Thefuture is thetime after thepast andpresent. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and thelaws of physics. Due to the apparent nature ofreality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currentlyexists and will exist can be categorized as either permanent, meaning that it will exist forever, or temporary, meaning that it will end.[1] In theOccidental view, which uses a linear conception of time, the future is the portion of the projected timeline that is anticipated to occur.[2] Inspecial relativity, the future is consideredabsolute future, or the futurelight cone.[3]
In thephilosophy of time,presentism is thebelief that only the presentexists and the future and the past areunreal. Religions consider the future when they address issues such askarma,life after death, andeschatologies that study what the end of time and the end of the world will be. Religious figures such asprophets anddiviners have claimed to see into the future.Future studies, orfuturology, is the science, art, and practice of postulating possible futures. Modern practitioners stress the importance of alternative and plural futures, rather than one monolithic future, and the limitations of prediction andprobability, versus the creation of possible and preferable futures.Predeterminism is the belief that the past, present, and future have beenalready decided.
The concept of the future has been explored extensively in cultural production, includingart movements and genres devoted entirely to its elucidation, such as the 20th-century movementfuturism.
In physics, time is the fourth dimension. Physicists argue thatspacetime can be understood as a sort of stretchy fabric that bends due to forces such as gravity. Inclassical physics the future is just a half of the timeline, which is the same for all observers. Inspecial relativity the flow of time is relative to the observer'sframe of reference. The faster an observer is traveling away from a reference object, the slower that object seems to move through time. Hence, the future is not an objective notion anymore. A more modern notion isabsolute future, or the futurelight cone. While a person can move backward or forwards in the three spatial dimensions, many physicists argue one may only move forward in time.[4]
One of the outcomes of Special Relativity Theory is that a person can travel into the future (but never come back) by traveling at very high speeds. While this effect is negligible under ordinary conditions, space travel at very high speeds can change the flow of time considerably. As depicted in manyscience fiction stories and movies (e.g.Déjà Vu), a person traveling for even a short time at nearlight speed will return to an Earth that is many years in the future.
Some physicists claim that by using awormhole to connect two regions of spacetime a person could theoretically travel in time. PhysicistMichio Kaku points out that to power this hypothetical time machine and "punch a hole into the fabric of space-time" would require the energy of a star. Another theory is that a person could travel in time withcosmic strings.
In thephilosophy of time, presentism is thebelief that only the presentexists, and the future andpast areunreal. Past and future "entities" are construed aslogical constructions orfictions. The opposite of presentism is 'eternalism', which is the belief that things in the past and things yet to come existeternally. Another view (not held by many philosophers) is sometimes called the 'growing block'theory of time—which postulates that the past and present exist, but the future does not.[5]
Presentism iscompatible withGalilean relativity, in which time is independent of space, but is probably incompatible withLorentzian/Albert Einsteinian relativity in conjunction with certain other philosophicaltheses that many find uncontroversial.Saint Augustine proposed that the present is a knife edge between the past and the future and could not contain any extended period of time.
Contrary to Saint Augustine, some philosophers propose that conscious experience is extended in time. For instance,William James said that time is "...the short duration of which we are immediately and incessantly sensible."[citation needed] Augustine proposed that God is outside of time and present for all times, ineternity. Other early philosophers who were presentists include theBuddhists (in the tradition ofIndian Buddhism). A leading scholar from the modern era onBuddhist philosophy isStcherbatsky, who has written extensively on Buddhist presentism:
Everything past is unreal, everything future is unreal, everything imagined, absent, mental... is unreal... Ultimately real is only the present moment of physicalefficiency [i.e.,causation].[6]
Human behavior is known to encompass anticipation of the future. Anticipatory behavior can be the result of a psychological outlook toward the future, for examplesoptimism,pessimism, andhope.
