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"Futurology" as a term was coined in the twentieth century. What counts under that term has changed over time; as such, this list is a jumble, and is intended to be suggestive, not definitive. Notable futurologists include:
Name | Birth | Death | Field or notable accomplishment | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Abishur Prakash | 1991 | living | geopolitical futurist, author | |
Adrian Berry | 1937 | 2016 | writer, journalist | |
Alan Marshall | 1975 | living | academic, environmentalist, social scientist, writer | |
Aldous Huxley | 1894 | 1963 | writer of Brave New World, psychedelic prophet | |
Alvin & Heidi Toffler | 1928/1929 | 2016/2019 | wrote Future Shock, and sequels, technological singularity | |
Anders Sandberg | 1972 | living | human enhancement | |
Andrey Korotayev | 1961 | living | mathematical modeling of global future | |
Archibald Low | 1888 | 1956 | space | |
Arthur C. Clarke | 1917 | 2008 | writer | |
Ash Koosha | 1985 | living | Futurist Composer and Producer | |
Ashis Nandy | 1937 | living | writer on colonialism | |
Ben Goertzel | 1966 | living | artificial general intelligence researcher, OpenCog | |
Bertrand de Jouvenel | 1903 | 1987 | economist | |
Bill Joy | 1954 | living | UNIX, technology dangers | |
Bruce Sterling | 1954 | living | living design, information technology | |
Buckminster Fuller | 1895 | 1983 | architect, cosmologist, whole-systems thinker, designer/inventor | |
Carl Sagan | 1934 | 1996 | astronomer | |
Clement Bezold | 1948 | living | healthcare | |
Dandridge M. Cole | 1921 | 1965 | space colonization | |
Daniel Bell | 1919 | 2011 | "Post-Industrial Society" | |
Daniel Burrus | 1947 | living | futurist, business advisor, author | |
Darla Jane Gilroy | living | futurist, trendspotting | ||
David Passig | 1957 | living | anticipatory anthropology | |
Deane Hutton | 1941 | living | communicator | |
Dennis Gabor | 1900 | 1979 | holography | |
Dirk HR Spennemann | living | space heritage | ||
Donald Prell | 1924 | 2020 | venture capital, strategic foresight, technological singularity | |
Donella Meadows | 1941 | 2001 | systems thinking, leverage points, sustainability | |
Douglas Engelbart | 1925 | 2013 | hypertext, mouse, interactive computing | |
Douglas Rushkoff | 1961 | living | ||
Fabienne Goux-Baudiment | 1960 | living | strategic foresight | media theorist, writer, columnist, lecturer, graphic novelist, and documentarian, early cyberpunk culture, open source |
Edward Bellamy | 1850 | 1898 | wrote Looking Backward: 2000–1887 , a utopia about the future year 2000, economic reorganization | |
Eliezer Yudkowsky | 1979 | living | friendly artificial intelligence | |
Erich Jantsch | 1929 | 1980 | book The Self-Organizing Universe: Scientific and Human Implications of the Emerging Paradigm of Evolution | |
Faith Popcorn | 1948 | living | popcorn report | |
FM-2030 | 1930 | 2000 | transhumanist, essayist | |
Fred Polak | 1907 | 1985 | social studies, wrote The Image of the Future | |
Freeman Dyson | 1923 | 2020 | nuclear engineering, disarmament advocate, ideas of Dyson sphere, nuclear space-flight | |
Gaston Berger | 1896 | 1960 | cognitive science | |
Gene Roddenberry | 1921 | 1991 | creator of the Star Trek franchise. | |
Genevieve Bell | 1968 | living | cultural anthropologist and technologist | |
George Dvorsky | 1970 | living | transhumanist | |
George Friedman | 1949 | living | geopolitics | |
George Gilder | 1939 | living | society | |
George Orwell | 1903 | 1950 | writer (wrote 1984) | |
Gerald Celente | 1946 | living | trend forecaster | |
Gerard K. O'Neill | 1927 | 1992 | envisioned space colonization | |
Gianroberto Casaleggio | 1954 | 2016 | politics, internet | |
Grace Hopper | 1906 | 1992 | women in computing, COBOL | |
H. G. Wells | 1866 | 1946 | writer, historian, among the first to think of himself as a futurist | |
Hans Moravec | 1948 | living | robotics, AI | |
Harlan Cleveland | 1918 | 2008 | diplomacy | |
Hazel Henderson | 1933 | 2022 | cooperative economics | |
Herman Kahn | 1922 | 1983 | military strategist, econo-technical predictions | |
Hugo de Garis | 1947 | living | AI | |
Hugo Gernsback | 1884 | 1967 | invented the term "science fiction", wrote the novel Ralph 124C 41+, started science fiction magazines. After him the Hugo Awards are named. | |
