Applied Foresight Network - Background

Background

As new scientific and technological knowledge developed in the early 19th century, academics were being forced to choose between traditional education in the arts and humanities or in scientific and technological areas (Wyllys,1996). Indeed, by the 20th century, this trend had produced what Sir Charles Percy Snow called a social divide of The Two Cultures (Rede Lecture, 1959). During 2002, Yale University professor Wendell Bell asserted that “the rampant hyper-specialization and decomposition of developed disciplines into specialties and sub-specialties leaves little room for much needed holistic approaches” of campus futures studies and adult education.

This funding proposal seeks new approaches to research relevance. It has the potential to build trans-disciplinary bridges across the solitudes (Bell, 2002, Burton, 2002) and respond to noted futurist H.G. Wells’ urgent call, in a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) radio program on November 19, 1933, for professors of foresight to use their knowledge in socially responsible ways.

At the same time, while the world is characterized by rampant change, and there have been efforts such as those of American Council for the United Nations University (2004), the World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS) (2003) to assess both the positive and negative impacts of these burgeoning developments through expert panels and chat groups, this is not enough. According to Slaughter (2004), “It is one thing to articulate futures issues and problems and to enter into productive futures-related discourses with similarly equipped people. But it is quite another to operationalize the insights so gained.”

In the Killam Annual Lecture (Oct. 24, 2002), Dr. Martha Piper, President of the University of British Columbia further echoed this gap when she said, "If we are to live in one small, interconnected world, we must assume and fulfill our responsibilities as global citizens... Interdisciplinary research in the human sciences is critical not only to advance our understanding of some of the most pressing social problems we face as a nation, but also to provide the basis for good legislation and informed public policies that are translated into effective social action" (p. 10).

To do this, the principal investigators for this AFN proposal plan to build on their experience and connections to create a global network of university hubs linked by a digital web of academic collaborators. Building on the advice of leading academic futurists and public decision makers, the principal investigators plan to further consult on the nature of the AFN, create a small secretariat, develop an operational plan, budget, and prospectus for funding, and develop and maintain the AFN website and professor, student, teacher, and concerned citizen forums.