As the old aphorism goes, "when you are up to your arse in crocodiles, it is hard to remember that the idea was to drain the swamp... "  Maybe this is why looking at the future and what challenges it may bring has not always had the complete support of "serious people".  You know the kind of people I mean... the kind that say we should not explore the universe until the problems of today are fixed, the kind that say that spending money in pure research is money down the drain.
Well, I am not one of those.  I think that looking at the future (and not at tomorrow, but the day after tomorrow) is just as essential as keeping your high beam on when driving down a country road at night.  The sooner you learn that there may be  a curve coming up, the sooner you can set up the car to take that curve with a minimum of fuss.
I am lucky enough that my work coincides with my interests.  As Long Range Planner for the Royal Australian Air Force, it is my job to look out at the far horizon of 2030, and see what challenges and opportunities lie ahead for us.

Below are some thoughts and links about the future.

To my way of thinking, there are about four types of methods that people use to peer into the future (or futures).  The drive and vision-focus can be rational or irrational, external or internal.

1.    (Rational/External) By using a formal strategy that seeks to build step-on-step on knowledge gained from a wide range of sources, a level of comfort is developed about what is possible, probable, and credible.  The aim here is to manage uncertainty.  The motto "No Surprises".

2.    (Irrational/Internal)  The egomaniac's preferred choice.  Such people use their experience, desires, and prejudices, to come up with a picture of what they want (or don't want) to happen. (I imagine lots of CEOs, Politicians, and senior Public Servants might fall into this quadrant).

3.    (Irrational/External)  Such people hand over responsibility to an all powerful outside agency and wait upon the truth revealed (either in Revelations, or on the back pages of women's magazines).

4.    (Rational/Internal)  The hero's way.  Whether noble, or tragic, heroes can choose their star, set their sails, and steer towards it.  The world (and its future) may change, but the hero will plough on.  

There may be a nice research paper for somebody in the above typology, so in the meatime I'll just give you some links to sites that match each category:

   Rational/External

 There are hundreds of possible links here.  These are just representative.

Royal Australian Air Force - Project ORACLE (still forthcoming)  This is our project.  The site will have copies of the materials developed, and an opportunity for wide public input.  Should be up and running by Jun98.
The Signposts Timeline My all time favourite Futures Site.  Not because it is the most rational, but because it combines an attempt at a future timeline, with a widescoped shovelling of input, and a clear-headed acknowledgement of the controversial issues.  As the author says "I present both the possible Good and Bad here. For surely that's one thing the future will share with
our past and present, if nothing else: a complex interplay of Good and Evil; a Dance of Complexity that defies the efforts of all
to decipher or simplify".

The Foresight Project   New Zealand's work towards identifying future issues of national importance.
US Air Force 2025   A very thorough study.  Both broad in concept and deep in execution.  Set aside a year or two to read it all.
Global Business Network The epicenter of Scenario Based Planning.  Very good site, useful book review pages.
The Extropy Institute The Future is not a zero-sum game.
The New Civilisation Network The World is what you make it... So is the Future.

Irrational/Internal

The dreaded "one man's vision".  Sometimes tarted up in rational clothes, but easily identifiable because they do not cope well with uncomfortable evidence.

This will be a link

Irrational/External
New age types, religious fundamentalists, and the mindless ones, they all believe the truth is out there.... 

New World Order and John's Revelation There are thousands of fundamentalist sites that purport to talk about the future... this one mixes religion, conspiracies, and bad fiction.  Only thing missing is a claim that Jesus was abducted by aliens!

Earth Changes and the New Millenium   Uncertainty appears to breed a desire for simple answers.  I suppose New Age fantasies provide simple answers for simple people...

Rational/Internal

Whether noble or tragic, the hero is humanity's inspiration.  Their work and vision may change the life of many people, but their vision of the future is theirs, and theirs alone.

The Fred Hollows Foundation   His vision of the future was one where nobody, especially the poor,  had to suffer blindness due to cataracts.  If you got a spare dollar or two, the Foundation could put it to good use.

Nicolas Tesla   The archetypal tragic hero who dreamed greatly, yet died penniless.  Just read his words...
``We are confronted with portentous problems which can not be solved just by providing for our material existence, however
abundantly. On the contrary, progress in this direction is fraught with hazards and perils not less menacing than those born from
want and suffering. If we were to release the energy of the atoms or discover some other way of developing cheap and
unlimited power at any point of the globe this accomplishment, instead of being a blessing, might bring disaster to mankind... The
greatest good will come from the technical improvements tending to unification and harmony, and my wireless transmitter is
preeminently such. By its means the human voice and likeness will be reproduced everywhere and factories driven thousands of
miles from waterfalls furnishing the power; aerial machines will be propelled around the earth without a stop and the sun's energy
controlled to create lakes and rivers for motive purposes and transformation of arid deserts into fertile land...''  Nikola Tesla, "My Inventions: the autobiography of Nikola Tesla", Hart Bros., 1982. Originally appeared in the
Electrical experimenter magazine in 1919.

Send suggestions, comments, questions, and anything else that occurs to you
to me via e-mail at  alex_t@spirit.com.au