Isaac Arthur | 1980 | living | Long term future of the space industry and colonization, physicist, YouTube personality | |
Isaac Asimov | 1920 | 1992 | writer of science and science fiction, created the Three Laws of Robotics. | |
Jacque Fresco | 1916 | 2017 | architect, resource economics, model maker, envisioner of cornucopian world | |
James Hughes | 1961 | living | ethics | |
James Lovelock | 1919 | 2022 | environmentalist, Gaia hypothesis, Global warming theorist | |
Jean Fourastié | 1907 | 1990 | economist | |
John McHale | 1922 | 1978 | artist, sociologist | |
Jeremy Rifkin | 1945 | living | economist, science and tech. critic of various sorts, writer | |
Jerry Fishenden | living | Microsoft future | ||
Jim Dator | living | politics | ||
Joanne Pransky | 1959 | 2023 | robotics | |
Joël de Rosnay | 1937 | living | molecular biology | |
John Michael Godier | living | author, science communicator, futurist, YouTube personality | ||
John Naisbitt | 1929 | 2021 | wrote Megatrends | |
José Luis Cordeiro | 1962 | living | engineer, economist, and author of La Muerte de la Muerte | |
Jules Verne | 1828 | 1905 | previsioned aviation, spaceflight, submarine travel | |
Karel Čapek | 1890 | 1938 | fiction writer who invented the word robot | |
Karl Marx | 1818 | 1883 | predicted societal and economic development on the basis of dialectical materialism | |
Kevin Kelly | 1952 | living | founding executive editor of Wired magazine and author of multiple futurology books | |
Kevin Warwick | 1954 | living | robotics | |
Kim Stanley Robinson | 1952 | living | novelist known for Mars Trilogy, 2312 (novel), Aurora (novel), and the forthcoming 'New York, 2140' | |
Krafft Arnold Ehricke | 1917 | 1984 | space colonization | |
Leonardo da Vinci | 1452 | 1519 | engineer, inventor, scientist | |
Lidewij Edelkoort | 1950 | living | fashion | |
M. G. Gordon | 1915 | 1969 | social studies | |
Magda Cordell McHale | 1921 | 2008 | painter, educator | |
Mahdi Elmandjra | 1933 | 2014 | economist, sociologist | |
Mark Pesce | 1962 | living | inventor, writer, engineer | |
Mark Satin | 1946 | living | political theory | |
Mark Stevenson | 1971 | living | author, entrepreneur, geo-technology | |
Marshall Brain | 1961 | 2024 | robotics, transhumanism | |
Marshall McLuhan | 1911 | 1980 | communications | |
Martin Ford | 1963 | living | artificial intelligence, robotics, author of New York Times bestseller Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future | |
Matthew Simmons | 1943 | 2010 | peak oil, oil reserves | |
Max More | 1964 | living | Extropy Institute | |
Meredith Thring | 1915 | 2006 | inventor | |
Michael Crichton | 1942 | 2008 | writer; implications of progress in science | |
Michael Rogers | living | New York Times futurist; MSNBC commentator | ||
Michel Saloff Coste | 1955 | living | art, Club of Budapest | |
Michio Kaku | 1947 | living | string field theory, expositor | |
Mitchell Joachim | 1972 | living | ecological design
Michel de Nostredame | |
Natasha Vita-More | 1950 | living | Humanity+ | |
Neal Stephenson | 1959 | living | novelist known for Snow Crash, Anathem, and Seveneves | |
Nicholas Negroponte | 1943 | living | OLPC, new technological media | |
Nick Bostrom | 1973 | living | philosopher at the University of Oxford known for his work on existential risk, the anthropic principle, human enhancement ethics, superintelligence risks, the reversal test, and consequentialism | |
Nicolas De Santis | 1966 | living | Corporate Visioning, author, tech entrepreneur, founder Opodo | |
Nikola Tesla | 1856 | 1943 | energy, inventor | |
Nikolai Fyodorovich Fyodorov | 1829 | 1903 | renewable energy, life extension/immortality, tranhumanism, space colonization | |
Orrin H. Pilkey | 1934 | living | critic of environmentalists , coastline erosion | |
Ossip K. Flechtheim | 1909 | 1998 | political scientist | |
Patrick Dixon | 1957 | living | business | |
Peter C. Bishop | 1944 | living | educator - strategic foresight | |
Peter Diamandis | 1961 | living | Singularity University | |
Peter Newman | 1945 | living | sustainability, transport systems, cars and cities | |
Peter Schwartz | 1946 | living | China, climate change, business, technology | |
Phil Salin | 1949 | 1991 | cyberspace and the Internet | |
Philip K. Dick | 1928 | 1982 | writer who produced the novels behind Blade Runner and Minority Report | |
Ray Kurzweil | 1948 | living | AI, transhumanism, technological singularity, life extension | |
