
What the Future Holds
Insights from Social Science
MIT Press
Published on 1. January 2002
Book
Hardback
289 pages
978-0-262-03294-0 (ISBN)
Description
Social scientists from various disciplines discuss and offer predictions about the future.
Predicting the future is notoriously difficult. But systematic analysis leads to clearer understanding and wiser decisions. Thinking about the future also makes social scientists focus their research into the past and present more fruitfully, with more attention to key predictors of change.
This book considers how we might think intelligently about the future. Taking different methodological approaches, well-known specialists forecast likely future developments and trends in human life. The questions they address include: How many humans will there be? Will there be enough energy? How will climate change affect our lives? What patterns of work will exist? How will government work at the local, national, and world level? Will inflation remain under control? Why have past forecasts been so bad? The book concludes with a discussion of the intellectual and historical context of futurology and a look at the accuracy of predictions that were made for the year 2000.
Review text:
'...[This book] serves a useful purpose by stimulating human responses to avoid possible disasters.'
-- Foreign Affairs
'There are valuable lessons here.'
-- Graham May, New Scientist
Predicting the future is notoriously difficult. But systematic analysis leads to clearer understanding and wiser decisions. Thinking about the future also makes social scientists focus their research into the past and present more fruitfully, with more attention to key predictors of change.
This book considers how we might think intelligently about the future. Taking different methodological approaches, well-known specialists forecast likely future developments and trends in human life. The questions they address include: How many humans will there be? Will there be enough energy? How will climate change affect our lives? What patterns of work will exist? How will government work at the local, national, and world level? Will inflation remain under control? Why have past forecasts been so bad? The book concludes with a discussion of the intellectual and historical context of futurology and a look at the accuracy of predictions that were made for the year 2000.
Review text:
'...[This book] serves a useful purpose by stimulating human responses to avoid possible disasters.'
-- Foreign Affairs
'There are valuable lessons here.'
-- Graham May, New Scientist
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Cambridge, Mass.
United States
Publishing group
MIT Press Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
7
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 25 mm
Weight
617 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-262-03294-0 (9780262032940)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Richard N. Cooper is Maurits C. Boas Professor of International Economics at Harvard University.
Richard Layard is Director of the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics.
Richard Layard is Director of the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics.