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We are both responsible for, and can create, a desirable future.
More than forty years ago, the founders of the Institute for the Future (IFTF) in Palo Alto, Calif., formulated a vision for creating an organization that would "institutionalize futures thinking as a deliberate, systematic, and methodologically sound activity." As a nonprofit and one of the oldest futures organizations in the world, we have been implementing this mission in the belief that creating foresight-in the form of plausible, internally consistent visions of potential futures-helps individuals, organizations, and society make better and more informed decisions.
When looking at the multivariable, complex confluence of more than 6 billion free actors responding to (and continually creating) cultural, economic, and political forces, it is virtually impossible to plot a path to a definite and unambiguous future. That is why we do not view the future as a finite point or destination that is predictable; rather, we view it as a space where design possibilities roam free.
Foresight, Insight, Action: Shaping a Desirable Future
We believe that we are responsible for and can shape a...