Optimism is an outlook on life such that one maintains a view of the world as a positive place. People would say that optimism isseeing the glass "half full" of water as opposed to half empty. It is the philosophical opposite of pessimism. Optimists generally believe that people and events are inherently good, so that most situations work out in the end for the best. Hope is a belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life. Hope implies a certain amount of despair, wanting, wishing, suffering or perseverance—i.e., believing that a better or positive outcome is possible even when there is some evidence to the contrary. "Hopefulness" is somewhat different from optimism in that hope is an emotional state, whereas some theories point to optimism as a conclusion reached through a deliberate thought pattern that leads to a positive personal attitudes and by extension is linked to morephilanthropic behaviours.
Pessimism as stated before is the opposite of optimism. It is the tendency to see, anticipate, or emphasize only bad or undesirable outcomes, results, or problems. The word originates in Latin from Pessimus meaning worst and Malus meaning bad and has a link tomisanthropic belief systems.
Religions consider the future when they address issues such askarma,life after death, andeschatologies which consider what the end of time and the end of the world will be like. In religion, major prophets are said to have the power to change the future. Common religious figures have claimed to see into the future, such as minorprophets anddiviners.
The term "afterlife" refers to the continuation ofexistence of thesoul, spirit ormind of a human (or animal) after physicaldeath, typically in aspiritual orghostlike afterworld. Deceased persons are usually believed to go to a specific region orplane of existence in this afterworld, often depending on the rightness of their actions during life.
Some believe the afterlife includes some form of preparation for thesoul to transfer to another body (reincarnation). The major views on the afterlife derive fromreligion,esotericism andmetaphysics. There are those who are skeptical of the existence of the afterlife, or believe that it is absolutely impossible, such as thematerialist-reductionists, who believe that the topic issupernatural, therefore does not really exist or is unknowable. In metaphysical models,theists generally, believe some sort of afterlife awaits people when they die.Atheists generally do not believe in a life after death. Members of some generally non-theistic religions such asBuddhism, tend to believe in an afterlife likereincarnation but without reference toGod.
Agnostics generally hold the position that like the existence of God, the existence of supernatural phenomena, such as souls or life after death, is unverifiable and therefore unknowable.[7] Many religions, whether they believe in the soul's existence in another world like Christianity, Islam and manypagan belief systems, or in reincarnation like many forms of Hinduism and Buddhism, believe that one's status in the afterlife is a reward or punishment for their conduct during life, with the exception ofCalvinistic variants ofProtestant Christianity, which believe one's status in the afterlife is a gift from God and cannot be earned during life.
Verbs in the future continuous tense indicate actions that will happen beyond the present and will continue for a period of time.[8] In the sentence, "She will be walking home," theverb phrase "will be walking" is in the future continuous tense because the action described is not happening now, but will happen sometime afterwards and is expected to continue happening for some time. Verbs in the future perfect tense indicate actions that will be completed at a particular point in the future.[9] For example, theverb phrase, "will have walked," in the sentence, "She will have walked home," is in the future perfect tense because it refers to an action that is completed as of a specific time in the future. Finally, verbs in the future perfect continuous tense combine the features of the perfect and continuous tenses, describing the future status of actions that have been happening continually from now or the past through to a particular time in the future.[8] In the sentence, "She will have been walking home," the verb phrase "will have been walking" is in the future perfect continuous tense because it refers to an action that the speaker anticipates will be finished in the future.
Another way to think of the various future tenses is that actions described by the future tense will be completed at an unspecified time in the future, actions described by the future continuous tense will keep happening in the future, actions described by the future perfect tense will be completed at a specific time in the future, and actions described by the future perfect continuous tense are expected to be continuing as of a specific time in the future.
The linear view of time (common inWestern thought) draws a stronger distinction between past and future than does the more commoncyclic time of cultures such as India, where past and future can coalesce much more readily.[11]
Futures studies or futurology is the science, art, and practice of postulating possible, probable, and preferable futures and the worldviews and myths that underlie them. Futures studies seek to understand what is likely to continue, what is likely to change, and what is novel. Part of the discipline thus seeks a systematic and pattern-based understanding of past and present, and to determine the likelihood of future events and trends. A key part of this process is understanding the potential future impact of decisions made by individuals, organizations, and governments. Leaders use the results of such work to assist in decision-making.
