Moss on rapidly growing amenity migration as a concept beyond tourism, Brian Murphy on rehumanizing economics through sustainable business, Alexander Tomov on the beginning of a new epoch in the development of mankind (based on disintegration of the bipolar world pattern and transition to new global structures), Ron Crocombe on potentials of Pacific Island micro-cultures, Susantha Goonatilake on globalization and localization, Eleonora Barbieri Masini on technology and culture, Paul Smoker on prospects for peace in the 21st century, Helmut Gross on the lost myth of progress, Partow Izadi on the evolution of values, Anthony J.N. Judge on human values as attractors, Riitta Wahlström on global crisis and education for environmental responsibility, Janne Hukkinen on cognitive mapping of expert scenarios on waste management, Vuokko Jarva on female futures studies, Lester W. Milbrath on the societal impacts of chaos in the climate system, and Tony Stevenson and Lyn Simpson on creating futures through the misunderstandings between uncommon cultures. [NOTE: An inadvertent demonstration of intellectual chaos, with no attempt at fashioning any overall coherence.]

(WFSF 1993 Conference Proceedings)

Communication Futures (Special Issue). Edited by Sohail Inayatullah (Communications Centre, Queensland U of Technology) and Tony Stevenson (Director, Communications Centre; President, World Futures Studies Federation). Futures, 30:2/3, March-April 1998, 107-265. A colloquium of brief thoughts on anticipating issues for the study of human communication is followed by 12 papers and essays, an annotated bibliography of 27 items, and a single book review. Topics include:

1) Greg Hearn and Tony Stevenson on tensions in communications theory and the potentials of action research;

2) Michael R. Ogden on Pacific island countries avoiding the apparent devil's choice between jumping on the high-tech bandwagon (and being subsumed by Western cyberculture) and withdrawing from the techno-world (thus falling even further behind) by somehow ensuring that telecoms empowers them in preserving their culture;

3) Levi Obijiofor on the role of infotech in Africa's future development (arguing for accessible and culturally significant low-cost technology);

4) Anthony J.N. Judge on songlines of the noosphere and the global configuration of hypertext;

5) Tony Stevenson on the concept of netweaving (in preference to networking) and four scenarios for global communications and information [see FSA96/13874];

6) Majid Tehranian and Michael R. Ogden on the changing communications environment and various global futures scenarios;

7) Johan Galtung on the future of information and communication in modernity (arguing that "disinformation society" and the "disinformation toll road" are taking shape around us, and that we can expect "an increasing disinformation overload";

8 ) Sohail Inayatullah on deconstructing the information era (arguing that information theory ignores civilization and spiritual perspectives, that information society is merely capitalism disguised, that we are moving toward temporal and cultural impoverishment, and that authentic global conversations are needed). (essays on communications futures)

Law and Technology (Special Issue). Edited by Jim Dator and Debora Halbert (both Hawaii Research Center for Futures Studies, U of Hawaii). Tech. Forecasting and Social Change, 52:2-3, June-July 1996, 101-268.

The 11 essays are arranged in four sections:

1) Electronic Technology and the Future of Law: M. Ethan Katsh on the impact of cyberspace on lawyers and the practice of law [see his book, FS 18:7, #96-334], Michael R. Ogden on the problems and potentials of cyberdemocracy, Alan Gaitenby on legal questions posed by the new social spaces in cyberspace (MUDs and MOOs), Debora Halbert on alternative futures for intellectual property law (business as usual, the hacker future of free information, and a shared future that eliminates the idea of "private property"), Sohail Inayatullah and Jennifer Fitzgerald on legal scenarios raised by genetic science (law as supporter of the genetic revolution, the law as conservative guardian of social welfare, the legal system replaced by rapidly changing "fast law," new legal solutions and a new ethical discourse based on a more holistic vision of the world);

2) The Future of Crime and Criminal Justice: the late Richter H. Moore Jr on the menace of 21st century organized crime that requires an international response [also in Futures Research Quarterly, Spring 1995; FS 17:11, #95-511], James D. White on the fear of international crime leading to expansion of the global police force;

