| Abstract: | One of the fascinating and frustrating facts of modern future watching is the almost shameless manner with which the concept of the future is used and abused. It is demonstrably an idea and a word that means quite different things according to a variety of factors. As the assumptions we make about what we call ‘the future’ can influence our choices, a clearer understanding of our inconsistent employment of the term is always in order. In this essay five prominent ways we can think about the future are explored. These concern imagining the future as time, as a challenge, as a destination, as an answer, and as a judgment. |
