We could then design policies intended to get us there. S ociety, however, needs to know whether the future we choose is actually achievable. Putting humans on the moon was difficult but achievable. Dr. Fludd's perpetual motion gristmill had a laudable objective, but it was impossible. Science has a way of getting to the future without consulting futurists.
Science advances in much the same way.
With each hard-won insight, the scientist pauses just long enough to plot a new course, designed to take advantage of what has just been learned. If you focus on too distant a goal, you may find a crevasse blocking your way that didn't appear on the map. Better to follow the contours of the terrain. In this journey, the futurists are simply irrelevant. Material presented on this home page constitutes opinion of the author.