Take hold of the future or the future will take hold of you.
Futures is an interdisciplinary field, studying yesterday's and today's changes, and aggregating and analyzing both lay and professional strategies, and opinions with respect to tomorrow. It includes analyzing the sources, patterns, and causes of change and stability in the attempt to develop foresight and to map possible futures. Modern practitioners stress the importance of alternative and plural futures, rather than one monolithic future, and the limitations of prediction and probability, versus the creation of possible and preferable futures.
Three factors usually distinguish futures studies from the research conducted by other disciplines (although all disciplines overlap, to differing degrees). First, futures studies often examines not only possible but also probable, preferable, and "wild card" futures. Second, futures studies typically attempts to gain a holistic or systemic view based on insights from a range of different disciplines. Third, futures studies challenges and unpacks the assumptions behind dominant and contending views of the future. The future thus is not empty but fraught with hidden assumptions.
Futures studies do not generally include the work of economists who forecast movements of interest rates over the next business cycle, or of managers or investors with short-term time horizons. Most strategic planning, which develops operational plans for preferred futures with time horizons of one to three years, is also not considered futures. But plans and strategies with longer time horizons that specifically attempt to anticipate and be robust to possible future events, are part of a major subdiscipline of futures studies called strategic foresight.
The futures field also excludes those who make future predictions through professed supernatural means. At the same time, it does seek to understand the model's such groups use and the interpretations they give to these models.
Statistically based forecasting employstime series withcross-sectional orlongitudinal data.Econometric forecasting methods use the assumption that it is possible to identify the underlying factors that might influence the variable that is being forecast. If the causes are understood, projections of the influencing variables can be made and used in the forecast. Judgmental forecasting methods incorporate intuitive judgments, opinions, and probability estimates, as in the case of theDelphi method,scenario building, andsimulations.
Prediction is similar to forecasting but is used more generally, for instance, to also include baseless claims on the future. Organized efforts topredict the future began with practices likeastrology,haruspicy, andaugury. These are all considered to bepseudoscience today, evolving from the human desire to know the future in advance.
Modern efforts such asfutures studies attempt to predict technological and societal trends, while more ancient practices, such as weather forecasting, have benefited fromscientific andcausal modelling. Despite the development ofcognitive instruments for the comprehension of future, thestochastic andchaotic nature of many natural and social processes has made precise forecasting of the future elusive.
Futurism as anart movement originated inItaly at the beginning of the 20th century. It developed largely inItaly and inRussia, although it also had adherents in other countries—in England and Portugal for example. The Futurists explored every medium of art, includingpainting,sculpture,poetry,theatre,music,architecture, and evengastronomy. Futurists had passionate loathing of ideas from the past, especially political and artistic traditions. They also espoused a love ofspeed,technology, andviolence. Futurists dubbed the love of the pastpasséisme. The car, the plane, and the industrial town were all legendary for the Futurists because they represented the technological triumph of people overnature. TheFuturist Manifesto of 1909 declared: "We will glorify war—the world's only hygiene—militarism, patriotism, the destructive gesture of freedom-bringers, beautiful ideas worth dying for, and scorn for woman."[12] Though it owed much of its character and some of its ideas toradical political movements, it had little involvement in politics until the autumn of 1913.[13]
Futurism in Classical Music arose during this same time period. Closely identified with the central Italian Futurist movement were brother composersLuigi Russolo (1885–1947) andAntonio Russolo (1877–1942), who used instruments known asintonarumori—essentiallysound boxes used to create music out of noise. Luigi Russolo's futurist manifesto, "The Art of Noises", is considered one of the most important and influential texts in 20th-century musical aesthetics.[14] Other examples of futurist music includeArthur Honegger's "Pacific 231" (1923), which imitates the sound of a steam locomotive,Prokofiev's "The Steel Step" (1926),Alexander Mosolov's "Iron Foundry" (1927), and the experiments ofEdgard Varèse.
