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The Realizing Resonance Philosophy Blog has been online since October 2010 and each January since then we have begun the new year with resolute plans for the site. In 2011 we took on a new philosophical theme each month, writing about time, love, music, economics, mind, the future, history, food & drink, ethics & law, the paranormal, knowledge, and art & aesthetics. In 2012 we focused our philosophical gaze onto political topics from the perspective of moderation, with an eye toward influencing thoughts about the Presidential race and related interests. In 2013 Realizing Resonance will be transforming again. From here on out all of our articles will be themed around The Future.
In June 2011 Realizing Resonance covered The Future as a theme in anticipation of my approaching trip to the World Future Conference (WFC) in Vancouver, B.C.. In fact, attending this event had been one of my 2011 New Year’s Resolutions, a goal that I not only accomplished but a milestone that I hope is one of many on a longer journey into the world of futuring. So my biggest New Year’s Resolution for 2013 is to dedicate myself to furthering my professional skills as a Forecaster and Strategic Planner, expanding the domains of my experience and laying the foundations for a deeper exploration of the future. Long term I am resolved to identify with the persona of Philosopher Futurist.
As a Forecaster and Strategic Planner I intend to embrace my duties as a foresight specialist seriously, concentrating my studies on the mathematics of predictive modeling, the apparatus of anticipatory analysis, and the logics of leaping forward in time. This entails further personal development in my skills that pay the bills, from enhancing my understanding of data mining, to practicing up on conditional probabilities, to delving into selected specific domains, such as healthcare informatics. I intend to strengthen my strategic thinking skills and place myself in the position of better prepared planner. In terms of my professional life, I expect 2013 will be a year of fairly dramatic change and I am ready to grab the bull by the horns and launch into some new challenges. Considering this, Realizing Resonance will be reflective of the work I am doing and want to do.
I recently completed my first graduate level class. Introduction to Future Studies from the University of Houston’s College of Technology; an excellent survey of the skills that professional futurists utilize. I was inspired to take the class after I attended a one day pre-conference workshop introduction to Future Studies at the Vancouver WFC in 2011. My only regret is that I am not presently in a position to keep going with the Future Studies Masters curriculum. Nevertheless, this is not the end of my studies of the future and many of the articles that Realizing Resonance will publish in 2013 will be drawn directly from my assigned class writings.
My long term aspiration is to emerge from my Forecaster chrysalis to realize the form of Philosopher Futurist. Of course this begs the question, just what the heck is a Philosopher Futurist, what do they do, and how do they earn a living? One of my resolutions in 2013 will be to attempt an answer to this question. For now I will leave you with even more questions that I might try to answer this year. Feel free to leave your own inspired answers to these in the comments.
What is the future?
Can we know the future?
What is the ethics of prediction?
What are the existential characteristics of a forecaster?
Jared Roy Endicott
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