平成 21 年 9 月入学・平成 22 年 4 月入学
大学院博士 (前期) 課程入学者選抜学力試験

英語［90 分］注 意 事 項

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I Reading Comprehension
Read the article below and answer the following questions.（配点 70 点）

PROJECT FUTURIUM: Do Futurists Dream of Electric Sims?
Science ﬁction writers create stories about possible and impossible future worlds often disturbing dystopias. Futurists on the other hand, research and analyze thefuture using various methods and tools, with the aim of creating and communicating
alternative images of the future. With this in mind, futurists are always looking for
new predictive technologies.
⃝1 Imagine this scenario in 2019: ⃝2 You and your friends step into an Internetbased synthetic environment with virtual-reality-type headsets and other sensory
peripherals. Using a futures-making tool-box, you create an alternative futureworld: a future community for the ‘new olds’ averaging 130; a 100% recyclable
future toilet; or a unique lifestyle which could transform the future. After making
this future world, you are ready to experience it. How does it taste, feel, smell,sound, and look? You can also change it - ready for other people to use, evaluate
and re-design.
Sound like science ﬁction? It has long been a dream of futurists to create a newkind of synthetic environment which allows people to not only simulate possible
future worlds, but also to actively ‘co-create’ them. With the help of state-of-theart Information, Communications and Media Technologies (ICMTs), a group offuturists are now working on Project Futurium.
The Project Futurium concept is supported by media theorist and entrepreneur
Brenda Laurel, who claims: “Good simulations will not only help us learn aboutsystems, they may help us evaluate policies and form political goals. Simulations
can also strengthen accountability by helping us to understand the eﬀects of actions
taken by particular companies, industries or governments.”
The emergence of the so-called ‘experiential industries’ created by a new kindof professional called the ‘experience designer’, was predicted in the 1970 bestseller ‘Future Shock’ by Alvin Toﬄer. Consider three precursor technologies. SIMCity is a popular well-known game in which one can design and manage a wholecity. Second Life, a topical virtual world developed by Linden Lab and accessed— 1 —via the Internet, enables its ‘residents’ to interact with each other through avatars.
Residents can explore, participate in activities, create and trade virtual property, ortravel throughout the world. Finally, is Exploratorium, a public science museum in
San Francisco renowned for its creative use of the human senses for communicating
science and technology concepts.
Though signiﬁcant, the ⃝3 missing link in all these is the concept of ‘co-creation’ the ability for multiple users to create visualizations of future scenarios. This makes
Project Futurium radically diﬀerent to existing synthetic environments.
To illustrate the concept, students at a Japanese university have made a numberof prototypes. In one, named KidzPlay, students designed a synthetic environment
which allows children to create their own play-spaces: playgrounds for and by kids.
Results of child-user prototype tests produced novel types of play adults couldn’timagine.
In another, named 4-Us, users played a political game in which they could see,smell, hear, taste and touch the eﬀects of policies created by political parties. A
policy such as “Japan as long-living society 2029” where the average age was 130 or
more, for example, could be experienced as if in real life. Before-after surveys revealthat one-time only users gained an 80% advantage on Futures Awareness Surveys
over non-users who found it diﬃcult to imagine and articulate the consequences ofsuch a future society. One-time users were also able to make detailed descriptionsof this society, identify multiple problems, and suggest creative solutions. By experiencing such a future society, the user is enabled to make informed decisions about
how to best prepare for such a society - here and now.
Despite many technical obstacles, a synthetic environment such as Project Futurium could revolutionize how people think about the future, transforming themfrom passive consumers of other peoples’ futures to active co-creators of futureworlds.
SOURCE: Unpublished research proposal: 2009— 2 —

Notes• Futurist 未来学者
• Futures Studies 未来学• dystopias 反ユートピアの世界• image of the future 未来像• futures-making tool-box 未来作り道具箱• predictive technologies 予測能力のある技術• experiential industries 体験型産業• precursor technologies 先駆の技術• political parties 政党• policy 公共政策
• human senses 人間の五感• synthetic environments 人工的環境• co-create 共同創作する• visualization 可視化• obstacles 障害物— 3 —問 1 What does ⃝1 imagine this scenario indicate? Choose the best answer

from the following. （配点 4 点）
（A） A true story from the future.
（B） One possible real-world application of Project Futurium.
（C） A paragraph from a famous science ﬁction ﬁlm.
（D） A new way of living.
問 2 Translate the underlined paragraph ⃝2 into Japanese. （配点 20 点）
問 3 What is the “missing link”⃝
3 between existing synthetic environments andProject Futurium? Choose the best answer from the following:（配点 4 点）
（A） Radical visualizations.
（B） The concept of multiple users.
（C） Signiﬁcant technologies found in other synthetic environments.
（D） Creating futures collaboratively.
問 4 Alvin Toﬄer predicted that ‘experience designers’ of the future would do

which of the following? Choose the best answer from the following. （配点 4点）（A） Become the new wave of ‘pop’ art.
（B） Design prototype simulations such as SIM City.
（C） Become a new kind of profession.
（D） Create futuristic artworks using simulations.
問 5 According to the text, what is the main goal of Project Futurium? Choose

the best answer from the following. （配点 4 点）
（A） To stimulate possible future worlds.
（B） To empower people in creating better futures.
（C） To prove that future worlds are not just science ﬁction.
（D） To highlight the need for strategic thinking about the future.

— 4 —問 6 What is the main point of Laurel’s message about simulations? Choose thebest answer from the following. （配点 4 点）
（A） Simulations can help people in policy decisions.
（B） Simulations can strengthen accountants’ abilities.
（C） Simulations help governments and companies understand our actions.
（D） Simulations are good but have limited potential for social improvement.
問 7 Judge each statement below true or false, according to the text. （配点30 点）（A） Project Futurium is already being applied in various organizations.
（B） The KidzPlay prototype produced astounding novels and plays.
（C） Exploratorium is known for its public science communication programs.
（D） Data from 4-Us surveys showed their educational value.
（E） The average Japanese in the future will live to 130.
（F） The Project Futurium concept derives from experiential designers describedin Toﬄer’s Future Shock.

— 5 —II Academic Skills
Answer the following question about the research reported in the article.（配点 30 点）

Using your own words, describe the purpose behind Project Futurium, the resultsof student-made prototypes, and future beneﬁts, as suggested in the article. Write
your answer in English within 60-90 words.

問題は，このページで終りである．
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