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Possible Futures - Reconstructed Lecture

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As I sat down to prepare this talk, I found myself thinking: why bother about the future at all? This present moment is all we have. "Let us eat, drink, and be merry." We cannot possibly tell what will happen. We know only this: the future will be utterly different from anything we imagine. Is it then useless to speculate? No—not useless to consider possibilities. The exercise is fascinating in itself, and emotionally educative. By imagining different futures, we clarify what we value, what we fear, what we hope for. Let me distinguish three degrees of futurity. The near future: the next hundred years. We are as far from our grandchildren as they will be from the Battle of Waterloo. The middle future: one to ten thousand years—the span from before Egypt to now. The far future: a million years and beyond—the time since early humanity first appeared. Different questions apply to each scale. For the near future: Will England remain a world power? Will Russia? What will happen to the famil

Possible Futures - Reconstructed Lecture Original Notes Reconstructed Lecture Why Bother About Foreseeing? Why bother about foreseeing? as I sat down — thinking of this moment "let us eat drink & be merry" Can't possibly tell what will happen except — it will be utterly different then useless to ask? No, not to consider possibilities fascinating, educative (emotionally) Why Bother About Foreseeing? As I sat down to prepare this talk, I found myself thinking: why bother about the future at all? This present moment is all we have. "Let us eat, drink, and be merry." We cannot possibly tell what w

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