The Magic of the Future

What do I stand for and what is my work as a futurist?

© Klaus Vyhnalek

What do you expect from a futurist? That they make accurate forecasts. That they know what is trendy?

But what are »right« predictions? Is it about that something arrives precisely at some time in the distant future? Is it about what to expect? Have you noticed that many important changes come from an unexpected direction? Who foresaw that a Mr. Donald Trump would become president of the United States with the help of social media and the accumulation of social frustrations in America?

What is called »trendy« often has little to do with the future. Trendy things are about marketing noise and interests. All sauna manufacturers love the wellness trend, all hammock providers hang onto the cocooning trend, all IT people are overjoyed by digitalisation, which “is ragingly fast taking over more and more areas of our lives”.

Have you heard FUTURE BULLSHIT – that over-excited future propaganda you get sold everywhere? For example, that everything is radically digitally connected and hyper-mobile, that the refrigerator communicates with the coffee machine, and tomorrow we will plant sensors into our brains! That artificial intelligence will take over our jobs, that robots will care for our elderly…

Is that really the future?

I call my approach the HUMANISTIC FUTURISM. Of course, technology plays a big role. Also, the so-called trends. But equally important are the cultural factors, the emotions, the social element. These are the constants that shape human history. Humanistic futurism puts confidence in humans and the human condition to shape the future.

Lesen Sie hier die 10 Paradigmen des Humanistischen Futurismus.

“Future is the result of decisions. Individual, collective, mental, emotional decisions. Future is neither fixed nor determinate. We can enter into a dialogue with it. I regard my task as to organise this dialogue.”