Just came across (via Twitter) an excellent basic guide to futures thinking ("Futures Thinking: The Basics"), written by Jamais Cascio for Fast Company magazine.
A good summary:
Fortunately, [being a futurist is] also a job with some definite practical uses. Futurism as it's practiced today doesn't try to predict the future, but rather to illuminate unexpected implications of present-day issues; the emphasis isn't on what will happen, but on what could happen, given various observed drivers. It's a way of getting new perspectives and context for present-day decisions, as well as for dealing with the dilemma at the heart of all strategic thinking: the future can't be predicted, yet we have to make choices based on what is to come.It's a good read for anyone interested in thinking about the future - and that includes just about all of us.
