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10 - Towards an Uncertain Future

from Part II - Towards a World of Unlimited Possibilities

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 February 2021

Peter J. Bowler
Affiliation:
Queen's University Belfast
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Summary

Thinkers who saw technological innovation as the way forward now had to accept that there could be no static utopia in the future: society would be in a continual state of change. There was an increased emphasis on thinking about the future rather than the past, since it was less clear that history offered a model by which future developments could be predicted. The hope of creating a planned society was replaced by the notion of the 'technological fix' that dealt with the often unanticipated by-products of innovations pioneered as beneficial. Futurology emerged as a discipline aimed at anticipating developments, although its efforts were often wide of the mark. Enthusiasts predicted a range of possible futures based on different technologies, some involving the move to a completely transhuman phase of life. Science fiction emerged as a genre providing commentary on these scenarios, often recognizing the potential disadvantages.

Type
Chapter
Information
Progress Unchained
Ideas of Evolution, Human History and the Future
, pp. 248 - 266
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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