What if the Future was an Object?
How the idea of thinking about the future as an object inspired the book Future Rising, and provided new insights into our relationship with the future and our responsibility to it.
First published on the Arizona State University College of Global Futures Dean’s Blog.
What exactly is the future?
This may sound like an odd question, but it’s surprising how often we barrel ahead trying to build a better future without pausing to think about what it is, and how this affects our relationship with it.
As well as a question that seems particularly relevant to a “College of Global Futures,” where I’m currently associate dean, it’s also one that is at the core of my new book Future Rising: A Journey from the Past to the Edge of Tomorrow.
You can find out more about the book here, including an excerpt from the introduction that gives you a pretty good sense of what it’s about.
But for this article, I wanted to dig a bit more into the back-story behind the book, and the idea that inspired it: thinking about the future as an object.
