The Future Multiple (2015) Foresight

GOAL: Empirically observe the ontology of futures (plural) and the future (singular) METHOD: Ethnography, by one author, of scenario planning, by the other author* MOTIVATION: The notion of “futures” seemed to have fully replaced “the future” Prof. Nicholas J. Rowland explains his paper, "The Future Multiple." The paper was published in 2015 in Foresight the journal of future studies, strategic thinking and policy. Prof. Rowland explains how the paper was inspired by STS, and how the examination of experiential and observational data can get at the ontological character of the future. He speaks about the review process and links it to other papers that were developed based on this ontology, namely "On Inquiry in Futures and Foresight" (available here: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342242995_On_Inquiry_in_Futures_and_Foresight_Science), "Social Foundations" (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315368859_Social_foundation_of_scenario_planning), and this paper, "The Future Multiple" (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283285464_The_future_multiple) Presentation associated with talk on "Futures and Foresight Papers Explained" youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRGWH8Xyzc8