Literary futurism made its debut withF.T. Marinetti'sManifesto of Futurism (1909). Futurist poetry used unexpected combinations of images and hyper-conciseness (not to be confused with the actual length of the poem). Futurist theater works have scenes a few sentences long, use nonsensical humor, and try to discredit the deep-rooted dramatic traditions with parody. Longer literature forms, such as novels, had no place in the Futurist aesthetic, which had an obsession with speed and compression.
Futurism expanded to encompass other artistic domains and ultimately included painting, sculpture, ceramics,graphic design, industrial design, interior design, theatre design, textiles, drama, literature, music and architecture. In architecture, it featured a distinctive thrust towardsrationalism andmodernism through the use of advanced building materials. The ideals of futurism remain as significant components of modernWestern culture; the emphasis on youth, speed, power and technology finding expression in much of modern commercialcinema and commercial culture. Futurism has produced several reactions, including the 1980s-era literary genre ofcyberpunk—which often treated technology with a critical eye.
Print (c. 1902) byAlbert Robida showing a futuristic view of air travel over Paris in the year 2000 as people leave the opera.[15]
More generally, one can regard science fiction as a broad genre offiction that often involves speculations based on current or futurescience ortechnology. Science fiction is found in books, art, television, films, games, theater, and other media. Science fiction differs fromfantasy in that, within the context of the story, its imaginary elements are largely possible within scientifically established or scientifically postulated laws of nature (thoughsome elements in a story might still be pure imaginative speculation). Settings may include the future, or alternative time-lines, and stories may depict new or speculative scientific principles (such astime travel orpsionics), or new technology (such asnanotechnology,faster-than-light travel orrobots). Exploring the consequences of such differences is the traditional purpose of science fiction, making it a "literature of ideas".[16]
Somescience fiction authors construct a postulatedhistory of the future called a "future history" that provides a common background for their fiction. Sometimes authors publish atimeline of events in their history, while other times the reader can reconstruct the order of the stories from information in the books. Some published works constitute "future history" in a more literal sense—i.e., stories or whole books written in the style of a history book but describing events in the future. Examples includeH.G. Wells'The Shape of Things to Come (1933)—written in the form of a history book published in the year 2106 and in the manner of a real history book with numerous footnotes and references to the works of (mostly fictitious) prominent historians of the 20th and 21st centuries.
^Moore, C.-L. & Yamamoto, K. (1988).Beyond words: movement observation and analysis. New York: Gordon and Breach. p. 57. (cf., The representation of time as a linear, unidirectional progression is a distinctly Occidental point of view.)
^Vol.1 ofBuddhist Logic, 1962, Dover: New York. 70–71.
^"agnositic".Merriam-Webster. Retrieved2 August 2014.
^abcd"Verb tenses".English Oxford Living Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. Archived fromthe original on October 23, 2016. Retrieved27 August 2018.
^Merriam-Webster (n.d.)."Present Perfect"(Web).Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster. Retrieved27 August 2018.
^Ridderbos, Katinka (2002).Time. Darwin College Lectures. Cambridge University Press. p. 2.ISBN978-0521782937. Retrieved2015-09-03.In a cyclic universe, each event that lies in the past of the present moment, also lies in its future.
^Warner, Daniel; Cox, CChristoph (2004).Audio Culture: Readings in Modern Music. London: Continiuum International Publishing Group LTD. p. 10.ISBN0-8264-1615-2.
^Heinlein, Robert A.; Kornbluth, Cyril; Bester, Alfred; Bloch, Robert (1959). "Science Fiction: Its Nature, Faults and Virtues".The Science Fiction Novel: Imagination and Social Criticism. University of Chicago: Advent Publishers.
