Full Description
Starting from the dominant perspective of historical sociology, this book looks into the future instead and asks vital questions about the futures we face at the societal and global levels. The authors project what we can expect relating to the future of human knowledge, ideas and expectations, prognostic and futurological conceptions, transformations reflected by social geography and demography, and disputes on environmental issues. It also looks at civilizational issues, religion, economic and political development, and changes in human settlements and lifestyles. Finally, it looks at important issues relating to planetary defence and space settlement in the not-so-distant future. The book offers readers an intellectual basis for understanding historical and contemporary processes at work in the world around us that are shaping the contours of what the world of the future will be built upon.
Contents
Introduction.- Images of time in the world: The culture of innovation.- Inventing the futures: The transformations of human ideas about the time to be.- Mysticism vs expert rational forecasting: the age old competition.- Something more than the here and now: Imagined futures. The Power of the Imaginary as an Informal Institution.- World politics and the future of the great powers' games.- The future of World Politics and Geopolitics.- The macro regions in the future world and the shift of the world's power distribution.- The Evolution of Supranational Entities in the Era of Global Order Restructuring.- Democracy in the Balance: The Impact of Populism and Autocracy on Global Power Dynamics.- World population and its development: Demographic trends and (bio)policies in a geographical perspective.- Understanding the Dynamics of Environmental Controversies: The Role of Peace.- Playing the Future: A Sociological Perspective on Gamification and Social Spaces.- Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Living: Between Social Innovation and the Risk of De humanization.- Where will we live tomorrow.- Great Barriers for Human Civilization in Space.- Navigating Emerging Challenges in the New Space Age: Planetary Defense, Space Sustainability and Global Governance.
