Rehearsing the future in the present will allow us to ask critical questions and make us more skilled at long-range planning. Rehearsing the future broadens our consciousness to ideas that we otherwise might never consider. We can no longer relegate this task of futuring solely to professionals. Futuring, like other activities, has been compartmentalized from our daily lives. But there is no monopoly on futurism.
Every person has the childlike ability to spontaneously create.
To bring it forth we must let down our collective guard and allow ourselves to think creatively about the future, about the kind of world we want for ourselves and our children. The following seven stories of the future are written by people who have done just that. Dr. Bunyan Bryant is a member of the faculty of the University of Michigan School of Natural Resources and an associate in the Center for Afro-American and African Studies. Please send comments to webmaster Last Updated 29 June 2000 .