The present volume gathers together some papers that attempt to examine and evaluate some aspects of work being done in studies of the future. The opening chapter is concerned with the importance of recognizing the various ways in which technology impinges upon our lives, some of the procedures that have been developed for doing this and some of the individuals and organizations devoted to this concern. The second chapter continues and extends this discussion and makes an effort to examine some of the reasons for the indifference displayed by many western sociologists towards studies of the future. Both chapters 3 and 4 are devoted to an examination of a variety of problems and considerations that may create difficulties in trying to forecast the future. Chapter 3, in addition, sets forth some of the major by a social philosophy needed for studies of the future. These concerns involve economic and social issues as well as problems that center about cultural, moral, educational and scientific goals. Chapter 4 stresses some of the types of inconsistency to which futuristic forecasts, may be subject. These inconsistencies are sometimes inherent in the forecasts, themselves, and, at other times, involve the incompatibility between anticipated developments and community values.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Henry Winthrop
Henry Winthrop received his education in the United States. His experience has been chiefly in university teaching and as a Federal civil servant. He has served at different times on the editorial boards of several journals. He has also contributed chapters to various edited volumes. The author is interested in futurology because it deals with concerns that cut across intellectual boundaries. He believes that work should be encouraged that looks towards the gradual development of a social philosophy for a technological civilization. He believes that social philosophy and studies of the social impact of science and technology are two areas that jointly lend themselves to studies of the future. The author is also interested in certain areas, related to future studies. One such area is concerned with the technological possibilities for promoting small scale, decentralized civic cultures in which the benefits of mass society may be obtained without incurring such social costs as the social pathologies of large-scale urban life, environmental pathologies, over-regulation of the life of the individual, etc. a second such area is an exploration of the types of change that are needed in the curriculum of higher education, that will reflect the bearing of studies of the future on the emerging problems of society. The needed educational reforms center about those changes in values and priorities, made necessary by the problems that science and technology will be increasingly creating for mankind.
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