อนาคตศาสตร์ (Future studies หรือ Futurology) คือ ศาสตร์ที่ว่าด้วยการศึกษาโอกาสและความเป็นไปได้ของความเป็นไปในอนาคตที่จะเกิดขึ้น ซึ่งจะต้องอาศัยความเป็นศาสตร์ (Science) และศิลป์ (Art) อนาคตศาสตร์ถูกจัดให้อยู่เป็นส่วนหนึ่งของสังคมศาสตร์ (Social sciences) และอาจเป็นคู่ขนานกับการศึกษาด้านประวัติศาสตร์ (History) เนื่องจากต้องอาศัยบริบทในหลากหลายมิติของสังคมที่เกิดขึ้นในอดีตจนถึงปัจจุบัน เพื่อเป็นบรรทัดฐานที่ต่อเนื่องไปถึงการวิเคราะห์อนาคต
ผมสนใจในคีย์เวิร์ด “นักอนาคตศาสตร์” หรือ Futurist มาสักระยะหนึ่งแล้ว ในฐานะอาชีพที่ต้องการความรู้รอบด้านในการพยากรณ์อนาคตเพื่อการบริหารจัดการและรับมืออนาคตที่ยังมาไม่ถึงได้อย่างมีประสิทธิภาพ ก็เลยลองหาข้อมูลดูว่าคนที่มาทำอาชีพนี้ พื้นเพมาจากวงการใดหรือมีความเชี่ยวชาญพื้นฐานอะไรกันบ้าง
| Name | Birth | Death | Field |
|---|---|---|---|
| Adrian Berry | 1937 | 2016 | writer, journalist |
| Alan Marshall | 1969 | living | academic, environmentalist, social scientist, writer |
| Aldous Huxley | 1894 | 1963 | writer of Brave New World, psychedelic prophet |
| Alvin Toffler | 1928 | 2016 | wrote Future Shock, and sequels, technological singularity |
| Andrey Korotayev | 1961 | living | mathematical modeling of global future[1] |
| Anne Lise Kjaer | 1962 | living | future trends, consumer mindsets and mobile technologies |
| Archibald Low | 1888 | 1956 | space |
| Arthur C. Clarke | 1917 | 2008 | writer |
| Arthur Harkins | 1936 | 2016 | innovation studies |
| Bertrand de Jouvenel | 1903 | 1987 | economist |
| Bill Joy | 1954 | living | UNIX, technology dangers |
| Bruce Sterling | 1954 | living | living design, information technology |
| Buckminster Fuller | 1895 | 1983 | architect, cosmologist, whole-systems thinker, designer/inventor |
| Carl Sagan | 1934 | 1996 | astronomer |
| Clem Bezold | living | healthcare | |
| Dandridge M. Cole | 1921 | 1965 | space colonization |
| Daniel Burrus | 1947 | living | fururist, business advisor, author |
| Danila Medvedev | 1980 | living | transhumanist |
| Darla Jane Gilroy | living | futurist, trendspotting | |
| David H. Holtzman | living | technology | |
| Deane Hutton | living | communicator | |
| Dennis Gabor | 1900 | 1979 | holography |
| Dirk HR Spennemann | living | space heritage | |
| Donald Prell | 1924 | living | venture capital, strategic foresight, technological singularity |
| Douglas Engelbart | 1925 | 2013 | hypertext, mouse, interactive computing |
| Douglas Rushkoff | 1961 | living | [2][3][4] media theorist, writer, columnist, lecturer, graphic novelist, and documentarian, early cyberpunk culture, open source |
| Edward Bellamy | 1850 | 1898 | wrote Looking Backward: 2000–1887 , a utopia about the future year 2000, economic reorganization |
| Faith Popcorn | 1948 | living | popcorn report |
| FM-2030 | 1930 | 2000 | transhumanist, essayist |
| Fred Polak | 1907 | 1985 | social studies |
| Freeman Dyson | 1923 | living | nuclear engineering, disarmament |
| Gaston Berger | 1896 | 1960 | cognitive science |
| Gene Roddenberry | 1921 | 1991 | creator of the Star Trek franchise. |
| George Dvorsky | 1970 | living | transhumanist |
| George Friedman | 1949 | living | geopolitics |
| George Gilder | 1939 | living | society |
| George Orwell | 1903 | 1950 | writer (wrote 1984) |
| Gerald Celente | 1946 | living | trend forecaster |
| Gerard K. O’Neill | 1927 | 1992 | envisioned space colonization |
| Grace Hopper | 1906 | 1992 | women in computing, COBOL |
