The study of the future : an introduction to the art and science of understanding and shaping tomorrow's world / by Edward Cornish with members and staff of the World Future Society.

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1 : an age of convulsive change -- The megacrisis: a world in transformation -- The causes of rapid change -- Unintended results of our activities -- "Future shock" -- Progress and its discontents -- The elusiveness of happiness -- The scarcities of abundance -- The death of hope -- 2 : the terrors of tomorrow: realities and bugaboos -- The extinction of homo sapiens -- The collapse of civilization -- A population "crash" -- War, violence, and totalitarianism -- Planetary impoverishment and famine -- Miscellaneous possible horrors -- Surviving the holocaust -- The case for optimism -- The solubility of human problems -- 3 : the shape of things to come -- A shift in world trends? -- Has Western culture reached "rock bottom?" -- The next 25 years -- 4 : the discovery of the future -- The pre-history of futurism -- The beginnings of modern futurism -- The idea of progress -- Jules Verne and science fiction -- The theory of evolution -- 5 : how the future became foreboding -- World War I and the collapse of optimism -- The struggle to tame technology -- World War II and the death of "tomorrow" -- 6 : a new attitude toward the future -- Developing a science of forecasting -- Futurist groups form -- 7 : basic principles of futurism -- The non-existence of "the future" -- The nature of the future world -- Some postulates of futurism -- 8 : methods for studying the future -- Blunders of forecasting -- Trend extrapolation: a method that everyone uses -- Scenarios: making up stories about the future -- Ways to map the future -- Making better use of experts -- Models, games, and simulations --

9 : futurists and their ideas -- Margaret Mead: children as guides to the future -- Bertrand de Jouvenel: the inventor of "futuribles" -- Glenn T. Seaborg: using science to create a better world -- Robert Jungk: the future-creating workshop -- Arthur C. Clarke: the father of the communications satellite -- Willis Harman: the coming transformation -- Daniel Bell: the post-industrial society -- Isaac Asimov: where science is taking humanity -- John McHale: planetary planner -- Herman Kahn: the unthinkable optimist -- Alvin Toffler: from future shock to anticipatory democracy -- The futurist perspective -- 10 : Futuristics in practice (with case histories) -- A power company has a change of heart -- An oil company turns to scenarios -- A trade association monitors social trends -- Congress and the future -- Citizens plan the future of their states -- God and futurism in California -- Staff futurists and thirty-year projections -- How to introduce the future successfully -- 11 : the coming revolution in education -- A future-oriented curriculum -- Courses in futuristics -- The student's image of the future -- 12 : the uses of the future -- Assisting the decision-making process -- Preparing people to live in a changing world -- A framework for reconciliation and cooperation -- Contributions to science and thought -- An aid to creativity -- An educational technique -- Philosophy and art -- 13 : a world of Utopias -- Building a greater civilization -- Collective wisdom for mankind.