Futurist

Futurists are individuals with a specialisation or an interest in futurology, or the systematic exploration of predictions and possibilities about the future, and how they can emerge from the present, whether in the context of human society or of life on Earth in general. Prospectivists, foresight practitioners, and horizon scanners are examples of people who have a specialisation or an interest in futurology.

The term "futurist" most commonly refers to people who attempt to understand the future (sometimes referred to as trend analysis), such as authors, consultants, thinkers, organisational leaders, and others who engage in interdisciplinary and systems thinking to advise private and public organisations on such matters as diverse global trends, possible scenarios, emerging market opportunities, and risk management, among other things. Not in the meaning of the art movement Futurism, but rather in the sense of the word futurist.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word futurism was first used in English in 1842 to allude to the Christian eschatological trend that was prevalent at the time, in a theological context. The Futurists, an artistic, literary, and political movement that emerged in the 1920s and 1930s in Italy and Russia, aspired to repudiate the past while enthusiastically embracing speed, technology, and, at times, violent change. This is the second known usage of the term.

More broadly, the term refers to a diverse range of lay, professional, and academic groups, including visionaries, foresight consultants, corporate strategists, policy analysts, cultural critics, planners, marketers, forecasters, prediction market developers, roadmappers, operations researchers, investment managers, actuaries, and other risk analyzers, as well as individuals educated in every academic discipline, including anthropology, complexity studies, computer science, and other fields.