Labels are veryimportant. Doomsday scenarios and outrageous statements attract the media and conference goers. The pursuit and success of futures activities are highly dependent on what individuals do with those activities. Futures, foresight, and issues management are not disciplines or professions, but they can be pursued in a professional manner by members of many professions. Good labels are essential.
Futurists work at seeing things in new ways.
The boundaries of our current definitions create major barriers to futures vision. Much current work involves helping people break down old models, redefine limiting paradigms, and move beyond narrow definitions to see the possibility of genuinely new configurations. We can't share a vision without words and labels, but the very possibility of seeing things in new ways is constrained by our current words and labels. That's why we find Hahn, a man of unusual futures vision, stressing the importance of labels. It's worth, then, examining the functions of labels.