| Graeme Codrington | 1970 | living | Generational theory, megatrends |
| H. G. Wells | 1866 | 1946 | writer, historian, among the first to think of himself as a futurist |
| Hans Moravec | 1948 | living | robotics, AI |
| Harlan Cleveland | 1918 | 2008 | diplomacy |
| Hazel Henderson | 1933 | living | cooperative economics |
| Herman Kahn | 1922 | 1983 | military strategist, econo-technical predictions |
| Hugo de Garis | 1947 | living | AI |
| Hugo Gernsback | 1884 | 1967 | invented the term “science fiction”, wrote the novel Ralph 124C 41+, started science fiction magazines. After whom the Hugo Awards are named. |
| Isaac Asimov | 1920 | 1992 | writer of science and science fiction |
| Jacque Fresco | 1916 | living | architect, resource economics, model maker, envisioner of cornucopian world |
| James Hughes | living | ethics | |
| James Lovelock | 1919 | living | environmentalist, Gaia hypothesis |
| Jason Ling | 1975 | living | social networking, new media technologies and mobile technologies |
| Jean Fourastié | 1907 | 1990 | economist |
| Jennifer M. Gidley | living | psychologist, educator | |
| Jeremy Rifkin | 1945 | living | economist, science and tech. critic of various sorts, writer |
| Jerry Fishenden | living | Microsoft future | |
| Jim Carroll (author) | living | futurist, trends, innovation expert, likes to give talks | |
| Jim Dator | living | politics | |
| Joanne Pransky | living | robotics | |
| Jody Turner | living | brand anthropology | |
| Joël de Rosnay | 1937 | living | living molecular biology |
| John Naisbitt | 1929 | living | “megatrends” author |
| Jules Verne | 1828 | 1905 | aviation, spaceflight, submarine travel |
| Karel Čapek | 1890 | 1938 | fiction writer who invented the word robot |
| Kevin Warwick | 1954 | living | robotics |
| Kim Stanley Robinson | 1952 | living | novelist known for Mars Trilogy, 2312 (novel), Aurora (novel), and the forthcoming ‘New York, 2140’ |
| Krafft Arnold Ehricke | 1917 | 1984 | space colonization |
| Leonardo da Vinci | 1452 | 1519 | engineer, inventor, scientist |
| Lidewij Edelkoort | 1950 | living | fashion |
| M. G. Gordon | 1915 | 1969 | social studies |
| Magda Cordell McHale | 1921 | 2008 | painter, educator |
| Mahdi Elmandjra | 1933 | 2014 | economist, sociologist |
| Mark Pesce | 1962 | living | inventor, writer, engineer |
| Mark Satin | 1946 | living | political theory |
| Mark Stevenson | 1971 | living | author, entrepreneur, geo-technology |
| Marshall Brain | 1961 | living | robotics, transhumanism |
| Marshall McLuhan | 1911 | 1980 | communications |
| Martin Ford | 1963 | living | artificial intelligence, robotics, author of New York Times bestseller Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future |
| Matthew Simmons | 1943 | 2010 | peak oil, oil reserves |
| Meredith Thring | 1915 | 2006 | inventor |
| Michael Crichton | 1942 | 2008 | writer; implications of progress in science |
| Michael E. Arth | 1953 | living | urban design |
| Michael Rogers | living | New York Times futurist; MSNBC commentator | |
| Michio Kaku | 1947 | living | string field theory, expositor |
| Nayef Al-Rodhan | 1959 | living | transhumanist, sustainable history, singularity dignity, future geopolitics |
| Neal Stephenson | 1959 | living | novelist known for Snow Crash, Anathem, and Seveneves |
| Nicholas Negroponte | 1943 | living | OLPC, new technological media |