3) Court Administration and the Future: James E. McMillan on new technologies to assist courts and judges (such as the possibility of Standardized General Markup Language), Donald C. Dahlin on technology impacts, William Earle Klay and James D. Sewell on a democratic communitarian approach to technology (one that improves policing, corrections, and the courts);

4) 21st Century Law and Technology (see below). [NOTE: A broad-ranging view of legal futures; should be read by every lawyer.] (technology and criminal justice)

Learning and Teaching About Future Generations (Special Issue). Edited by Richard A. Slaughter (Futures Studies Centre, Kew, Victoria, Australia) and Allen Tough (Prof, U of Toronto-OISE). Futures, 29:8, Oct 1997/695-768.

Future generations consist of real people who have not yet been born, who are unable to lobby or vote today. It is crucially important for us to understand their perspectives and their needs. How can we help students and adults to learn about future generations and their neglected perspective, in a variety of formal and informal settings? These nine papers were presented at a small October 1995 conference in Toronto, sponsored by the Future Generations Alliance Foundation in Kyoto, which has sparked futures generations conferences in more than 20 cities around the world [ALSO SEE earlier volumes from FGAF, FSA96/13382-13383].

Topics include Richard Slaughter on FGAF work in progress and a national foresight strategy for future generations,

Sohail Inayatullah on future generations thinking (invoking commitment to the family and all sentient beings, an intergenerational approach, enhancing wisdom, a global focus, etc),

Allen Tough on what future generations might say to us (they would ask us to care deeply and feel connected to them),

Oliver W. Markley and Sandy Burchsted on adults and children experiencing the needs of future generations through "visionary futures exploration,"

Jerome C. Glenn on ethical and psychological issues in teaching futures studies,

Budd Hall and Darlene Clover of the OISE Transformative Learning Centre on environmental adult and popular education to reconnect with nature.

[NOTE: Alternatively, a better definition of "future generations" would include those who have been born, but are still too young to lobby and vote. Doing so connects with the many groups concerned about children's welfare, and invites learning about today's kids as a precursor to unborn generations, e.g. 20:1/025. Not doing so invites a parochial dead end. ALSO SEE: Future Generations and International Law, edited by Emmanual Agius et al., (London: Earthscan, Jan 1998/222p/18.95pb).]

(future generations learning)

The Futures of the UN in Emerging World Orders, Sohail Inayatullah (The Communication Centre, Queensland U of Technology), Journal of Futures Studies, 1:1, Nov 1996, 27-50. (Available from Division of Futures Studies, Educ. Development Center, Tamkang U, Tamsui, Taipai, Taiwan; e-mail: lin9015@mail.tku.edu.tw)

A survey of literature on the future of the UN as seen by idealists (P.R. Sarkar, Robert Muller), structural-functionalists (Zenia Satti), realists (Coral Bell, Frank Ching), and historical-structuralists (Immanuel Wallerstein, Crane Brinton). Main reform options include: 1) transforming the Security Council to make it more representative; 2) changing the structure of power within the UN; 3) democratizing the UN by diluting the veto and/or allowing for some expanded role for NGOs; 4) making the UN more accountable and responsive; 5) rethinking the peacekeeping function; 6) strengthening the UN with more funding; 7) transforming the UN into a world government that denies national sovereignty when necessary.

[NOTE: Initiation of this new futures journal in Taiwan is most welcome. Address inquiries to Jyh-Horng Lin, Director of the Division of Futures Studies. ALSO SEE: World Futures and the United Nations: An Annotated Guide to 250 Recent Publications (WFS, 1995; FS Annual 1996 #13350), with 23 abstracts from FS on UN reform, and others illustrating ten different ways to think of world futures.] (UN reform options)

The Self in Global Society, Walter Truett Anderson (Meridian International Institute, San Francisco), Futures, 31:8, Oct 1999, 804-812.

