given the contemporary social-political changes we are witnessing today,
maybe it is also time to move on a step or two?
How do we deal with the emergence of trans-humanism and the digitaliza-
tion of body and soul? What kind of responses do we have regarding the
vanishing of the distinction between what is considered to be natural and
what is supposed to be artificial? Are we so sure about the importance to
abandon the basic distinction between Man and Nature, between Man and
Technologies? What about the contemporary societal confidence crisis?
Do we need a new social contract? What is the future of democracy? What
kind of world order can we expect the coming decades? What could be
sustainable technological and economic developments in the coming
decades? The issues of human rights, the societal principles of justice, the
relation between religious and post-religious perspectives in society – how
will this look like in long term?
These are only a few of the questions the Human Futures Magazine will
address in the time to come. Some of them already in this issue. Jör-
gel, Kune, and van Erkel elaborate on the phenomena “A New Societal
Contract”, Lombardo presents some of his thinking regarding futures
consciousness, while Amy Fletcher guides us into the art of integrating
Futures Studies with Policy Studies. Further, John Sweeney describes the
4 HF |
April 2019
process of establishing a Futures Institute. Claire Nelson interviews Dana
Klisanin on the UN Agenda 2030. In addition you will also find several
book-presentations and reviews.
This issue also functions as a feature version of some of the great contri-
butions our members and others contribute regularly with to a long range
of scientific journals oriented toward futures. The WFSF is also Co-pub-
lisher of European Journal of Futures Research EJFR - https://eujournalfu-
turesresearch.springeropen.com/ - and we will in the time to come, try to
link these different channels of futures reasoning.
As you see from the list of content, there are many interesting and exciting
topics discussed in this issue. I wish everyone a happy time with the new
Magazine!
Sincerely Yours
Erik
Erik F. Øverland
President
World Futures Studies Federation (WFSF)
wfsf.org
HF | Human Futures 5