For millennia, predicting the future was the province of priests, prophets, astrologers, and seers. Then, in the 20th century, futurologists emerged, arguing that data and design could make such forecasting a certainty. Curator and historian Glenn Adamson offers insight into how the world was transformed by such forecasts of the future whether in the imagining of new cities, the projection of novel technologies, or the pervasive anticipation of economic and political risks.
Adamson reveals six key themes that have affected conceptions of what the future holds. He also explains the thinking and influence of Buckminster Fuller, Stewart Brand, Octavia Butler, Ursula LeGuin, Shulamith Firestone, Sun Ra, Marcus Garvey, and Timothy Leary.
His new book, A Century of Tomorrows: How Imagining the Future Shapes the Present (Bloomsbury), is available for purchase.
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