Author of The Future of the Self: Inventing the Postmodern Person (Tarcher/Putnam, Dec 1997; FS 20:8/367) notes that "we live in a furiously fragmented age" where "proliferating information and increasing specialization make it difficult--and not very profitable--to be a generalist." We are also moving into a post-identity society, in which people's ideas about selfhood and personal boundaries are much different than in the recent past. Two recurrent themes in the new postmodern psychology are that identity is a social product, and that most of us in postmodern societies find it difficult, if not impossible, to create and maintain a single, stable personal identity. The currently unfolding processes of psychological change and globalization might take two different paths:

1) One World, Many Universes: a world without boundaries, where most people have many identities and social roles, but no particular attachment to any of them; nationalism has lost its emotional force and people are freer to move with a relaxation of immigration laws; all of the major religions become true "world religions" no longer identified with a specific culture or geographic region and many people identify with more than one religion;

2) Back to Basics: an anti-globalist movement spreads and eventually becomes a more powerful force than Marxism; a global ideology of "devolution" is warmly greeted by radical Green parties, but the ideology is seized upon with even greater enthusiasm by religious fundamentalists, ethnic nationalists, political conservatives, fascists, and neo-fascists (devolution is highly contagious because it offers clear and stable identities with a strong sense of "us" and "them"). It "seems highly likely that the near-term future will bring us a tumultuous combination" of these two scenarios.

Four other articles follow (pp813/834) in this Symposium on  The Postmodern Person and Futures of the Self. Sohail Inayatullah (Queensland U of Technology) posits three scenarios of the future: the future as "schizophrenia" (an onslaught of technology shrinks space and time, selves implode, and nothing and everything is real when nature has ended; the "postmodern liberal" scenario of floating selves and fundamentalist selves; a "struggle with bliss" where selves are complex and layered. Rafael Echeverria (Caracas, Venezuela) argues that we must generate a new "common sense" for the new global world, where we acknowledge that we are all different observers. Sarah Ruth van Gelder (Executive Editor, Yes! A Journal of Positive Futures) looks at the emergence of the Cultural Creatives who are building stronger communities and working to preserve ecosystems. Sean Cubitt (Liverpool John Moores U) comments on the shift from mediated to distributed self. (futures of the self)

 The Morning After (Special Issue). Edited by Ziauddin Sardar (editor, Futures). Futures: The Journal of Policy, Planning and Futures Studies, 32:1, Feb 2000, 1-102.

We have entered the new (western) Millennium, and the interconnected, hypercomplex future is beckoning us. Several regular contributors to Futures were asked about their personal visions for the next century--what they would like to see beyond the hangover of "the morning after."

Sohail Inayatullah (Queensland U of Technology) sees the West as ubiquitous, but wonders whether hegemony will continue. Four alternatives for the West are a dramatically aging population (with immigrants required for survival), genocide against the Other (the West becomes authentically multicultural), the high-tech Artificial Society (the most likely scenario, where diversity and the Other are pushed back), or a preferred 500-nation scenario in the context of a strong world government focused on human rights.

Bruce E. Tonn (Oak Ridge National Laboratory) proposes a "noble" and necessary research agenda to ensure the future: imagine sustainable cultures, design future-oriented institutions, develop long-term decision-making methods, create facilitative research systems, develop whole system designs, and identify leverage points for change.

Jerry Ravetz (Research Methods Consultancy, London) looks at the fault-lines of globalized civilization: the corruptions of "meretricity," runaway technology, hypercomplexity, technocracy (a society run by science-based experts), and the "vast and accelerating shift in consciousness now taking place" (reality has become problematic for the first time in centuries).

Richard A. Slaughter (Prof of Foresight, Swinburne U, Australia) argues that the Western worldview of material growth is defective because it cannot be maintained in the long term, and that modern technologies do little or nothing for the problems of human existence; rather, we should understand how healthy cultures work, promote progressive social values, regard people as "layered beings," and create institutions of foresight to re-direct the overheated global megaculture toward more life-affirming paths.

Tony Stevenson (President, World Futures Studies Federation) favors comparison of traditional mindsets with alternative ways of knowing, a coexistence of multiple and diverse forms of inquiry, thinking across epistemologies, and developing envisioning methods and techniques that can help imagine compelling visions of the future. (personal visions for the new century)

The Futures of Cultures. Coordinated by Eleonora Masini (Gregorian U, Rome). Paris: UNESCO Future-oriented Studies, Dec 1994/167p.