| Nick Bostrom | 1973 | living | [5][6][7][8][9][10][11]philosopher at the University of Oxford known for his work on existential risk, the anthropic principle, human enhancement ethics, superintelligence risks, the reversal test, and consequentialism |
| Nikola Tesla | 1856 | 1943 | energy, inventor |
| Orrin H. Pilkey | 1934 | living | critic of environmentalists[citation needed], coastline erosion |
| Ossip K. Flechtheim | 1909 | 1998 | political scientist |
| Patrick Dixon | 1957 | living | business |
| Peter C. Bishop | 1944 | living | educator – strategic foresight |
| Peter Newman | 1945 | living | sustainability, transport systems, cars and cities |
| Peter Schwartz | 1946 | living | China, climate change, business, technology |
| Phil Salin | 1949 | 1991 | cyberspace and the Internet |
| Philip K. Dick | 1928 | 1982 | writer who produced the novels behind Blade Runner and Minority Report |
| Ray Kurzweil | 1948 | living | AI, transhumanism, technological singularity, life extension |
| Raymond Spencer Rodgers | 1935 | 2007 | telesphere, food-chain |
| Renzo Provinciali | 1895 | 1981 | anarchist |
| Richard C. Duncan | living | peak oil | |
| Richard Feynman | 1918 | 1988 | physicist, originator of concept of nanotechnology |
| Richard Moran | 1950 | living | social scientist |
| Richard Neville | 1941 | living | author, reporter |
| Richard Slaughter | 1940 | living | sociologist |
| Robert A. Heinlein | 1907 | 1988 | novelist |
| Robert Anton Wilson | 1932 | 2007 | psychonaut, novelist, essayist |
| Robert Jastrow | 1925 | 2008 | NASA scientist, author, spaceflight |
| Robert Jungk | 1913 | 1994 | journalist |
| Robert Theobald | 1929 | 1999 | economics |
| Robin Hanson | 1959 | living | prediction markets, singularity, transhumanism |
| Roger Bacon | 1220 | 1292 | Franciscan Friar, Natural Philosopher |
| Ross Dawson | 1962 | living | futurist, speaker, author |
| Ryan O’Shea | 1989 | living | journalist, speaker, transhumanist |
| Sohail Inayatullah | 1958 | living | political scientist |
| Stanisław Lem | 1921 | 2006 | novelist |
| Stephen Euin Cobb | 1955 | living | transhumanist |
| Stewart Brand | 1938 | living | cognitive science, environmental philosophy, whole systems |
| Sydney Jay Mead | 1933 | living | visual futurist |
| Terence McKenna | 1946 | 2000 | philosopher, psychonaut, speaker, ethnobotanist |
| Ted Nelson | 1937 | living | writer, philosopher, creator of hypertext concept and Xanadu project |
| Theodore Modis | 1943 | living | business, physics |
| Thomas Frey | 1954 | living | futurist speaker, technology, social issues |
| Tim Cannon | 1979 | living | technology, transhumanist |
| Timothy Leary | 1920 | 1996 | psychologist, psychedelics enthusiast, transhumanist, space migration, life extension |
| Vannevar Bush | 1890 | 1974 | analog computing, envisioned Memex, similar to what the internet is now |
| W. Warren Wagar | 1932 | 2004 | historian |
| Walt Disney | 1901 | 1966 | filmmaker, businessman,[12] created “Tomorrowland” and EPCOT center |
| Walter Greiling | 1900 | 1986 | chemist, sociologist |
| Warren Ellis | 1968 | living | writer |
| Wendell Bell | 1924 | living | sociology |
| William Gibson | 1948 | living | novelist (cyberpunk)[citation needed] |
| William Gilpin | 1813 | 1894 | politician |
| Willis Harman | 1918 | 1997 | sociocultural evolution |
| Wolfgang Grulke | 1947 | living | author, business, technology, culture |
| Ziauddin Sardar | 1951 | living | Muslim thought |