Raymond Spencer Rodgers | 1935 | 2007 | telesphere, food-chain | |
Renzo Provinciali | 1895 | 1981 | anarchist | |
Richard Feynman | 1918 | 1988 | physicist, originator of concept of nanotechnology | |
Richard Moran | 1950 | living | social scientist | |
Richard Neville | 1941 | 2016 | author, reporter | |
Richard Slaughter | 1940 | living | sociologist | |
Robert A. Heinlein | 1907 | 1988 | novelist | |
Robert Anton Wilson | 1932 | 2007 | psychonaut, novelist, essayist | |
Robert Jastrow | 1925 | 2008 | NASA scientist, author, spaceflight | |
Robert Jungk | 1913 | 1994 | journalist | |
Robert Theobald | 1929 | 1999 | economics | |
Robin Hanson | 1959 | living | prediction markets, singularity, transhumanism | |
Roger Bacon | 1220 | 1292 | Franciscan Friar, Natural Philosopher | |
Ross Dawson | 1962 | living | futurist, speaker, author | |
Scott Smith | 1967 | living | "flatpack futures" | |
Sinead Bovell | 1989 | living | Blogger | |
Sohail Inayatullah | 1958 | living | political scientist | |
Stanisław Lem | 1921 | 2006 | novelist | |
Stephen Hawking | 1942 | 2018 | astrophysics, cosmology | |
Stewart Brand | 1938 | living | cognitive science, environmental philosophy, whole systems | |
Sydney Jay Mead | 1933 | 2019 | visual futurist | |
Terence McKenna | 1946 | 2000 | philosopher, psychonaut, speaker, ethnobotanist | |
Ted Nelson | 1937 | living | writer, philosopher, creator of hypertext concept and Xanadu project | |
Theodore Modis | 1943 | living | business, physics | |
Thomas Frey | 1954 | living | futurist speaker, technology, future jobs, future of work, future crimes, future of transportation, unanswerable question | |
Tim Cannon | 1979 | living | technology, transhumanist | |
Timothy Leary | 1920 | 1996 | psychologist, psychedelics enthusiast, transhumanist, space migration, life extension | |
Vannevar Bush | 1890 | 1974 | analog computing, envisioned Memex, similar to what the internet is now | |
W. Warren Wagar | 1932 | 2004 | historian | |
Walt Disney | 1901 | 1966 | filmmaker, businessman, created "Tomorrowland" and a concept Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow (referred to by acronym EPCOT) | |
Walter Greiling | 1900 | 1986 | chemist, sociologist | |
Warren Ellis | 1968 | living | writer | |
Wendell Bell | 1924 | 2019 | sociology | |
William Gibson | 1948 | living | novelist (cyberpunk) | |
William Gilpin | 1813 | 1894 | politician | |
Willis Harman | 1918 | 1997 | sociocultural evolution | |
Ziauddin Sardar | 1951 | living | Muslim thought |
See also
References
- Introduction to Social Macrodynamics: Compact Macromodels of the World System Growth.
- Miles Bowe (2016-03-02). "Iranian futurist Ash Koosha is pushing electronic music into a virtual reality". Fact Magazine.
- "Focus Magazine Issues 23-25". 2002. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
- "The Silicon Valley Skeptic". Retrieved 26 December 2016.
- "What will 2015 bring? 4 futurists weigh in". Geektime. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
-
Shahibzadeh, Yadullah (2016). Islamism and Post-Islamism in Iran: An Intellectual History. New York: Springer. p. 22. ISBN 9781137578259. Retrieved 2019-05-26.
'Marxism has founded the main pillars of the science of futurology.' Ehsan Tabari, Marksism va shenakht-e ayandah, Donia (Winter 1967)
- "What Are the Odds We Are Living in a Computer Simulation?". The New Yorker. 9 June 2016.
- Yampolskiy, Roman V. (17 June 2015). Artificial Superintelligence: A Futuristic Approach. CRC Press. ISBN 9781482234442 – via Google Books.
- Parsons, Paul (16 August 2012). The Rough Guide to Surviving the End of the World. Rough Guides Limited. ISBN 9781409360063 – via Google Books.
- "Review of Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom".
- Müller, Vincent C. (23 August 2012). Philosophy and Theory of Artificial Intelligence. Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 9783642316746 – via Google Books.
- "What's It All About? on RTE Radio 1, Life, Death & Beyond (Episode 3)". 4 June 2014.
- Yampolskiy, Roman V. 'Leakproofing the Singularity'
- Nick Paton Walsh (2 September 2001). "Alter our DNA or robots will take over, warns Hawking". The Guardian.
- "BBC NEWS - UK - Move to new planet, says Hawking". bbc.co.uk. 30 November 2006.
- Rose, Steve (21 May 2015). "Tomorrowland: how Walt Disney's strange utopia shaped the world of tomorrow". The Guardian.