A synthesis of The Futures of Cultures project begun in 1990, with a selection of the most pertinent regional contributions, revised and updated by their authors. They include Denis Goulet on threats to diversity in Latin America, Rodolfo Stavenhagen on cultural struggles in Latin America, Ashis Nandy and Giri Deshingkar on the "onslaught of the dominant global culture," Susantha Goonatilake on the futures of Asian cultures between localization and globalization, Ziauddin Sardar on tension and conflict between tradition and modernity in Asia, Sohail Inayatullah on disintegration and reintegration of Asian cultures, Kazuo Mizuta on scenarios of Japanese cultures, Godwin Sogolo on scenarios of African cultures, and Augusto Perelli and Abdelkader Sid Ahmed on the western Mediterranean.

Masini sums up this thinking in five scenarios: 1) the pessimistic scenario in which all cultures become bastardized, or reduced to a harmless "museum" role;

 2) the continuity-in-change or dual-track scenario, where core elements of the culture remain strong;

3) the resistance scenario, where the many cultures fend off the dominant ones;

 4) the Gaia scenario, where all cultures recognize that no culture is complete in itself;

5) the jungle/babel scenario, fostered by communication technologies and biotechnologies. Concludes that "in the future, it will be increasingly common for people to live simultaneously within several different cultures," with individuals constantly reassessing who they are and what they value.

[ALSO SEE: The Futures of Culture, Vol. I (UNESCO, Dec 1991; FS Annual 1993 #11544) and Vol. II (March 1992).] (cultural futures)

Creating a New History for Future Generations. Edited by Tae-Chang Kim (President, IISFG) and Jim Dator (U of Hawaii). Future Generations Studies Series II. Kyoto: Institute for the Integrated Study of Future Generations, Dec 1994/349p/$15.00pb.

Selected papers from the November 1994 "First Global Future Generations Kyoto Forum," seeking to collect, coordinate, and encourage academic and activist projects on behalf of future generations.

1) Why and How We Must Take Action: Sohail Inayatullah on "future generations" as a more enduring metaphor than "the 21st century," Christopher Jones on threats to future generations, Godwin Sogolo on Africa's battle for mental decolonization, Alexandre Timoshenko on the need to incorporate the new intergenerational ethics into laws and institutions, Duane Elgin on awakening the media on behalf of future generations, Christopher Stone on the Maltese proposal at the 1992 Earth Summit to establish a guardian to speak for future generations, Ana Maria Sandi on gender equity to help future generations;

2) What Is Now Being Done: Nicholas Albery on imaginative ideas and projects as islands of hope, Rick Slaughter on institutions of foresight, Wendell Bell on the liberation of women as a benefit for future generations, Martha Rogers on the processes of learning about the world of today and tomorrow, Natalie Dian and Christel Nilsson on futures projects in Sweden;

3) Philosophical and Ethical Issues: Ernest Partidge on the need for a moral overhaul, Keekok Lee on notions of reciprocity and equilibrium, Norman Care on the motivation problem, Salvatore Privitera on the principle of impartiality, Tae-Chang Kim on a new theory of value for the global age. (future generations essays)

ALSO SEE Tips and Pitfalls of the Futures Studies Trade by Sohail Inayatullah (foresight, 2:4, Aug 2000, 369-374), who lists some critical points based on 20 years of futures research and consulting: 1) timing and learning patience (futures-oriented projects take time to materialize); 2)real participation (all stakeholders must be involved for effective scenario planning); 3) the importance of scenarios (they help in early warning, clarifying alternatives, and managing complexity); 4) developing a preferred vision (it provides the glue that creates community); 5) using metaphors or big picture stories (perhaps the best way to enter alternative future realities); 6) eclectic methods (mixing quantitative and qualitative, short range and long range, predictive and critical, depth and breadth); 7) being prepared for surprise (best done by searching for the "unofficial future" on the margins); 8) implementation (how to use futures to change the organization; it is best done when there is deep participation); 9) finally, "the future must be periodically questioned." (unlearning organizations)

Futures Studies in Higher Education. Edited by Jim Dator (Director, Hawaii Research Center for Futures Studies, U of Hawaii). American Behavioral Scientist (Sage Pubs; 805/499-9774), 42:3, Nov-Dec 1998, 293-554; $11.00 single issue.

