Why We Do What We Do

By | March 25, 2009
3 Comments

I don’t think of myself predicting things. I’m expressing possibilities. Things that could happen. To a large extent it’s a question of how badly people want them to. The purpose of thinking about the future is not to predict it but to raise people’s hopes.

– Freeman Dyson

  • Harvey

    It’s working!

  • Sally Morem

    I hope it’s not just to produce hope, but that study of our technological advances is serious work for futurists such as Kurzweil. I’m not interested in such predictions unless it’s at least somewhat likely that they could come true.

  • https://blog.speculist.com Phil Bowermaster

    Sally –

    Hope is necessary but not sufficient. The distinction isn’t between predicting the future and producing hope, it is between predicting the future and expressing possibilities.

    >>I’m not interested in such predictions unless it’s at least somewhat likely that they could come true.

    Of course not. Why would you be? What we have to keep in mind is that there is no such thing as “the” future. There are multiple possible futures. I believe that more people will be interested in the future, and ready to actively engage it, if they know how positive some of these possible futures really are — that is, how much there is that we can realistically hope for.