In 1947, Theodore Von Karman published Towards New Horizons, a
report commissioned by U.S. Army General Henry H. Arnold, which set the stage
for our current approach to studying the future by asserting that people could
predict future technological capabilities. This report paved the way for the
emergence of a legacy of technological foresight which resulted in the
establishment of the Long-term Technological Foreseeing Agency in the U.S. Army
(Cornish, 1983). Consequently, even
political leaders started to engage in forms of future studies and predicting
and altering the future. However, their purpose has been less philosophical and
more pragmatic. For instance, Lenin’s first five-year governmental plan to
provide electricity to the Soviet Union in 1928 highlighted the importance of
planning (a process for looking towards the future) in every aspect of
contemporary affairs — namely, government, education, research, manufacturing,
work, and family affairs. The importance of such governmental or strategic
planning has also increased due to pressure from economic fluctuations,
automation, lack of educational parity, urban inflation, and environmental
pollution (Zaher, 2004). Studying and
predicting the future are important activities not only because of growing
concerns about the possible future, but also because people are growing more
aware of the high costs of dealing with problems as they appear rather than
avoiding them completely.
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