Essays by 26 futurists from 10 different countries on the theories and methods underlying the courses they teach in futures studies at the university level. Contributors include Jim Dator on the courses he has taught since the 1960s, Wendell Bell on the systematic study of possible/probable/preferable futures, Eleonora Masini advocating closer cooperation between social sciences and futures studies, Reed Riner on the future as a sociocultural problem, W. Warren Wagar on the role of history in future studies, Richard Slaughter on the foundations of critical futures studies, Sohail Inayatullah on multicultural futures, Peter Manicas on the asymmetry of explanation and prediction, Peter Bishop on social change and futures practice, Erzsébet Nováky on changes in the image of the future and in education, Éva Hideg on the transformation of futures research in Hungary, Mika Mannermaa on evolutionary perspectives in futures studies, Jan Huston on maximizing evolvability, Kaoru Yamaguchi on future-oriented complexity and dynamism, Markku Sotarauta on teaching a futures-seeking communicative policy process, Graham May on his course in foresight and futures studies at Leeds University, Christopher Jones on futures as autobiography, Jordi Serra on concepts and methods, Anita Rubin on images of the future as tools for coping, Paul Wildman on consulting and teaching futures studies through the World Wide Web, David Hicks on postmodern education requiring teaching in a spirit of hope and optimism, Oliver Markley on his graduate-level course about visionary futures, Ian Lowe on incorporating futures visions into teaching, Arthur Shostak on co-creating a futures studies course with working-class union members, and William Halal on the life cycle of evolution and "the inevitable transition to a technological world of unfathomable complexity and change."

 [NOTE: Unlike the volume of women visionaries that claims to be diverse while being pretty much of one voice (above), this volume suggests unity but presents a broad diversity of views reflecting the Babel of various academic languages.]

(teaching futures studies)

Macrohistory and Macrohistorians: Perspectives on Individual, Social, and Civilizational Change. Edited by Johan Galtung (Prof of Peace Studies, U of Hawaii) and Sohail Inayatullah (Sr Research Fellow, Communication Centre, Queensland U of Technology). Westport CT: Praeger, Oct 1997/274p/$65.00.

Macrohistory is ambitious, focused on the stages of history and the causes of change through time. The ideas and lives of 20 macrohistorians are analyzed: Ssu-Ma Ch'ien on cycles of virtue, St. Augustine on the river to judgment and then eternal bliss or damnation, Ibn Khaldun on the strengthening and weakening of asabiya (human unity), Giambattista Vico on fluctuations between reason/wisdom and barbarism/selfishness, Adam Smith on upward progress from nomadic hunters to capitalism, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel on dialectics and the world spirit, Auguste Comte on three stages of history (theological, metaphysical, and positivistic), Karl Marx on six techno-economic stages from primitive communism to full communism, Herbert Spencer on progress from barbarism to industrial society and then an altruistic world without government, Vilfredo Pareto on cycles of democracy and autocracy, Max Weber on history as interplay of rationalization and charisma, Rudolph Steiner on history as development toward emancipation and freedom (involving seven macro stages, seven cosmic periods, and seven epochs). Oswald Spengler on maturation and decay of cultures, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin on five ascending stages from cosmogenesis to the noosphere, Pitirim Sorokin on dynamics of cultural mentalities (ideational/ascetic, sensate/act8ive, idealistic), Arnold Toynbee on challenge and response from genesis through dissolution, Antonio Gramsci on materialist evolution from secular liberalism to socialism/communism, Prabhat Rainjan Sarkar on Progressive Utilization Theory (PROUT) and four stages of the social cycle, Riane Eisler on shifts between male dominator and gender partnership over time, and James Lovelock on the Gaia hypothesis and planetary evolution.

