The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to futures studies: Futures studies (also called futurology) – study of postulating possible, probable, and preferable futures and the worldviews and myths that underlie them. There is a debate as to whether this discipline is an art or science. In general, it can be considered as a branch of the social sciences and parallel to the field of history. History studies the past, futures studies considers the future. Futurology (colloquially called "futures" by many of the field's practitioners) seeks to understand what is likely to continue and what could plausibly change. 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.

General concepts

Futures techniques

Organizations

Research centers

Academic programs

Futurologists

• Alex Steffen • Alvin Toffler • Arthur C. Clarke • Aurelio Peccei • Bertrand deJouvenel • Bill Joy • Bruce Sterling • Charles Babbage • Clem Bezold • Daniel Bell • David Passig • Earl Bakken • Edgar Morin • Erich Jantsch • Fred Polak • Gaston Berger • Gerard O'Neill • Grace Hopper • Harlan Cleveland • Hazel Henderson • Herman Kahn • Homer A. McCrerey • Hugo de Garis • Irma Wyman • Jacque Fresco • James Burke • James Martin • Jaron Lanier • Jeremy Rifkin • James Dator • John Brunner • John McHale • John Naisbitt • John Zerzan • Kevin Warwick • Kim Stanley Robinson • Kirit Parikh • Mahdi ElMandjra • Max More • Michael Walzer • Natasha Vita-More • Patrick Dixon • Paul Raskin • Paul Saffo • Peter C. Bishop • Peter Schwartz • Ray Kurzweil • Richard A. Slaughter • Richard Lamb • Robert A. Heinlein • Robert Anton Wilson • Robert Heilbroner • Robert Jungk • Robert Prechter • Sohail Inayatullah • Stephen Hawking • Stewart Brand • Strauss and Howe • Stanislaw Lem • Thorkil Kristensen • Vincent Ialenti • Wendell Bell • Willis Harman

Publications

Books

Periodicals and monographs