An Appendix provides a very useful pictorial representation of the 20 theories. Inayatullah compares the macrohistorians, finding that the model of four or the double dialectic is central. Galtung distills key points and contradictions that each macrohistorian could teach and learn from others, and describes social macrohistory as metaphor for world macrohistory ("their warnings on what can go wrong should be taken seriously"). In the introduction, Galtung asks why there is so little macrohistory (or nomothetic generalizing), and answers that it is intellectually difficult and it is politically problematic (unlike the history taught in schools, it does not provide identity, dedication, and optimism). The macrohistorian also has a strong personality, coming on top of God or in place of God. "The macrohistorian is to the historian what Einstein or Hawking is for the run-of-the-mill physicist. It is certainly not a very modest enterprise." [NOTE: An awesome analysis, worthy of its immodest topic.] (20 macrohistories compared)

Utopian Thinking in Sociology: Creating the Good Society. Syllabi and Other Instructional Materials. Edited by Arthur B. Shostak (Prof of Sociology, Drexel U, Philadelphia). ASA Resource Material for Teaching. Washington: American Sociological Association (www.asanet.org; 202.383.9005ext389), July 2001/225p(8x11)/$20.00 ($16.00 for ASA members).

In the introduction to this collection of 44 contributions, Shostak complains that sociology textbooks lack any reference to utopias or dystopias, and speculates that this unjustified neglect is due to writers who think the subject is passe, who may fear association with the stigmatized "S-word" (socialism), who think utopias are an uncomplicated warm nest that excludes the real world, or who wish to dwell on social pathologies instead of sources of strength and fulfillment. Some selected contributions:

#1) Michael Marien (editor, Future Survey) seeks to redefine utopia for the 21^st century, lists 35 ways to express idealistic/preferred futures, describes three broad trends in betterment thinking (from fiction to non-fiction, from whole society to sectoral proposals, from public sector to private sector action), and argues that sociology and society would benefit from systematically collecting and assessing the many research-backed ideas for social betterment;

#2) Ivana Milojevic (U of Queensland) considers common themes in feminist utopias, Elise Boulding's image of the coming of The Gentle Society, and Riane Eisler's notions on transformation to a partnership society;

#3) Ivana Milojevic and Sohail Inayatullah (Queensland U of Technology) point out that Western science fiction does not express the categories of the non-Western world and that it needs to be rescued by its own paradigmatic blinders and one-culture hegemony;

#4) Tsvi Bisk (Kfar Saba, Israel) argues that "having a vision and being a realistic visionary are absolute necessities for functioning as a rational human being," and that futurism should serve as a foundational building block of a Neo-Utopianism;

 #5) Richard Slaughter (Swinburne U, Australia) criticizes the "long tradition" of technophilic and naively optimistic views in American futurism, the binary future of polar choice between optimism and "Terminator Two" visions, and the many oversights of SciFi dystopias, and calls for "an advanced futures discourse that can critique and re-shape existing agendashe task is about letting go of industrial models, values, priorities and structures across the board and opening to the wider processes of transformation";

 #6) Kathleen L. Pereles (Rowan U, Glassboro NJ) considers the elements of a "utopian" workplace;

#7) Wendell Bell (Yale U) assesses the problems of sociology (warring camps and proliferation into isolated subgroups) and urges sociologists to adopt a post-positivist theory of knowledge, to take prediction seriously (even though "futurists are not primarily interested in predicting"), to explore features of the good society and become an "action science," to help create a world moral community, to adopt a holistic/transdisciplinary view, to view the future as open, and to define society as "expectation and decision." Also includes 6 case studies of utopian projects (e.g. the Israeli Kibbutz, The Venus Project of Jacques Fresco), 11 reflections on teaching utopian material, 4 syllabi from current courses, 10 college student essays, and several bibliographies. [NOTE: Many good ideas outweigh ASA's poor production job.] (utopia for sociology teachers)

The University--Alternative Futures (Special Issue). Edited by Sohail Inayatullah (Noosa Institute for the Future) and Jenny Gidley (Director, Spirit of the Times: International Educational Initiatives, NSW, Aust). Futures, 30:7, Sept 1998, 589-747.

The modern university stands at the gateway of a range of futures. These essays consider four trends that promise to transform its nature: globalism (the university as a business), multiculturalism, virtualization